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| 1 | +<!-- |
| 2 | +SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2024 Andy Fingerhut |
| 3 | +
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| 4 | +SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 |
| 5 | +--> |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +# Create VM using ISO installer |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +Host OS versions these instructions have been tested with: |
| 10 | ++ MacBook Pro M3 - Apple Silicon / arm64 processor |
| 11 | + + macOS 26.4.1 |
| 12 | + + VirtualBox 7.2.6 |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | +## Finding the Linux installer image you want |
| 15 | + |
| 16 | +Download the `.iso` file that installs the version of Linux that you |
| 17 | +are interested in. An Internet search for terms like these works for |
| 18 | +me. You should only pay attention to search results that are on the |
| 19 | +ubuntu.com web site. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | ++ If your system has a 64-bit Intel or AMD CPU |
| 22 | + + Search terms: Ubuntu 26.04 amd64 |
| 23 | + + Names of files I found on 2026-Apr-23: |
| 24 | + + `ubuntu-26.04-desktop-amd64.iso` |
| 25 | ++ If you have an Apple Silicon Mac: |
| 26 | + + Search terms: Ubuntu 26.04 arm64 |
| 27 | + + Names of files I found on 2026-Apr-23: |
| 28 | + + `ubuntu-26.04-desktop-arm64.iso` |
| 29 | + |
| 30 | +An installer for Ubuntu Desktop leads to fewer steps you need to do in |
| 31 | +order to get a GUI Desktop. As of 2026, Ubuntu releases Ubuntu |
| 32 | +Desktop installers for both amd64 and arm64 systems. If you want a |
| 33 | +system with a GUI desktop, there is little reason to install from an |
| 34 | +Ubuntu Server installer first. |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +## Creating a new VM |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +Start VirtualBox. While there are command line ways to do all of this |
| 40 | +with VirtualBox (I believe), I have never used those. The VirtualBox |
| 41 | +GUI takes a few minutes to use when creating a new VM, and installing |
| 42 | +the VM takes the computer a while longer. I estimate around 30 to 45 |
| 43 | +minutes total time to create a new VM where you install Linux from an |
| 44 | +`.iso` file. |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +A nice thing about VirtualBox is that once you create a VM for the |
| 47 | +operating system you want, if you have enough free disk space to keep |
| 48 | +around that original VM (which I typically include "base OS" somewhere |
| 49 | +in its name), it is very quick (30 seconds or less) to create a copy |
| 50 | +of the base OS VM, and then install a bunch of software on that copy. |
| 51 | +As long as you leave the original base OS VM there, it will not |
| 52 | +change, and you can create copies of it whenever you want to try |
| 53 | +experimenting with it. Did you accidentally mess up the state of some |
| 54 | +VM's system-wide configuration files, or install some weird |
| 55 | +combination of software that seems to conflict with each other? You |
| 56 | +can abandon that VM image, deleting it whenever you no longer find its |
| 57 | +contents useful, and create more clones of the original base OS VM for |
| 58 | +further experiments. |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +In the VirtualBox GUI window: |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | ++ Click the button "New" |
| 63 | ++ In the window that appears, give a unique name to your VM, |
| 64 | + e.g. "Ubuntu 26.04 base OS". |
| 65 | ++ To the right of the "ISO Image" text box, click the down-arrow icon |
| 66 | + and if you do not see the `.iso` installer file you downloaded, |
| 67 | + click "Other..." and find it. |
| 68 | ++ I prefer to _uncheck_ the box "Proceed with Unattended |
| 69 | + Installation", and these instructions will assume you are doing so, |
| 70 | + too. |
| 71 | ++ Click on the ">" symbol to the left of "Specify virtual hardware" to |
| 72 | + specify the amount of RAM, number of virtual CPUs, and hard disk |
| 73 | + space you want. |
| 74 | + + In 2026, I rarely want to create a VM with less than 8 GBytes |
| 75 | + (8192 MBytes) of RAM. I typically select 4 processors. |
| 76 | + + With VirtualBox, changing the RAM available to a VM, or its number |
| 77 | + of processors, after you create it is quick and easy, either |
| 78 | + increasing it, or decreasing it. Simply shut down the VM, select |
| 79 | + the VM in the GUI, click "Settings", change the RAM/number-of-CPU |
| 80 | + settings, and start the VM image again. As long as your host OS |
| 81 | + has enough free RAM, VirtualBox can use it for the running VM |
| 82 | + image. Thus, you do not need to think too hard when choosing the |
| 83 | + initial RAM size while creating the VM image. |
| 84 | ++ Click on the ">" symbol to the left of "Specify virtual hard disk" |
| 85 | + to specify the size of the virtual disk. |
| 86 | + + I typically specify 60 GBytes of disk space. I do _not_ click the |
| 87 | + "Pre-allocate Full Size" check box, since then it would |
| 88 | + immediately create a file that was 60 GBytes in size. If you do |
| 89 | + not check that box, VirtualBox creates a disk image file that is |
| 90 | + only as large as it needs to be to store the files currently |
| 91 | + existing within the VM's file system, not the full size it might |
| 92 | + grow to later. |
| 93 | + + Leave the other settings as: VDI format for disk image, and the |
| 94 | + boxes unchecked next to "Use an Existing Virtual Hard Disk File" |
| 95 | + and "Create Virtual Machine Without a Virtual Hard Disk". |
| 96 | + + I believe it is possible to increase the disk space allocated to |
| 97 | + the VM later, but I have not personally done so, and you will not |
| 98 | + find instructions to do so here. It is definitely more steps than |
| 99 | + changing the RAM size later. It also might be possible to |
| 100 | + decrease it later, but only if you can find and run the proper |
| 101 | + utility programs in the guest VM to shrink its files into a subset |
| 102 | + of the available physical disk space. It is thus more important |
| 103 | + to think of the maximum disk space you expect to use within the |
| 104 | + VM, _or_ copy files out of it to another system to free up disk |
| 105 | + space during the lifetime of that VM. Fortunately you can pick a |
| 106 | + large size, and choose the option not to preallocate it all when |
| 107 | + the VM is created. It might be easier to create a new VM and copy |
| 108 | + files from the old one to the new one vs. increasing the disk |
| 109 | + space available to an old one. |
| 110 | ++ Click the "Finish" button. This closes the window you were working |
| 111 | + on, and a new VM image with the name you gave it has now been |
| 112 | + created. It does _not_ have the OS installed yet. |
| 113 | ++ Select that new image and click on the button "Settings". |
| 114 | ++ Click "General". |
| 115 | + + Under the "Features" tab, change "Shared Clipboard" to |
| 116 | + "Bidirectional". |
| 117 | ++ Click "Display". |
| 118 | + + Under the "Screen" tab, change "Video Memory" from 16 MB to 32 MB. |
| 119 | ++ If you want to create a shared folder on your host OS that is |
| 120 | + readable and writable from the guest OS, too, click "Shared Folder". |
| 121 | + + Click on the icon that looks like a folder with a "+" symbol on it. |
| 122 | + + Change "Folder Path" to choose the host OS folder you want to share. |
| 123 | + + Check the box for "Auto-mount". |
| 124 | + + If you want the guest OS to only be able to read this folder, but |
| 125 | + not write to it, check the box for "Read-only". |
| 126 | + + Click "OK" button. |
| 127 | ++ Back in the main settings window for the VM image, click the OK |
| 128 | + button. |
| 129 | + |
| 130 | + |
| 131 | +# Common steps for starting any VM image, including a new installer one |
| 132 | + |
| 133 | ++ Select the VM image and click the "Start" button. |
| 134 | ++ If the text is uncomfortably small for reading, select the |
| 135 | + VirtualBox menu item View -> Virtual Screen 1 -> Scale to 200%. |
| 136 | + Adjust the scale choice to your reading comfort. |
| 137 | + |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | +# Creating a VM using VirtualBox and an ISO disk image with an Ubuntu Desktop Linux installer |
| 140 | + |
| 141 | +Follow the steps |
| 142 | +[here](README-create-vm-using-iso-installer-for-ubuntu-desktop.md). |
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