In this informative piece, we will guide you through installing Windows Vista on a new virtual machine created using the reliable and user-friendly Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization program. Follow our step-by-step instructions to ensure a successful installation.
Using the VirtualBox virtualization software, you can quickly run one of the versions of Windows or one of the Linux-based operating systems, such as Ubuntu, on your host computer. You can install the Guest Additions software to the Windows Vista system you install on your virtual computer and use host devices such as a webcam and USB in your virtual machine.
After installing the Guest Additions software on the guest machine, you can easily exchange files between the physical and virtual devices. Also, you can use the screen resolution in full-screen mode or autoscaled mode on the guest’s machine.
After installing and running Oracle VM VirtualBox on your computer, you can start the operating system installation you want by clicking Machine / New from the tool menu of the program with the virtual computer creation wizard.
Follow this video or the steps below to create a new VM and install Windows Vista on it.
Step 1: First of all, download the ISO file of the Windows Vista operating system to your computer from this link or a source on the Internet.
Step 2: After running the virtual PC program, click the New button on its menu or shortcut tools to start the VM creation wizard.
Step 3: In the Name and Operating System window, type WindowsVista in the Name section and select the value in the Version section according to the platform of the system you will install. If you want to store the VM in a different location, you can change the installation location in Machine Folder.
Step 4: In the Memory Size window, set a suitable RAM value for the Windows Vista virtual machine according to the RAM capacity of your physical computer. Do not forget to choose 4 GB or higher as the minimum RAM value.
Step 5: Create a new virtual disk for the Windows Vista VM in the Hard Disk window. Since the Create a virtual hard disk option is selected by default, continue directly with Next in this step. If you have a virtual computer installed before, you can add your virtual disk file with the option to add an existing virtual HDD.
Step 6: In the Hard Disk File Type window, select the VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) option, which is enabled by default. VHD, one of the other disk types in this window, is a virtual disk file used by Microsoft. VMDK is the type of virtual disk used by other virtualization software such as VMware Workstation / Player. Since VDI is the most suitable option for Oracle VM VirtualBox software, continue with the default option.
Step 7: In the File Location and Size window, you can change the location where the virtual HDD will be stored. Suppose you want to keep the site of the virtual disk in a different place than the installation location. In that case, you can click the folder icon and select the desired location on your physical computer. Configure the virtual disk size to a minimum of 30 GB for Windows Vista.
Step 8: After creating the Windows Vista virtual computer, click Settings to add the ISO file to the VM and make other essential settings.
Step 9: For text, or file copy operations, set the Shared Clipboard and Drag and Drop options to Bidirectional to enable file sharing in the General / Advanced section of the virtual machine’s settings.
Step 10: Configure the first boot device as the Optical drive in System / Motherboard settings and turn off the Floppy device.
Step 11: Click System / Processor to set the number of virtual processors and configure this value to 4 or higher.
Step 12: To better render 3D graphics in Display / Screen settings, enable the Acceleration option and configure the Video Memory value as 256 MB.
Step 13: Check that the SATA controller’s I/O Cache feature is enabled in the Storage settings. Set the WindowsVista.vdi virtual disk file as SSD (Solid-State Drive) and finally click on Empty to add the Windows ISO file to the VM, then click the DVD icon and add the ISO file.
Step 14: After preparing the Windows Vista VM, click the Start button and start the installation.
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