how to use virtualbox with existing windows

I highly advise you to stick with a dynamically allocated virtual hard disk since you’ll save a lot of space and won’t impair the VM performance that much.Īt the final virtual hard disk screen, you’ll be able to change the location of the drive as well as its size. You can leave the next two screens at their default settings since they work just fine with the new OS. I went ahead and gave it double that amount for the sake of performance.Ĭonfiguring the HDD, you have to pick “Create a virtual hard disk now,” assuming you don’t have one created previously. The default is 1GB, which is the minimum amount of RAM for Windows 10. On the next screen, you’ll have a chance to configure how much RAM that the Virtual Machine will be allowed to use. I advise you to stick with 32-bit if you don’t have a lot of RAM. You’ll be able to choose between a 32-bit and 64-bit install.

Pick a name for the VM as well as the type and version. Start by opening VirtualBox and clicking on the “New” button. Installation media for Windows 10 (ISO or DVD).

This will allow you to copy and paste between your virtual and host machines, useful when you want to copy outputs from one device to the other. This will improve the performance of your virtual machine by taking advantage of your PC’s 3D hardware and allow you to resize your desktop resolution!Īnother feature this unlocks is the shared clipboard, which you can activate in Devices > Shared Clipboard.

Once this is complete, you will need to restart your virtual machine for the new features to take effect.Ĭlose the machine, but before you start it up again, return to the Settings menu and change the Graphics Controller back to VMSVGA and Enable 3D Acceleration. The disc will appear inside your virtual desktop and you will be prompted to run the software. This will prompt you to download the Guest Additions disk image file. To install Guest Additions, you need to complete your installation of Ubuntu in your virtual machine and boot to the desktop.įrom there, select Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD. This includes better integration between your virtual machine and the host machine, as well as improved video support that enables the display resolution options when using VMSVGA. Guest Additions is an extra piece of software that unlocks some more advanced features of VirtualBox.

How to use virtualbox with existing windows