Ubuntu is an open source operating system. It runs from the desktop to the cloud, to all your internet connected things. Let’s see how to install Ubuntu in Virtual Machine on Windows Desktop.
Below are step by step instructions with screenshots.
Pre-Requisite
Software/Hardware
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
- VirtualBox
- Microsoft Windows 8/10
Download Ubuntu
Ubuntu is available for desktop, IOT, Server, and Cloud. We are going to use the Desktop. Download desktop from this link. The current version is Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) at the time of writing this article.
There are alternative methods available to download Ubuntu.
Recommended system requirements:
- 2 GHz dual-core processor or better
- 2 GB system memory
- 25 GB of free hard drive space
- Either a DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media
- Internet access is helpful
Refer release notes for further details.
Some of the features that introduced with this version is,
- Linux kernel 4.15
- Default CIFS/SMB protocol version change in CIFS mounts
- Improved UEFI Secure Boot handling for the use of third-party modules
Create Virtual Machine
Create a bootable USB or DVD from the downloaded image. Inset it in USB drive or DVD Drive and start the installation. It is a wizard-driven installation.
Here we are using Oracle Virtualbox. Steps are the same irrespective of the method you choose. Download and save Ubuntu Image on local hard disk.
Open VirtualBox and create a virtual machine supporting 64-bit Ubuntu. Use this guide to create a virtual machine. Select OS as Ubuntu as the operating system while creating the virtual machine.
Ubuntu Installation
Virtual Machine is empty container right now. You need to install the operating system in it. Right click on Ubuntu Image->Start->Normal Start. You can also click the Start button in the toolbar after selecting the respective virtual machine.
Next select start-up disk. Just browse the required downloaded file ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso and click on start.
This starts the installation process. There are 2 options here.
- Try Ubuntu– This option will help you to try Ubuntu without making changes to your computer.
- Install Ubuntu – Click this to start installation on your computer.
Select Keyboard Layout. Setup automatically detects defaults, no need to select. If it does not come, just click on Detect Keyboard Layout button.
Select Installation type
Normal Installation – This includes most of the software required to run and use it efficiently like Web Browser, Utilities, Office software, Games and Media Player.
Minimal Installation – This only has a web browser and basic utilities.
Check/uncheck checkbox if you would like to download updates while ubuntu is getting installed. This needs a high-speed internet connection, as it downloads the latest files and packages from the server.
For now, just let it be default and click continue.
Choose default and click on Install Now button.
Confirmation from setup before installation actually starts. Click continue button.
Select location if not automatically detected.
Create user and click continue.
That’s it. Installation started and will be ready in some time. It copies all file and downloads latest files also. If you would to like to have coffee then go ahead, it takes time.
Post-installation VM restart and Ubuntu starts. Enter the username and password and start leaning Ubuntu Linux Operating System.
