VirtualBox is an interesting virtualization program that can be very useful if you want to explore different operating systems simultaneously without risk. Let's review the requirements for installing VirtualBox here.
VirtualBox, systems within systems without breaks
When we think about the requirements for installing VirtualBox, we might imagine demands that would far exceed our modest computers. The concept of having a system within another system certainly seems quite cumbersome and requires a lot of processing power that we might not be able to provide. But this initial feeling largely fades when we find out what a system like VirtualBox is really all about.
What is the VirtualBox system? VirtualBox is open source, free download software developed by Oracle Corporation for virtualization purposes. This is nothing more than the ability to emulate technological resources without having to go all the way through resets, incompatibilities and long installations.
In this case, VirtualBox is specifically designed to virtualize operating systems within others, in a host / guest system structure . A Windows system, for example, can use VirtualBox to install Linux within its existing environment without requiring any further modifications. To achieve this, the application creates a virtual machine space, which uses part of the computer's hard drive to host the system and keep it running.
The purposes that make these processes extremely useful often lie in the need to test a system or part of its applications before actually incorporating it into the team. Similarly, if it is required for personal or professional reasons to execute risky configuration changes in a system, it is quite practical to be able to emulate it in this way in VirtualBox to do it. Thus, the results can be seen in real time, within a controlled space, without prejudice to the entire team.
What are the requirements to install VirtualBox on your computer?
As you can see, VirtualBox is a very useful program both for IT professionals who want to test different operating systems and for the average user who needs to have two systems available without having to create complicated disk partitions. However, like any large-scale application, it has minimum platform requirements for successful installation. Let's look at these requirements for installing VirtualBox on different types of machines.
If you have a particular interest in this wonderful software called VirtualBox, you might find it helpful to visit this other article on our website dedicated to explaining exactly what VirtualBox is . This will expand on the information presented here. Follow the link!
The installation requirements for the VirtualBox application on a Windows system are as follows:
- First, you must have a newer AMD or Intel processor, x86 or x64 series. These are the devices with just the power to allow the stable creation of a virtual machine with its own virtualized operating system.
- Second, a RAM memory of a certain entity is necessary, since each operating system that is sought to host as a guest through VirtualBox has its own technical requirements in this regard. In general, it could be said that at least 512 MB of RAM would be required. Remember that it is necessary to cover the memory not only of the previous and main operating system, but also of the new operating system called by the user through VirtualBox. You can try the installation with less memory than indicated, but remember that the performance will not be the same.
- Third, it will be necessary to take care of the disk space that the VirtualBox software will require and the space that its summoned systems will require. They are very different things, as can be seen in the following numbers. The version released for Windows of the VirtualBox system is almost tiny in size, with only 45 MB required. But the operating systems that you seek to host and reproduce on the host system can even be huge in size and take up significant disk space, GB in size.
The requirements for Mac are virtually the same. It is, on one system or another, a fairly small application, but with the potential to drag operating systems that are quite large fish and require a respectable level of memory to host them as well.
After knowing what the VirtualBox program is and also having found out its minimum installation requirements, it would only remain to know the configuration and download process itself. In the following video we can see a good presentation on how to install and configure VirtualBox.
That concludes our article on the requirements for installing VirtualBox . See you soon.