Running a Windows 10 (x64) virtual machine inside the Ubuntu 23.10

In this article we are going to discuss how to install windows 10 virtual machine inside Ubuntu

We will be looking at the details of running a guest windows operating system inside the Linux operating system.

The software that we are going to use to run the guest windows operating system in Linux is a freely available software called Virtual Box. The Virtual Box can be downloaded from the software page by visiting Oracle VM VirtualBox.

Virtual Box is a virtualization software that divides the computing resources between the two operating systems. Virtual Box is a powerful virtualization software that currently can be used on Windows, Linux and Solaris hosts, and support a vast array of guest operating systems. The Virtual Box is being maintained by the Oracle company, that ensures that the product meets the professional quality. Utility-wise, Virtual Box is a resource-intensive that requires at least a dual-core-CPU, and 8 GB RAM, because these resources are going to be split between the two operating systems.

Install Virtual Box

Let’s install virtual box. After visiting the software page, download the Virtual Box software. When you click the download button, it will open a windows to chose the host operating system that we are virtualizing.

Under the VirtualBox platform packages, choose the Linux distributions. Download the appropriate VirtualBox from the downloads page.

VirtualBox for the various supported Linux distributions.

Once the the VirtualBox has been downloaded, go to the folder containing the installation file. You may notice that this is a .deb file. In order to install the .deb file, you need to install the GDebi tool. GDebi tool helps you install the local deb packages.

GDebi does not come with Ubuntu by default, and can be installed via Terminal command.

sudo apt install gdebi -y

Once the GDebi package Installer is available, as a GUI, open the .deb file with GDebi.

Once the installation is successfully finished, the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager window appears.

Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager main window

Installing VM VirtualBox extension Pack

This VirtualBox extension pack can be installed to extend the functionality of the Oracle VM VirtualBox base package. Installing the VM VirtualBox extension pack can help us use USB 2.0 and/ or USB 3.0 on the Virtual Machine. This is a very useful stuff to have. When you download the VM VirtualBox extension pack, it should be the same version as the VirtualBox. It can be downloaded by clicking the downloads link.

Once the extension pack has been downloaded, click Install, and choose the extension pack file, downloaded.

Installing the VirtualBox Extension Pack

Once the installation of the extension package is completed, you can see the installed package, listed with a green tick by the side of it.

Installed VirtualBox Extension Pack

Checking if virtualization is enabled/ disabled in the BIOS

It is important to check whether our computer’s CPU supports virtualization. This can be directly verified in the BIOS settings. In older machines, Under the advanced BIOS features, one can enable the Virtualization feature, if it is seen disabled. In some other BIOS versions, you may go to the advanced features and turn the Intel Virtualization Technology enabled.

If you are a Linux user, this can be checked on the command line.

First of all, install the cpu-checker.

$sudo apt-get update
$sudo apt-get install cpu-checker

Once it is installed, enter the following command.

$kvm-ok

It it return the following message, then the virtualization is supported.

INFO: /dev/kvm exists
KVM acceleration can be used

Otherwise, if the message that appears is as follows, then it means the Virtualization is disabled by the BIOS.

INFO: /dev/kvm does not exist
HINT:   sudo modprobe kvm_intel
INFO: Your CPU supports KVM extensions
INFO: KVM (vmx) is disabled by your BIOS
HINT: Enter your BIOS setup and enable Virtualization Technology (VT),
      and then hard poweroff/poweron your system
KVM acceleration can NOT be used

Installing the guest operating system

Now, we need to install the guest windows operating system. The windows operating system can be downloaded as an ISO file. Once the ISO file for the guest operating system is downloaded, it is time for creating a new virtual machine.

We need to click the “New” option under the “Machine” tab.

In the Create Virtual Machine box, enter the name. If you are going to create a virtual machine for Windows 10, then you should name it as Windows 10. Then you need to select the ISO file for the guest operating system; in this case Windows 10.

Once all the information entered, click the “Next” button. At this step, it will ask whether Windows needs to be installed unattendedly or not. If the guest Windows is installed Unattendedly, your user won’t be added to the sudo group.

Modifying Virtual Machine’s Hardware

Now, we need to modify Virtual Machine’s hardware. You may modify the hardware allocation for both Virtual Machine and Processors.

Setting up the Base Memory and Processor allocation for the Virtual Machine

Next, we can add a virtual hard disk to the new machine. You can create a new virtual hard disk or use an existing virtual hard disk. It is also possible to create a virtual machine without a virtual hard disk.

Allocation of Virtual Hard drive for the Virtual Machine

In the create a virtual Machine box, a summary of the Virtual Machine appears as follows. It features the name of the guest OS, the path to the Virtual Machine, Base memory and the Processor allocation and the size-allocation of the disk.

Summary of configuration of the VirtualMachine.

Here we are!

Now the virtual machine has been created.

Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager Window showing the features of the VirtualMachine

Now double click the Virtual Machine, and you can see the installation of the guest OS begin.

Once the guest operating system is installed, you will see Windows - Oracle VM VirtualBox. You can toggle between Fullscreen view and compact view, by pressing the Ctrl+F key combination, or by selecting the Fullscreen option under the View tab.

Clipboard and Folder Sharing

Let’s see how folder sharing can be performed. Before that let’s shutdown the Windows virtual machine, exactly in the same way how a normally-installed Windows is shutdown.

Once it is shutdown, you can notice a label “Power Off” on the Windows VM, in the Virtual Box.

Guest Windows 10 Virtual Operating System is in Power off state.

Now click the Settings button, and it opens the Settings window.

Let’s see how clipboard sharing can be set to bidirectional, so that texts copied can be transferred bidirectionally.

Once the Windows 10 settings window opens, under the general tab, click the Advanced tab. Turn the Shared Clipboard option to Bidirectional.

window virtual box settings - General Tab

There are also options: Host to Guest, Guest to Host, and Disabled.

Now, let’s share folders.

Go to the Shared Folders. And, you see the following window.

Windows virtual settings - Shared Folders Tab

On this window, you can see a small blue folder with a green plus icon. Click it. And, it opens a small window, titled: “Add Share”.

Add Share window where the folder to be shared can be specified

Here, you can choose the path to the folder to be shared. Once the folder path has been selected, click the Auto Mount option. Click OK.

Once back in the Virtual Box Manager window, click on the Insert Guest Additions CD Image. This will create a virtual optical disk. In the file explorer, click the optical disk drive, and it opens a folder. Select the VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe file and execute it.

Once the execution is completed, restart the machine, to enable access to the shared folder.