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Installing Windows 7 under Virtual Box

1.  Obtaining a Windows 7 installation disk

Students can download either the 32 bit or 64 bit windows install ISO image from ECECIS servers. After Windows has been installed, you will need to activate it using a purchased key or one obtained though DreamSpark.

Faculty and staff can download ISO images from UDeploy. Be sure to get the license key for Windows from the same location.

2.  Create the virtual machine (VM)

  1. Download the install ISO.
  2. Run the VirtualBox application. You will now configure a new virtual machine to use the hard disk image downloaded above.
    1. Click the New button. This will start up the New Virtual Machine Wizard. Click Next.
    2. Enter a name for this virtual machine. This name is only for keeping track of virtual machines within VirtualBox. Choose Microsoft Windows as the Operating System and Windows 7 as the version (these are the default settings). Click Next.
  1. Enter the amount of memory you wish to allocate to this VM. The recommended minimum is 512MB, but if you are going to run any significant applications, you should increase this amount. The amount of memory may be changed later, so getting it exactly right now is not critical. Note that it is not recommended to set the amount of memory available to the VM to more than half the physical memory of your host system, as this can cause significant slowdowns in the host system. Click Next.
  1. Set up the virtual hard disk for your virtual machine. Choose Create new hard disk and click Next. Select Dynamically expanding storage and click Next. Select the desired size of the virtual disk. The recommended minimum is 8BG, but this will not leave much room for additional programs or data. Choose a larger size based on your needs. Note that the disk file will only occupy as much space on your host system as is used in the virtual disk, it will initally be smaller than the size specified here. Click Next when done.
  1. It is also possible to resize a virtual hard disk later from the command line, using the VBoxManage modifyhd command. See the documentation page here for detailed instructions.
  2. Verify the settings and click Finish.
  1. You're now in the VirtualBox manager. Click on Settings then Storage and click on the image of a CD/DVD labeled Empty. In the Attributes pane, select the image of a CD/DVD disk and choose Select a virtual CD/DVD disk file.... Then, select the ISO image you downloaded.
  1. If you wish, you can start the virtual machine right away by clicking Start. The virtual disk image is only 10GB large, however, so it probably is not appropriate for storing your actual user data. The best way to handle that is by sharing one or more local folders with the virtual machine. It is not recommended to share your entire disk or your entire home folder with the virtual machine because that may permit security problems in the guest OS to "leak" out to your host OS. To share a folder:
    1. Click Settings.
    2. Click Shared Folders.
    3. Click the + superimposed on a folder icon on the right to add a new shared folder.
    4. Next to the Folder Path, select Other to open a file browser. Choose the folder you wish to export to the virtual machine. If you don't like the default Folder Name, you may change it (this is the name the share will appear as in My Computer in the VM). If you do not want the VM to be able to write to this folder, check the Read-only box.
  1. Click OK. Or you can take this opportunity to poke around the other configuration options.

3.  Install Windows 7

  1. Start the VM by clicking the green Start arrow. Read and acknowledge the notice about Auto capture keyboard. After a few moments, you'll see Windows start booting in a VM Window. There should be a message about mouse pointer integration that you should read and acknowledge. Take care to note it's warnings, if your escape key is not properly set or not present on your particular keyboard, you may become stuck inside the VM. Mouse pointer integration (seamless passing of the mouse from host to VM) can be enabled by installing drivers after windows is installed.
  2. You will be asked to Press any key to boot to the windows installer, do this.
  3. Once the windows installer has booted up (this can take considerable time for some unknown reason) you will be presented with the Install Windows screen. Click Install Windows.
  4. Select the Custom (advanced) install option.
  1. Select Disk 0 Unallocated Space as the install destination and click Next. Windows will then procede to install inside your virtual machine. This will take some time, depending on the power of your host system.
  1. After installation has completed, the VM will reboot itself and you will be able to set up your Windows computer name, username, and password.

4.  Obtain Windows 7 license and activate your installation

Once your new VM has finished rebooting, you must activate windows by entering your key.

4.1  Students

  1. Go to the DreamSpark webiste and log in with your ECE/CIS account name and password.
  2. Click the Software tab at the top.
  3. Select either Windows 7 Professional (x86) or Windows 7 Professional (x64) depending on which ISO image you used to install the VM (x86 is 32-bit, x64 is 64-bit), and click Go.
  4. Select Download, click Add to Cart, and Agree to the licence agreement.
  5. In the shopping cart, click Check Out, and Next at the following screen.
  6. In the order summary, click the Download link. Here you will be provided with the serial number required for activation of Windows.

4.2  Faculty and staff

As noted, faculty and staff can obtain the license key from UDeploy

If you are not prompted for your license key, start the Windows VM. Right click on Computer from the start menu and select properties. Choose Change product key from the resulting GUI.

5.  Install VirtualBox Guest Additions and configure Windows

After Windows has been set up, you should install the VirtualBox Guest Additions by selecting the Device menu and choosing Install Guest Additions. This will make certain things faster in the VM, and enable seamless mouse integration among other features.

Network access is provided by a virtual network card to a non-routable network which uses NAT (Network Address Translation) to connect to the internet. NAT is not precisely a firewall, but it will protect the VM from most network-based attacks.

Folders which have been shared from your host machine may be mapped as if they were network drives. To do so, open a Windows Explorer window, then under the Tools menu, select Map network drive. In the resulting "wizard", select any drive letter (the default is probably okay), and click Browse next to Folder. Click the + beside Entire Network (if it is not already expanded), then click + beside VitualBox Shared Folders. After a moment, you should see one or more entries of the form \\VBOXSVR\sharename where sharename will be whatever you chose as the Folder Name above. Click on that entry (not the + beside it, unless you wish to select a sub-folder), and click OK.

You may now use the Windows 7 VM as you would any Windows machine. If you intend to make extensive customizations, be sure to either turn on Automatic Updates or check for software updates on a regular basis.


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Page last modified on June 10, 2013, at 05:27 PM