AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Virtual Machine On Usb Drive3/19/2021
This time, itll take you straight to the VirtualBox software.But on occasion, you might want to boot up a second operating system for security reasons, testing purposes, or compatibility with specific software.Technical details typically restrict that alternate OS to a single PC, however.
But using a fork of Oracles popular VirtualBox virtualization software, known as Portable VirtualBox, you dont have to limit secondary operating systems to a single computer or boot it up separately from Windows. Instead, you can pack it onto a portable USB drive and load it up on any PC while Windows runs in the background, like a virtualized version of the Windows to Go option found in Windows 8 Enterprise. Portable VirtualBox is fairly easy to set up, though it does require attention to a few key details. Well walk you through it, and outline some of the main concerns with running a virtual machine on a portable USB drive. That shouldnt be a problem if youre setting this up at home, but its not the most practical solution for enterprise users, because the IT manager would need to be around to plug in a password. VirtualBox also consumes a certain amount of hard drive space and memoryboth of which you can adjust when setting it upas well as processing power. That means youll need a big-enough USB drive to contain whatever operating system you install1.5GB for Windows XP and 5GB for Ubuntu, to name a couple of examplesand you might have problems using a virtual machine on a five year-old netbook with limited resources. To reformat a drive, right-click it in Windows Explorer, select Format and choose NTFS under the File System menu. This will delete all the drives contents, so make doubly sure youre formatting on the USB drive you intend to use, and not any other drive on your system. Virtual Hine On Usb Drive Download Portable VirtualBoxSetting up Portable VirtualBox Once your USB drive is ready, download Portable VirtualBox. Open the file and extract the software to your USB drive. You can also extract the files to another directory, and then paste the newly created folder into your USB drive.) Now, look in that directory and open Portable-VirtualBox.exe. Virtual Hine On Usb Drive Download Installation FilesA window will pop up, with a huge Download installation files of VirtualBox button at the top. Click this button. While youre waiting, click the Extract files box for 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems, depending on the computers youre planning to use with VirtualBox. Check theStart Portable-VirtualBox after the extract andor compress box. Now stop Heres one potentially confusing part of this process: Once the files are finished downloading, click the OK button in the bottom left corner. Do not click the Exit button on the bottom right corner, and do not click the new VirtualBox.exe file that has appeared in your installation directory. If you see an installation wizard, youre on the wrong track. It can take several minutes for Portable VirtualBox to extract and install the necessary files, and theres no progress bar to let you know how things are going. You may even hear a few error-like Windows sounds during the installation. Ignore those If you try to quit prematurely, things can crash and you may have to start all over again. Just sit tight until you see the VirtualBox splash screen pop up. You can do this by opening the notification area of the Windows taskbar, right-clicking the Portable VirtualBox button, and clicking Quit. You can also tweak settings such as network support from this same right-click menu. Network and USB support are disabled by default.) To re-open Portable VirtualBox, click on the same Portable-VirtualBox.exe file on your flash drivethe one that previously led to the setup screen.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |