Pages

Sunday, January 29, 2012

How to run Ubuntu inside Windows using Virtual Machine


What is Virtual Machine?
A virtual machine (VM) is a "completely isolated guest operating system installation within a normal host operating system".They allow  you to run one operating system emulated within another operating system. 
In this case :
Guest Operating System: Ubuntu 11.04
Host Operating System : Windows 7


Some of the popular Virtual Machine:

1. VirtualBox (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free): VirtualBox has a loyal following thanks to a combination of a free-as-in-beer price tag, cross-platform support, and a huge number of features that make running and maintaining virtual machines a breeze.
Read More: https://www.virtualbox.org/

2.  Parallels (Windows/Mac/Linux, $79.99): Although best known for the Mac version of their virtual machine software, Parallels also runs virtualization on Windows and Linux.
Read More: http://www.parallels.com/

3. Windows Virtual PC(Windows, Free): Compared to the other any-OS-under-the-sun virtual machine applications in this week's Hive Five, Windows Virtual PC is a tame offering. Windows Virtual PC exists solely to emulate other—usually earlier—versions of Windows. If you need to run an app that only works under Windows XP or test software for backwards compatibility with Vista, Windows Virtual Machine has you covered. It's limited, true, but for people working in a strictly Windows environment —and most of the world still is—it gets the job done. Note: Virtual PC is availabls as Virtual PC 2004, Virtual PC 2007, and Windows Virtual PC
Read More : http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

4. QEMU (Linux, Free) : QEMU is a powerful virtualization tool for Linux machines built upon the back of the KVM system (Kernel-based Virtual Machine).
Read More: http://wiki.qemu.org/Main_Page

5. VMware (Windows/Linux, Basic: Free, Premium: $189):  VMware for desktop users comes in two primary flavors: VMware Player and VMware Workstation. VMware Player is a free solution aimed at casual users who need to create and run virtual machines but don't need advanced enterprise-level solutions. VMware Workstation includes all the features of VMWare Player—easy virtual machine creation, hardware optimization, driver-less guest OS printing—and adds in the ability to clone machines, take multiple snapshots of the guest OS, and a replay changes made to the guest OS for testing software and recording the results within the virtual machine. You can read more about VMware Player here and VMware Workstation here.
Read More:
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/


How to Run Ubuntu on Virtual Machine ?

Guest Operating System : Ubuntu 11.04
Host Operarting System : Windows 7

Steps
1. Download the ISO file of Ubuntu 11.04 from http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download
2. Download the VirtualBox Sofware for the appropriate Host OS. In our case host operating System: Windows 7