Virtual Box is an open source virtual machine from Oracle. We use it on Linux to run Linux and Windows virtual machines, mostly to test install procedures for software development tools and to test model build procedures.

This is the Virtual Box web site. There are links here to Virtual Box user documentation.

Installing Virtual Box

Currently we only install virtual box on Linux, not on Windows or Mac.

Linux Install

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install tool-package-name

Mac Install

Currently we don't install virtual box on Macs.

Windows Install

Currently we don't install virtual box on Macs.

Using Virtual Box

Setup a virtual machine on Linux

To set up a virtual mahcine you will need either a system image of a system where that system image is ready to run in a virtual machine or an install disk for the system so it can be installed in a virtual mahcine.

To setup a VM from a system image, ex. in the form of a ".vdi" file.

Copy the system image to the directory where the VM will reside.
Start Virtual Box and click the New button. Be sure to specify 64 bit for the OS version if setting up a VM for a 64 bit OS.
Select the amount of Ram. 1G is good choice to start with.
Define the virtual disk. Click "Use existing hard disk" and then click the little folder icon to browse to the system image.
Configure the virtual machine by selecting the new VM and clicking the settings button.
Your Linux user id will need to be a member of the vboxusers group. If this is not the case, exit Virtual Box, go to System | Administration | Users and Groups. Select your user from the list and click "Manage Groups". Scroll to the entry for vboxusers,s elect it, click the "properties" button and check the check box next to your name in the Group Members list. Then log out, log back in again and start Virtual Box to continue setting up the new VM. You may need to do this after upgrading Virtual Box even if you were previously in the vboxusers group.

Go to System | Motherboard and deselect the Floppy and CD/DVD-ROM, Hardware clock in UTC time and Enable absolute pointing device.

Go to USB and deselect Enable USB Controller. This requires deselecting System | Motherboard | Enable absolute pointing device.

Depending on the Linux kernel version, when the virtual machine is started Virtual Box may warn about "Use host I/O cache" not enabled for all I/O controllers. If this is the case, shutdown the vm, click the Settings button in Virtual Box and go to the Storage tab. For each controller make sure the "Use host I/O cache" check box is checked.
Install the VirtualBox guest additions. See the VirtualBox user manual (available from the Virtual Box main web site). This will provide a more seamless use of the mouse, keyboard, display and clipboard between the host system and the guest system. Be sure to update the vm first:
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get -y upgrade
  This does not upgrade to a new version of Ubuntu. It upgrades installed packages to their current version.
- sudo apt-get -y install dkms
- Shutdown and reboot the guest vm
- Mount the CD image with the guest addition install script. Use the virtual machine "Devices | CD/DVD Devices | Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file..." menu option to browse to the location of the guest addition CD image. This will be in the directory where Virtual box was installed (which may not be where the Virtual Box manual suggests, for example it might be in /usr/share/virtualbox).
Then proceed with the remaining instructions in the Virtual Box online user manual.
Setup a shared folder. This allows accessing the host file system directly from the guest VM, without the need to ssh from the guest to the host, or to use sftp (ex. use "Connect to server" from a Gnome Nautilus file system navigator). See the shared folders section in the guest additions chapter of the Virtual Box online user manual and also HOWTO: Use Shared Folders.
Once a shared folder is setup, each user in the guest vm which is to have access to the shared folder must be a member of the vboxsf group. Use System | Administration | Users and Groups to add a user to that group.

When a shared folder is mounted (for example if it is auto mounted) it may be searched when doing a Linux find command. For example, when using "find / -name "*blap*" to search the entire system for files containing "blap" as part of the file name, the mounted shared folder will be searched, which is probably not what you want. Unmount it, or if it is auto mounted change it so it is not auto mounted (shutdown the vm and in the shared folder tab of the settings for the vm edit the shared folder and uncheck auto mount).

Change the uuid of a virtual box disk

To change the uuid of a virtual box disk use VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid 'file.vdi', where file.vdi is the name of the virtual box disk to have its uuid changed.