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For a school project I need to launch Virtualbox and load Ubuntu Desktop. I downloaded 14.04 to optical drive F:, but it wants me to "erase disk and install Ubuntu".

What I'm attempting to do is: use VB with VMDK set up, launch and run Ubuntu so I can learn how to use it.

I do not want to have Ubuntu as my primary OS (just yet), since I don't know really how to use it.

Can someone guide this newby on what to do? The procedures given from school are very vague -> load VB, load Ubuntu...show host operating system and VM running Ubuntu, and become familiar with the "terminal".

Tim
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Erick S.
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  • How are you booting the installer? I hope it's in the VM. – TheWanderer Jan 29 '16 at 18:34
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    This will help you Install ubuntu on Virtualbox – Sadegh Ghasemi Jan 29 '16 at 18:40
  • I have the VB running, and was trying to start Ubuntu. Instead of "try Ubuntu without install", I need to have Ubuntu program available to run in VM for future school projects and assignments. – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 18:41
  • If you boot Ubuntu inside the Virtual Machine there's no problem. Check "erase disk" and install, nothing is going to happen to your actual disk. – Eduardo Cola Jan 29 '16 at 19:11
  • even though it wants to repartition my SCSI3 (0,0,0) (sda) ?? – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:12
  • I select install....it eventually brings up a window that states "if you continue the changes listed below will be written to the disk. Otherwise you will be able to make further changes manually. the partition tables of the following devices are changed: SCSI3 (0,0,0) sda the following partitions are going to be formatted: partition #1 of SCSI3 (0,0,0) (sda) as ext4 partition #5 of SCSI3 (0,0,0) (sda) as swap ...what should I do???? – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:15
  • @ErickS. I just posted an answer. Could you check through and tell me what step you have reached? If you are up to the "Click "Start" then follow the installation guide:" step, you can continue. The HDD you made when creating the VB will not affect your main one. But ensure you have done every single step before that! If you did follow all the step, you are in the VB, and the only HDD that will be reformatted is the one you created. It's a virtual HDD - so it's a file on your computer! You can find it at ~/Virtualbox VMs/VB Name/VB Name.vbox – Tim Jan 29 '16 at 19:17
  • Tim, installation done but instead of eject disk it asks to restart and then I get VB quit working. restart VB then the whole "try Ubuntu or Install Ubuntu" screen comes up again. How do I get it mapped correctly to launch Ubuntu so I can get to Terminal mode? – Erick S. Feb 01 '16 at 14:53

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You need to install into the Virtual Box:

Click "New" in manager

Click "Expert Mode"

Give it a sensible name, and some memory (I suggest 1024 as a minimum, and no more than half what your computer has):

If the name contains "Ubuntu" it will change the Type and Version to eb Linux and Ubuntu.

Click Create, then chose the storage you want it to have (I suggest 10GB as a minimum). Ensure VDI and Dynamically Allocated are selected:

Select it and then click Settings. In the sidebar, click "Storage" then "Empty", with the CD () icon:

Click the CD with a dropdown () next to "IDE Secondary Master" then "Chose Virtual Optical Disk Drive", and browse to the downloaded .iso file. Click Open, then OK in the Settings window:

Click "Start" then follow the installation guide:

You want to install Ubuntu, so follow the steps. You do want to Erase Disk and install Ubuntu this time, so click Continue at this screen:

Wait for it to install.

When you have installed Ubuntu, it will ask you to Remove Disk and press Enter. To do this, click Devices (in the top bar), then Optical Drives, then "Remove disk from virtual drive". Click in the window and press Enter.

You will then be able to boot ubuntu in Virtualbox!

Tim
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  • Tim, I don't see a " . iso " file to select .... there is an .exe file or an "autorun.inf" file....now what? – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:31
  • @ErickS. Did you download Ubuntu 14.04? http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop – Tim Jan 29 '16 at 19:37
  • yes, I did ... 14.04.3 – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:40
  • I went ahead and hit "continue" after the stuff regarding partition #1 SCSI3 and partition #5 SCSI3 ...it looks like it's loading and now at the "any questions" part while retrieving file x of xx ..... sure hope I didn't just jack up my new laptop !! – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:44
  • :) Hope so, let's see what happens! – Tim Jan 29 '16 at 19:44
  • yeah, hoping for the best considering I'm totally new at this stuff !! guess that's why I'm taking classes to learn more.... – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:45
  • @ErickS. Nice. I've been using Ubuntu for 5 years now - and there are lots of other very, very experienced people here! We're always happy to help with any Ubuntu problem, and you can ping me here if you have a new question you've posted - just use @Tim! – Tim Jan 29 '16 at 19:47
  • it's now retrieving file 45 of 57 ... fingers crossed this works. appreciate the help. when this is done, I still need to "remove disk from virtual box" top bar item, and then I should be good to go any time I select Ubuntu 14.04.3 in my VB ?? – Erick S. Jan 29 '16 at 19:50
  • @ErickS. Yes! It's pretty cool IMO that you can have a computer inside another! I use Windows 10 in VB for my school work, and it's so much better than dual booting for me. – Tim Jan 29 '16 at 19:57
  • Tim, it never asks me to "remove disk" after installation...only to restart it. when I do a restart, then my VB stops working. I restart VB and try to start Ubuntu 14.04 and it wants to INSTALL the whole thing over again. I even tried re-mapping to the .iso instead of the virtual drive F:. – Erick S. Feb 01 '16 at 14:45
  • now what? I have tried these procedures on two different laptops (ASUS and a Toshiba) with the same exact results. it wants to install all over again.....I'm just trying to get into the Ubuntu program and then find the TERMINAL ...that way I can enter the command "uname - a" – Erick S. Feb 01 '16 at 14:46
  • are you definitely using a virtual box? – Tim Feb 01 '16 at 17:52
  • absolutely. I have even (now) attempted to map the load to the .iso file that is locate on the C: drive under downloads. Now it goes all the way through the loading process until the point of "restart now"...then I get a "wait-for-state stop/wait....." window. in the bottom of that DOS looking window, I see a all processes ended within 2 seconds...unmounting temporary filesystems...then "ModemManager[1294]: caught signal, shutting down...ModemManager[1294]: could not acquire the 'org.freedesktop.modemmanager1' service name – Erick S. Feb 02 '16 at 01:06
  • got it.....had to de-select the optical drive after rebooting the machine....and now IT WORKS....time to learn some Ubuntu stuff !! – Erick S. Feb 02 '16 at 01:53
  • Good luck, have fun! – Tim Feb 02 '16 at 11:46
  • appreciate all the help trying to figure out this Ubuntu. In the end, I got it to work and was able to partion virtual drives and learn quite a bit about the program. very useful !! – Erick S. Apr 16 '16 at 20:48
  • @ErickS. Excellent :-) – Tim Apr 16 '16 at 20:48