For those new to Linux, I highly recommend installing it first as a VirtualBox virtual machine. If something goes wrong, you simply delete the virtual machine and just try again. No risk of messing up your host operating system. We’ll call this one the guest operating machine.Īs such, VirtualBox is perfect for experimenting with Linux. Inside this virtual machine, you can install another operating system, for example a flavor of Linux. We’ll call this one the host operating system.Īfter you installed the VirtualBox application on your host operating system, you can create a new virtual machine (VM) in VirtualBox. Hmm…what does this mean? Simply put, VirtualBox is an application that enables you to install another operating system, within your current operating system. If you look up the definition of VirtualBox, you’ll find something along the lines of “VirtualBox is a free and open-source hosted hypervisor for x86 virtualization”. That way there is zero risk of messing up your current operating system. We’ll use VirtualBox to install Ubuntu as a virtual machine.

I picked the Ubuntu distribution, because it is a popular and beginner-friendly Linux based operating system. In this article, you’ll learn step-by-step how to install Ubuntu as a VirtualBox virtual machine. It’s also great for learning purposes and to just try something new.Interested in giving Linux a try? Then you came to the right place. Now, why would you want to do this? Well, there are a few reasons, the main one is to test another operating system or program in another environment without affecting your main computer. You’re basically running another computer inside your computer. A VM or “virtual machine” is essentially an emulated computer.

If you’re new to Linux and want to get your toes wet, but don’t want to live boot (article here), a VM is the next best thing. If someone has gotten into Linux, odds are their first distro was Ubuntu. Ubuntu has been around for over 16 years now and a lot of work was put into it to make it widely compatible and user friendly. When sometimes you need to run more than one computer at a time.īy far one of the most popular and beginner-friendly Linux operating systems is Ubuntu and for good reason.

Ubuntu 20.04 virtualbox windows 10