So you have been hearing a lot about Ubuntu and Linux lately. Memes, online group discussions, all are praising Ubuntu and Linux a lot. People talking about its stability, privacy, speed, customization are making you think let’s give it a try.
Or you might be someone who knows about Ubuntu and wants to give use it but does not wants to mess with systems partitions. No matter why you want to use Ubuntu here is a simple solution. That lets you use Ubuntu without modifying partitions.
This solution as you might have already read in tittle is installing Ubuntu on VirtualBox. Using Ubuntu or any other Linux in VirtualBox gives you the option to try and use it within Windows. This is also the safest method to try Ubuntu as you are not modifying Windows files or partitions in any way.
So follow this tutorial step by step to install Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on VirtualBox.
Requirements:
- Windows system having at-least 12 GB of free space.
- Internet Connection to download Ubuntu ISO and VirtualBox software.
- Minimum 4 GB of RAM. (It is minimum required to keep both Ubuntu and Windows system functional.)
You can also watch complete video tutorial on our Youtube channel.
Step 1: Download and install Virtualbox.
VirtualBox is one of the most feature-rich virtualization software available right now. You can download it for free from the VirtualBox official site.
Click on Windows hosts below latest version to download VirtualBox. Now double click on downloaded VirtualBox installer to launch it and follow onscreen instructions to install it. Its just like installing any other software in Windows.
Step 2: Download Ubuntu ISO
We need to download the Ubuntu ISO file for installation. If you don’t know about the ISO file, it is similar to the installation disk(CD/DVD) as it contains an identical copy of data.
Now to download the ISO file open this official site of Ubuntu and click on Download and save the file.
Wait till download completes then follow the next step.
Step 3: Install Ubuntu on VirtualBox
Start VirtualBox and click on New to create a new virtual machine. Give the virtual machine a name, I am naming Ubuntu 20.04. Now VirtualBox is smart but just have a look, in Type, it should be Linux and in Version, it should be Ubuntu (64-bit).
Now allot almost 50% of your system’s physical memory (the higher memory the better performance will virtual machine have.) Or you can also allot maximum in the green zone possible.
In File location, you can browse and select any other system partition if you have less free space on C: drive or else leave it as it is.
In Hard disk, it should be selected Create a virtual hard disk now. Next click on Create. This virtual hard disk work similarly to the actual hard disk for the system. Keep VDI as selected and click on Next. In Storage on physical hard disk select Dynamically allocated and click on Next.
Dynamically allocated disks increase in size as a virtual machine occupies more space until it reaches its limit. For example, you allocated 25 GB, in the beginning, it will only be about 12 on the hard drive, as you store more data in the virtual machine it will start growing in size till it reaches its full capacity which in this case is 25GB.
In File location and Size, I recommend allocating a minimum of 25 GB to the virtual machine. The Hard disk file type should be VDI (VirtualBox disk image). If you have less space on C: drive, then you can also click on folder icon and change to save virtual hard disk on another partition.
Next click on Create.
Setup the virtual machine
Before starting the virtual machine lets change some settings. Click on the virtual machine named Ubuntu 20.04 to select it and then click on the settings icon.
If you want to copy-paste and drag and drop in between Windows and Ubuntu, then follow this step. In General, click on Advanced tab and change shared clipboard to bidirectional and Drag and drop also to bidirectional. If you don’t want to share just skip this.
Now click on System, then click on Processor and increase the number of processors to the max in the green zone.
Next click on Storage, then under Controller: IDE click on Empty. In the right-side Attributes section click on the disk icon. Then click on Choose a disk file and browse for the downloaded Ubuntu ISO file.
At-last click on OK.
Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Virtual Machine
Now let’s Start the virtual machine, again click on Ubuntu 20.04 and click on Start.
Wait for some time for disk checking, after that you will see a menu with two options Try Ubuntu and Install Ubuntu.
Select the language in which you want to use Ubuntu and then click on Install Ubuntu. Now on the next screen, you need to select the Keyboard layout and then click Continue.
On the next screen, I will recommend to just leave it as it is and click on Continue. Now on the next screen click on Erase Disk and Install Ubuntu. Then click on Install Now, installer will ask to write the changes on disk click Continue.
(For those who might be worried don’t worry it’s going to erase the virtual disk which we created earlier, the installer is not going to delete any of your data.)
Next, you need to select time Zone, so just click on your nearest location and then click on Continue. Now on the next screen type your name and set a password. Then click on Continue and wait till the installation competes.
After installation is completed you will see a prompt, click on Restart Now. Then the virtual machine will restart and you will see Please remove the installation media, just press enter.
Ubuntu Virtual Machine
After restart is completed you will see log in screen, type the password, and press enter. Ubuntu is now installed, and now you can enjoy using it.
Next time whenever you want to use Ubuntu, all you need to do is open VirtualBox. Click on Ubuntu 20.04 to select it and then click on Start.
How to Get Full-screen and enable copy-paste accross Windows and Ubuntu
Now to maximize and enable other features we need to install Virtualbox guest additions in Ubuntu.
For that start Ubuntu virtual machine and open terminal(press Ctrl + Alt + T) in it.
sudo apt install build-essential dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Enter the above command and press enter. It will ask for your user account passwords to provide it and press enter. For, Do you want to Continue press Y.
Now close the terminal. Then click on Devices in the virtual machine and click on Inset Guest Additional CD image. Then a dialog box will appear, just click on Run. It will ask for a password, enter your user account password and click on Authenticate.
A Terminal will open and installation will begin, after some time you will see press Return to close this window. Just press enter and then restart the virtual machine.
After restart, you will be able to use copy paste across Windows and Ubuntu as well as full screen.
This completes the install of Ubuntu 20.04 on VirtualBox, Thanks for reading. If you have any other question feel free to ask I would love to help you.
Here is another article that I think you might like Here is Bets themes for Ubuntu.
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