How to Install VirtualBox on Ubuntu 19.10/18.10/18.04/17.10

In this article, we will examine how to install Oracle VM VirtualBox, which allows you to install virtual machines on Ubuntu system.

How to Setup Oracle VM VirtualBox on Ubuntu

Oracle VM VirtualBox allows you to set up and run virtual machines on the operating system you are using.

Once you have installed VBox and installed a new machine, you can start installing the operating system by integrating the ISO files of operating systems such as Windows, Linux or MacOS into this VM.

VirtualBox is a free and popular virtualization software and is also defined in the Hypervisor Type 2 virtualization group.

The greatest advantage of the Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization program is that it is open source and completely free. In our previous article, we discussed How to Install VirtualBox on Windows 10. In this article, we will provide the steps to install and configure VBox on Linux based Ubuntu.

After installing VirtualBox, we will install the Extension Pack required for this software. And finally, we’ll take steps to set up the VM on Ubuntu.

NOTE: You can also install Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.0.10 on your system by following the steps in this article.

How to Run Oracle VM VirtualBox on Ubuntu 19.10 / 18.10 / 18.04

Follow the steps below to setup Oracle VM VBox on your Ubuntu PC.

   Step 1

To download VB for Linux systems, click on https://www.virtualbox.org/ and click on Linux distributions in Downloads.

   Step 2

On the Download VB for Linux Hosts page, click on Ubuntu (“Bionic”) AMD64.

   Step 3

After downloading VB to your computer, press Ctrl + Alt + T together to open Terminal and execute the dpkg -i VirtualBox-5.2_5.2.8-121009~Ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb command.

dpkg -i virtualbox-5.2_5.2.8-121009~Ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb

   Step 4

After extracting the .deb package, run the apt-get -f install command to start the setup.

apt-get -f install

   Step 5

Press Y to confirm additional disk space and press Enter.

   Step 6

After setting Oracle VM VBox, type virtualbox in Terminal to start the program and press Enter.

   Step 7

Oracle VBox will open as shown below.

   Step 8

You can learn Oracle VB version from Help / About.

How to Build Extension Pack

After setting VBox on Linux, you need to build the Extension Pack. The main purpose of installing the Extension Pack is to use the VMs more effectively. After installing the Extension Pack, you can exchange files between your VM and physical computer, and also use the VM in full-screen mode.

   Step 1

Click https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads to download the Extension Pack and then download to your computer by clicking the All supported platforms option in the Oracle Ext Pack.

   Step 2

After downloading the Extension Pack, open VB and click File / Preferences. Then click on the + symbol in the Extensions section of the VB Preferences window.

   Step 3

Select the Extension Pack you downloaded and click the Open button.

   Step 4

Click on the Install button to start the Ext Pack setup.

   Step 5

Accept the VBox license agreement.

   Step 6

Type your Ubuntu system root password and click Authenticate.

   Step 7

Installation of Oracle Software Extension Pack has been successfully completed!

How to Install Oracle VM Software ⇒ Video

To install VirtualBox, you can watch the following video and also subscribe to our YouTube channel to support us…

How to Install Oracle VM Software on Ubuntu 18.10 ⇒ Video

The installation of Oracle VB on Ubuntu 18.10 also covers the above stages. To install VirtualBox and the Extension software, you can watch the following video!

How to Install VirtualBox 5.0.x / 6.0.x on Ubuntu 17.10 / 17.04

You can also install and use Oracle software in older versions of Ubuntu. Keep your Linux computer up-to-date at all times. If you still prefer to use the older version, you can install this virtualization software on your system.

   Step 1

First, click on https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads to download the VBox program for Ubuntu. And you will see the following image. Click on Linux distributions as shown below.

   Step 2

Linux distributions will be listed as below and download the appropriate version according to the hardware specifications of your computer.

   Step 3

Download the required file for installing the Ubuntu VBox Guest Additions by clicking All supported platforms.

   Step 4

After downloading the VM program for Ubuntu to your computer, open the Terminal on the Ubuntu desktop. Use the cd Desktop command to switch to the desktop from the terminal, and then execute the following command to start the installation on Ubuntu.

[email protected]:~$ sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-5.1_5.1.28-117968-Ubuntu-zesty_amd64.deb

   Step 5

After creating the installation files, clean the Terminal screen by pressing Ctrl + L.

   Step 6

Now, use the following command to install Oracle VM software.

[email protected]:~$ sudo apt-get -f install

   Step 7

The installation started as you see in the image below. It reported that new packages will download and install it. Press Y (Yes) button to start the installation.

   Step 8

After the required packages have been downloaded and installed, press Ctrl + L to clear the terminal console.

   Step 9

To start it in Linux, type virtualbox in the Terminal and press Enter.

   Step 10

Installation of Oracle VM VBox in Ubuntu has been completed. You can check the program version from Help/About.

How to Install Extension Pack

We downloaded Extension Pack via our official site. Now let’s add it to the VBox program.

   Step 1

Double-click on the package to start installing the guest additions.

   Step 2

Click the Install button in the info window.

   Step 3

Accept the Oracle license agreement by clicking on the I Agree button.

   Step 4

Type in the Root password for your Ubuntu operating system and click on the Authenticate button.

   Step 5

VBox ext pack installation has completed. Click the OK button to close the information window.

How to Create New Virtual Machine in Ubuntu

After installing Oracle software and extension package on the Linux system, let’s create a new virtual machine in Ubuntu.

   Step 1

Open the VirtualBox virtual machine program and click the New button.

   Step 2

Type in your operating system name you will install and select the operating system version from the version section.

   Step 3

Specify the amount of RAM for the virtual machine and click on the Next button.

   Step 4

To add a hard disk to the virtual machine, select Create a virtual hard disk now and click the Create button.

   Step 5

Continue by selecting the VDI option as the virtual machine hard disk type.

   Step 6

Continue by selecting the Dynamically allocated option on the Storage on physical hard disk window.

   Step 7

If you want to change the virtual machine hard disk location, you can change it in the File location and size window.

   Step 8

We have completed the steps to create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox. From this step, you can start the Windows 7 operating system installation by integrating the ISO file.

How to Configure VirtualBox Step by Step  ⇒ Video

You can watch the video below to run VirtualBox on your Linux PC and subscribe our YouTube channel to support us!

   Final Word

In this article, we’ve discussed how to set up Oracle VM VBox virtualization software in Linux systems. Thanks for following us!

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