This tutorial will take you through the process on How to install/setup CentOS in VirtalBox. Although this post is focusing on CentOS but it can be used to install any operating system through VirutalBox, I think.
First, you may need to know what’s CentOS and what’s VirutalBox.
CentOS Overview
CentOS is an Enterprise-class Linux Distribution derived from sources freely provided to the public by a prominent North American Enterprise Linux vendor. CentOS conforms fully with the upstream vendors redistribution policy and aims to be 100% binary compatible. (CentOS mainly changes packages to remove upstream vendor branding and artwork.) CentOS is free.
About VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware, targeted at server, desktop and embedded use.
Below are main steps to install CentOS in VirtualBox:
1. Download and Install VirtualBox
Go to VirtualBox download page to download a version that matches your current OS.
The VirtualBox’s setup wizard makes this step really easy to make it’s up and running on your machine.
2. Download a version of CentOS ISO that matches with your need.
3. After installed the VirtualBox and downloaded a CentOS ISO file, you’re ready to create a new Virtual Machine
These steps are also super easy to do. Just follow the New Virtual Machine Wizard:
+ Name: enter something really simple that describes your box.
+ OS Type: choose the a Operating System/version that matches with your need. For CentOS, choose Operating System: Linux and Version: Linux x.x (x.x is version number, I selected Linux 2.6 – 64 bit)
+ Memory: select the amount of base memory (RAM) in Megabytes to be allocated to your Virtual Machine. Whenever the virtual machine is on it will immediately take up all the memory it was given. For example, if your computer has 4GBs of memory and your virtual machine is set to use 2GBs of memory then as soon as your virtual machine turns on 50% of your memory is in use.
+ Virtual Hard Disk: select a virtual disk to be used as the boot hard disk of your virtual machine.
+ Follow the rest of last steps to finish installing your virtual machine.
When you finished, if you try to start the virtual machine, you will get an error telling that no bootable medium was found. This is because there is no OS installed.
To install an OS start (boot) the virtual machine: on the bottom right of the virtual machine’s window you should see a grayed out CD, right click this CD and choose something likes “Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file …” and find the ISO file for your Operating System your downloaded, in this case it’s CentOS ISO file. Select that and then reboot the virtual machine.
Once your machine reboots you should be able to install the OS from the ISO you mounted. After your OS has installed you can use your new virtual machine as if it were a new computer.
Hope it’s help for someone.
