TIP: If the OS you want does not appear in the list, you can select Other at the bottom. This tutorial selects Linux for the type. Select the operating system you want to install from the drop-down menu.

Type: VirtualBox offers many different types of OSes.

A Linux VM can be as small as 4GB, but a Windows VM will need at least 20GB. TIP: Ensure there’s enough space on your drive for your VM. You can leave the default location or click the Browse button to select a different one.

Machine Folder: Specify the location to store your virtual machine files.

Related: How to Set Up NGINX on Mac for Testing TIP: Name the VM based on its intended purposes, such as nginx-web-server or windows10-development, so you can better identify the VM later. Configure the following on the Name and operating system page. Save the installer somewhere you can quickly locate it, like your Downloads folder.Ģ. The latest VirtualBox version as of this writing is 6.1.36. Open a browser and open the VirtualBox downloads page and click the Windows hosts link. From there, the installation process uses a Wizard interface, which should not be too complicated, even for a beginner.ġ. To install VirtualBox on Windows 10, you must first download the appropriate installation file for your host. How much you need will depend on the operating system you want to install and how you plan on using it. How much you need will depend on the size of the ISO you’re using, but in general, there should be at least 20 GB of free disk space. This ISO could be of any VirtualBox-supported guest OSes.

An ISO file for the operating system you want to install.

This guide uses Windows 10 21H2 64bit, but VirtualBox should work fine on any recent version of Windows 10 or 11.

If you’d like to follow along, be sure you have the following. This tutorial will be a hands-on demonstration. This tutorial will teach you how to install VirtualBox on Windows 10 and the basics to get you started. VirtualBox is a free virtualization program that makes it extremely convenient to set up virtual machines on different operating systems. You can install VirtualBox on Windows 10 and create guest VMs instead.

Do you want to try a different operating system but don’t want to risk installing it on your main computer? Perhaps you need to test software on various platforms but don’t want to set up different computers? Don’t fret.

Install linux on windows 10 virtualbox