About Oracle VirtualBox
VirtualBox – virtualizer of hardware. Using this app you can run another OS, for example, Windows or Linux in virtual machine on MacBook
VirtualBox 5.1 macOS hosts
Supported hosts: 10.9 (Mavericks), 10.10 (Yosemite), 10.11 (El Capitan).
Supported guest operating systems
Windows, macOS, DOS, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OS/2.
Downloading VirtualBox
Installing VirtualBox
- Double-click on disk image file
- Double-click on VirtualBox.mpkg icon to start installation
- After installation you can find VirtualBox.app in Applications folder
Downloading and install Extension Pack
With installed Extension Pack you can add several features to the virtual machine:
- The USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 support
- VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP)
- Host webcam passthrough
- Intel PXE boot ROM
- Disk image encryption with AES algorithm
VirtualBox Manager
In this window you can create, start and control your virtual machine (VM).
Create virtual machine
- Click New button to create VM
- Enter name and select OS
- Select memory size
- Hard Disk – click Create
- Select disk type: VDI
- Select Dynamically allocated
- Select disk size and click Create
New VM is ready to start and install guest operating system. You can find VM files in Home – VirtualBox VMs.
Now you can configure virtual machine preferences and install guest OS. As an sample, you can install virtual Windows 7 or free web hosting with Ubuntu Server. To get all the power of the virtual machine – do not forget to install Guest Additions.
Guest Additions
Guest Additions can be installed in guest OS to provide closer integration with macOS and get: Mouse pointer integration, Shared folders, Better video support, Seamless windows, Time synchronization, Shared clipboard, Automated logons.
Virtual disk drives
Formats of virtual hard disk
VirtualBox supports formats of hard disks:
- VDI – VirtualBox native disk type
- VMDK – container format VMware
- VHD – format used by Microsoft
- HDD – format files of Parallels
Two options of creating VDI disk image:
- Fixed-size – full size file
- Dynamically allocated – grow size file
Virtual Media Manager
In Virtual Media Manager you can copy, remove or modify: Hard disk images, CD/DVD ISO, Floppy RAW
Differencing images
When you make snapshot virtual machine – state of the disk freezes and differencing disk creates. A differencing disk – is a special disk image that only holds the differences.
Virtual image write modes
- Normal read/write
- Write-through hard disks
- Shareable hard disks
- Immutable images
- Multiattach mode
- Read-only mode
Network hardware
Supported network modes: NAT, Bridge, Internal, Host-only.
Uninstall VirtualBox
- Double-click on disk image file VirtualBox.dmg
- Double-click on the uninstall icon
- Enter Yes in Terminal