Fedora can be easily installed on virtualbox if you want to try it out without doing a real install to your hard drive. In this tutorial we are going to do that. Since we shall be using 64bit fedora, virtualbox would need to have the VT-x/AMD-V virtualisation feature in bios. These are the virtualisation extension of the underlying CPU hardware.
Installing Fedora 28 would offer a lot of old-school Debian users a change of environment. Fedora’s 6 monthly release cycle strives to keep up with the latest pieces of the entire software stack from the Linux kernel all the way up to the desktop environment.Installing Fedora in a VM is a great way to get your feet wet when it comes to the whole Red Hat ethos. That said, we will be using VirtualBox 5.2.12 which is the latest version of VirtualBox available at the time of this writing. So let’s get started.
Step 1: Creating a VM and Allocating resources
Virtual Machine is an abstraction created to lie to a guest operating system that it is running on hardware, only its “Virtual Hardware” or a Virtual Machine. The guest operating system would then treat this VM as if it were regular hardware (to a fair degree of accuracy). But first we need to create the virtual hardware.
In VirtualBox, in the upper left corner find an Icon which says “New”. This will open up a Virtual Machine setup wizard which will walk us through the process.
Set the memory to at least 2GB (2048 MB) for a smooth experience, as shown below.
Click on “Create” to move on to creating a virtual hard disk for your VM.
Select the size for your virtual hard disk along with the format. We recommend at least 10GB of space, as per Fedora’s official minimum requirements, and .vdi format which works the best with VirtualBox.
Click on “Create” and your Virtual Machine is ready for Fedora.
Step 2 (Optional): Tweaking your VM settings
We will be making two tweaks to improve our experience with the VM a bit better. This includes:
- Increasing the core count to 2
- Changing the network interface to Bridge
To begin with, right-click on your newly created Fedora VM and select settings and go to Settings → System → Processor
And if you have a multicore processor dedicate 2 core to it. Stay inside the Green region and avoid the Red Shaded area otherwise your host won’t be as responsive or it might even crash!
Next, click on Network from the left column and select the kind of Networking Interface(s) you might want to add to it. For example, when launching a web server in a VM, a typical thing to do is to select Bridge Adapter which makes the VM a part of your LAN.
This means, in a typical home setup where you have a router (access point) to which your phone, computer and other devices are connected, your VM will be able to talk to these devices. So if you host a website in this VM, your mobile phone or any device connected to your home network can see this website.
On the other hand, the default NAT configuration allows your VM to only be able to talk to the host system and the host system offers internet connectivity for gettings updates, browsing, streaming, etc.
Step 3: Installing the Operating System
We will be installing Fedora 28 Workstation on this VM. To get your copy of the .iso file click here.
To start the VM, simply double-click on it from your VirtualBox GUI. Since there’s no operating system installed, the virtual hard disk is not bootable. VirtualBox notices that this is the first time we are booting the system so it prompts us to select a start-up disk.
Click on the file icon, and locate Fedora .iso, that you downloaded earlier, inside your file system. Once that is selected, click “Start”. Upon this you will be asked what is it that you want to do with this .iso. Since such live media devices are used not only for installation but for system recovery or rescue and troubleshooting.
But since we want to install the system we will select the top-most option which says “Start Fedora-Workstation-Live-28”. Use arrow keys to go toggle through the options and return key to select the required one.
Once the live media is booted, Fedora would help us easily install the operating system on our Virtual Disk. The welcome menu would automatically ask you for that, as shown below:
Select “Install to Hard Drive”. Select your language, we assume English (US , UK or any country of you live in) would be a good choice, since you are reading this.
Hopefully, Time and Date would be automatically selected at this point. If not, then click on “Time & Date” and select the appropriate option.
Once that is done, click on the “Installation Destination” so we can pick what device we are going to install Fedora on (in case, you have multiple storage devices attached to your system).
Let everything stay at its default value, and Fedora will handle the storage and partitioning for you. Unless you have a specific use case in your mind, in which case, feel free to experiment.
Click “Done”, on the top-left, once you have verified the destination (or configured it).
You will notice that the “Begin Installation” button, which was greyed out earlier, is now highlighted. Click on it and Fedora will start OS installation.
This will take a while but requires no further assistance or intervention until it finishes installing the OS and boot manager. After the installation is complete, we shutdown the system to remove the installation media.
To remove the installation media, simply right-click on the machine (In VirtualBox GUI), go to Settings → Storage
Select the Fedora-Workstation-Live, select the CD icon on the right-most side and Remove Disk from Virtual Drive.
Step 4: User Accounts and System Updates
Click OK, and start the system again. The boot menu will pop up, select Fedora and not the rescue option.
Now Fedora will greet you with a Welcome screen where it will ask you for permissions for collecting user data and crash reports, and if would you like to sign up using one of your many email or social media accounts. You can skip through these, if you like, and then you will come to the part where you set up a username and password.
After this Fedora is officially ready to be used as your personal workstation OS!
Update your system by opening up a terminal and running the following commands:
Conclusion
That’s it! We have a fully update-to-date Fedora installation for you to experiment with and work at. Take a snapshot so you can restore it when things go wrong. Let us know what other things you want run on VirtualBox or if there’s a cool customization that you want us to make happen.
With the aid of virtual machines, which are available nowadays, you don’t need to install two operating systems on the same computer, in order to do different tasks. Among the most popular programs to run virtual machines, Oracle VirtualBox is a program, which deserves special mention, as it is free, lightweight. It has almost everything, a user needs to run virtual machines. It comes with a lot of new functionalities, and can efficiently handle operating systems, developed by multiple manufacturers.
But, due to some system limitations on older operating systems, you might not get the advantage of numerous new features, which might be offered by your computer hardware. In such cases, Oracle came with a solution of Extension Pack for VirtualBox, which can be installed, in order to get the extra hardware functionalities, which is present on your computer. The VirtualBox extension Pack is platform independent, which means you can install it on any of the existing operating systems, provided VirtualBox is installed on your computer.
How to install VirtualBox extension Pack on any platform running VirtualBoxHow to install VirtualBox extension Pack on any platform running VirtualBox
Wait, do you need it!
Before proceeding with the installation of extension pack for your VirtualBox, it is recommended that you check, whether you need it.
- The extension Pack comes with support for USB 2.0 and 0, which can be helpful, if you are having a new computer, and want to use those ports with maximum potential, within your guest operating system, while using VirtualBox.
- The extension Pack also come with Intel PXE Boot ROM, which is the abbreviation of Pre-Boot Execution Environment, and you will need that while making your guest operating system boot from the network.
- If you need nativedisk encryption features, on your guest operating system, you can also get the feature with the Extension Pack. Apart from the three most important features, which you can get, you can also get bonus functionalities, which include VirtualBox RDP, NVMe features and many more.
In most of the cases, the features, which are mentioned here, are not necessary for normal users, and thus, it is not present in the default package of VirtualBox. But if you are a developer, and you really need those functionalities, you should not think once again before you download and install a VirtualBox Extension Pack.
Downloading and installing the extension Pack on all platforms
Downloading the extension Pack for VirtualBox
Step 1: Visit the official website of VirtualBox, which is https://www.VirtualBox.org/, and click on “Downloads” on the left panel of the webpage.
Step 2: Find out VirtualBox Extension Pack, and click on the link, which says “All Supported Platforms”, in order to start downloading the extension Pack directly.
You can also click on the following link, https://download.VirtualBox.org/VirtualBox/5.2.6/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.2.6-120293.vbox-extpack, to start downloading the Extension Pack without going through all the above steps.
Installing the extension Pack for VirtualBox on Windows, Mac OS, and Ubuntu Linux
Step 1: Locate the downloaded file, and it will come with the extension “.vbox-extpack”. Double click on the file.
Step 2: A new window will open, asking you, whether you want to install the Extension Pack for VirtualBox. Just click on “Install” to start installing the Extension Pack.
Step 3: Scroll down to the end of the Terms and Conditions page and click on “I agree”.
After successful installation, you get a message as shown in the below screenshot…
Installing the extension pack on VirtualBox Portable
Note: The Portable VistualBox is only available for Windows machine. So, if you are running on Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7 then only you can follow or use the Extension pack on Portable VirtualBox.
Installing the Extension Pack on a portable version can be a little tricky, but you should know the correct method to do it.
Step 1: Open VirtualBox Portable and click on “File”
Step 2: Click on “Preferences”, which will possibly the first on the list.
Step 3: In the “Preferences” window, go to “Extensions”.
Step 4: On the right side of the window you can find “Adds New Package”. Click on that.
Step 5: Locate the VirtualBox Extension Pack, with the extension “.vbox-extpack”.
Virtualbox On Fedora 32
Step 6: Click on Install, Accept the “Terms and Conditions”, and the installation will start.
The installation will take hardly a few seconds, though it depends upon your system. Click on “OK” to finalize the installation. Once the installation is complete, you can easily configure your existing or new guest operating systems to take advantage of the extension Pack, by using all the latest features, which are available.
How to Remove or Uninstall Oracle VirtualBox Extension Pack
The above method to install Extension Pack on VirtualBox is not only limited to portable editions, but it also works perfectly on other editions. The following method can even help you to remove any old or unused Extension Pack.
Step 1: Click on File from the Virtualbox Menu and select the Preferences option.
Step 2: Select the Extension option and just select the package you want to uninstall.
Step 2: Click on cross icon to Remove Selected Package.
How To Download Fedora Virtualbox On Mac Windows 10
Step 3: Click on “Remove”, in the new window, which appears and you are done…
A final note on Oracle VM VirtualBox extension pack
As the VirtualBox extension Pack comes with the file extension “.vbox-extpack”, you should keep VirtualBox installed on your computer, to install the Extension Pack. In case you’re not having VirtualBox, the Extension Pack will not be recognized by your operating system.
Mac Install Virtualbox
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