Tutorial 4: Installing Kubuntu on VirtualBox

After watching the lectures of virtualization i got interested in trying out what the professor said. In this tutorial i will guide you in the process of installing kubuntu as a virtual machine using VirtualBox.

First of all, you will need to download the kubuntu ISO and the virtualbox installer.

You can go to this webpage: http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu
You will need to download the x86 version because we will use VirtualBox and i already tried the x64 version and didnt worked out well.

Next, you need to download VirtualBox. Do this by going to: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

After this you need to install VirtualBox, just click on the exe file and go through it.\

After installing it, you will either have to burn in a cd the ISO that you downloaded of kubuntu, OR a easier way(which i did) is to download DAEMON TOOLS LITE and use it to emulate as if you had inserted the disk. For this go to : http://www.daemon-tools.cc/eng/downloads

When you already have it installed, open it and right click its icon in the bottom right part of the screen, go to virtual devices, select the device you are using, and then click mount image. Search for the kubuntu image where you downloaded it and open it.


Next, open VirtualBox and in the top part click on New, select in this case Linux and ubuntu(not the x64 version), then select the memory( the more is better but don't exceed till you pass the red line, usually with just 500mb its fine but if you can put more its better), after that leave the boot hard disk in 8gb as recommmended.

Afer this you can choose either dynamically or fixed size. This is for choosing if you want the assigned space of the hard drive to get bigger if you are using more space in the virtual machine or to just have a fixed space so you cant pass it. If you are not planning on using it for too much stuff just leave it fixed.

When you finish all this you will have this summary :

After this, you will have to START the virtual machine. When started it will prompt you a message to select the media device where you will load the operating system(in this case the iso that will install kubuntu), if it doesnt promp anything just go to the top part of the virtual machine window and click on devices, then click on cd dvd devices and click on the letter of the drive you are using with daemon tools.

Now the kubuntu iso will run in the virtual machine, its very slow so have patience (you are using a virtual cd on a virtual machine, so yes it gets kind of slow but dont worry after the installation is done the kubuntu runs pretty past). Just click on run kubuntu at first, after that it will take a while while loading all the things in the ISO, then click on install kubuntu and follow all the steps selecting time, keyboard and name and password.

I repeat it have patience because it will take like half an hour for the installation to finish!

When the installation is done you can restart the virtual machine and kubuntu will start.

ALL SCREENSHOTS WERE TAKEN BY FRANCISCO GALAZ. THE SOFTWARE USED  IS VIRTUALBOX, PROPERTY OF SUN MICROSYSTEMS. THE OPERATING SYSTEM IS WINDOWS VISTA AND THE OPERATING SYSTEM INSTALLED IS KUBUNTU AN OPEN SOURCE OPERATING SYSTEM BASED ON LINUX.

Enjoy!