Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

Virtualisation on Windows 7 using VirtualBox.

Nov 14, 2009 11:25AM PST

Hi there, has anyone here use " VirtualBox" for virtualisation on desktop PCs?? Well, i am planning to do it on my windows 7 pro. I am glad if someone out there is willing to share his/her experience here as this is the 1st time i am using "VirtualBox".

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
I received your email
Nov 14, 2009 6:16PM PST

Running a virtualbox on Windows 7 is not something I have tried, so I can't answer your email, but I have copied it below, so I hope others here can give you advice;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hi Mark.

I have a question regarding windows 7. I am currently running win7 pro on my pc. I want to run virtualisation on my pc . I plan to use Sun Microsystem " VirttualBox". My question is after installing windows XP on VirtualBox, do i need to install all its drivers ?? Also my current antivirus program only runs in xp,so can i install it in the virtualBox??

Thank You
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good luck.

Mark

- Collapse -
I've done this.
Nov 14, 2009 10:41PM PST

I installed 7, then xp in virtual box. I didn't need any drivers as it is a virtual machine, etc. I won't duplicate the virtual box FAQ but if I was going to use it for any extended time I might install an AV in that. But since it's virtual the virus damage should be limited to that virtual box. Hope this helps.
Bob

- Collapse -
What about softwares??
Nov 17, 2009 7:20PM PST

Well actually the reason why i plan to use virtualisation on my windows 7 is because my antivirus program still have like 40++ days to expired and it is not compatible with windows 7 , also i did have some softwares that i need to run in win XP.

My question is if i install my antivirus program there on " VirtualBox" is it able to update when i click "update" ?

Thank You.
Eason

- Collapse -
Let's talk about antivirus then?
Nov 17, 2009 10:02PM PST

We have free antivirus programs such as Avast and AVG that won't cost you so I always wonder why people go without.

Back to the 40 days. When many of those expire the internet connection fails too. I am no fan of that.

Ok, will it update? Mine did.
Bob

- Collapse -
Virtualization
Nov 17, 2009 6:38AM PST
- Collapse -
VB seems to be working with the RC
Nov 17, 2009 7:09AM PST

I have the Windows 7 RC and installed Virtualbox 3.0.10. Sun touts it as supporting Windows 7, and it seems to be running fine. As you probably know, Virtualbox will run prior versions of Windows without requiring hardware virtualization. I may be mistaken, but I understand that the "XP Mode" included with 7 Pro and Ultimate uses virtual PC, and requires a CPU with virtualization technology. Lacking that feature, Virtualbox is my alternative.

That said, I haven't seen much need for a prior version of Windows. I've been playing with the RC since July, and have installed and run a lot of old programs, including Photoshop 5, Photoshop 7, and Dreamweaver 3. The only software that has not run perfectly (so far) has been a very old version of Corel Draw on a disk with a 1996 copyright marking.

- Collapse -
I got it !
Nov 17, 2009 7:16PM PST

Thank you very much for all your answers on the question. So one can just installing any OS( eg: wins XP) without any drivers on VirtualBox.

I have another question here.

Between Windows 7 " Windows XP Mode" and Sun's " VirtualBox" which is much better in terms of functionality and user-friendliness??

Eason.

- Collapse -
More on Virtualbox
Nov 17, 2009 11:05PM PST

I'm not sure what you mean by "without any drivers." My only experience is with Virtualbox, and with it, you will need some drivers and not others. For example, VB uses a virtual network adapter, and supplies whatever is needed to make it work. But VB doesn't supply the drivers for peripherals,like a printer.

In VB, the virtual computer behaves like a real, separate computer, except that it can share some resources. The virtual computer can mount one optical drive and two hard drives from the physical machine, and can use some USB devices attached to the physical machine. For other resources, like my printing, I share the printer from my physical computer, using bridged networking (one of several options within VB). The virtual computer has to have drivers for the printer, so I have also shared the C: drive from the physical computer, and just point the virtual computer to its driver files when adding the printer. This assumes, of course, that the drivers being used by the physical computer are compatible with the system you're running virtually. I've limited my experimentation to that situation, but assume it would be possible to load the drivers to the virtual hard drive, also.

I cannot compare with the Virtual PC "XP Mode." Even my experience with Virtualbox is limited (but expanding).