Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Previously we downloaded the ISO file for Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon Edition, created a bootable USB flash drive using this file, and looked at how to try out the features of the distro by simply booting into the live-USB version of Mint. This time, we will use the ISO file to create a Linux virtual machine (VM) directly on our Windows 10 desktop using Oracle’s VirtualBox virtualization software package.
From the VirtualBox web site (https://www.virtualbox.org), click on the blue box labelled Download VirtualBox 7.0. On the following page, we will download two files, firstly VirtualBox-7.0.4-154605-Win.exe, using the Windows hosts link under VirtualBox 7.0.4 platform packages. We will also download Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.4.vbox-extpack, using the All supported platforms link under VirtualBox 7.0.4 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack.
We can install VirtualBox by double-clicking on VirtualBox-7.0.4-154605-Win.exe and accepting the defaults offered by the installation wizard. The installation proceeds very rapidly and we click on Finish to complete the process. Running the newly-installed program displays the main VirtualBox window.
Our first task is to install the extension pack that we downloaded. The process is pretty simple; we just double-click on the file Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-7.0.4.vbox-extpack. However, if you are running Windows on a regular user’s account, note that there is no Run as administrator option; you must be actually logged in as an administrator to install the extension pack. Once again, a wizard guides us through the installation process. Note also that it is necessary to read (or at least scroll down to the end of) the licence agreement before the I Agree button is activated. Once the installation is complete, control is returned to the main program window, and we are ready to create our first virtual machine.
First, we need to set up the parameters for the VM. Clicking on the New icon brings up a dialogue box where we can enter Linux Mint 21 as the Name of our machine and then browse, using the drop-down menu in ISO Image, for our downloaded distro file linuxmint-21-cinnamon-64bit.iso. This sets Type as Linux and Version as Ubuntu (64-bit). While the latter designation may seem odd given that we are installing Mint, we should be aware that Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu Linux so the selection is not unreasonable.
Clicking on Next brings up a further dialogue box where we can customize our installation. We can overwrite the Username and Password with values that make sense to us rather than leaving the default entries. We should also select the Guest Additions checkbox that will optimize the installed OS. The wizard doesn’t seem to like the Hostname of Linux Mint 21 so, in order to continue with the installation, we need to remove the spaces and make this entry LinuxMint21 before we can click on Next.
The subsequent screens set up the parameters for the VM, including the amount of memory, the number of processors, and disk size, In this first instance of installing a VM, we will accept the default values for all of these and just keep clicking on Next to continue until we reach the Summary screen where we can click on Finish.
The main program window now shows that a Linux Mint 21 virtual machine is available, and this is automatically powered up to display a second window showing the GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) menu. We can then press Enter to use the first menu option Start Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon 64-bit to fire up Mint 21 as our VM.
A pop-up message indicates Mouse integration. Clicking on this text displays details of the advisory which tells us that the guest OS (Linux Mint) supports mouse pointer integration. This simplifies use of the mouse in both the VM and on the Windows 10 desktop as the operations between the two are completely seamless. Otherwise, it is necessary to “capture” the mouse pointer in the VM and subsequently restore the mouse function to the Windows desktop using various control-key sequences. To remove the advisory message, click on the Delete finished notifications icon in the top-right corner of the pop-up window.
Now, while we appear to have a virtual machine running Linux Mint, we haven’t actually installed Linux on the VM. The current state is like booting a computer using a live-USB. However, before we do install Linux, let’s first check that we have an Internet connection.
Click on the icon in the panel to run the Firefox web browser. Two tabs will be displayed, one indicating Welcome to Firefox, and the other headed Firefox Privacy Notice. Selecting this second tab shows that the page has been loaded from https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/ which confirms that we have web connectivity.
So, now let’s double-click on the Install Linux Mint icon on the VM’s desktop, and start the installation process of the Linux Mint operating system.
A Welcome screen offers us an option to read the release notes for Mint 21, but we can readily forego this. Instead, note that the default selection for language is English so we can simply press Continue to proceed. Similarly, the subsequent screen has English (US) as the default entry for the Keyboard layout, so once again we can press Continue.
On the next screen, check Install multimedia codecs and press Continue.
The subsequent screen is labelled Installation type, and wants to know on which disk or partition Linux is to be installed. The default is Erase disk and install Linux Mint. Normally, when using the computer’s hard disk, I would opt to install Linux on a separate partition; however, since we are using a virtual machine, running on a virtual disk, it is perfectly fine to use the entire virtual disk for the installation. Pressing Install Now brings up a screen asking Write the changes to disk? At which point we can once again press Continue.
Now a screen asks Where are you? for which Toronto may be the default (based on the location of your Internet Service Provider’s server). The actual city is irrelevant since Linux really wants to know in which time zone you are located. Responding with Toronto establishes EST/EDT.
The final user-input screen wants entries for Your Name, Your computer’s name, Pick a username, and Choose a password. Enter your preferred values for each of these items. You can use anything you wish for your name and the computer’s name. The username must begin with a lowercase letter although, subsequently, you will not normally be prompted for the username (i.e. entering the username is not required to login to the system). Note that, by default, the checkbox labelled Require my password to login is activated. So, if you accept this default, make special note of the login password that you selected as this will be required to log in (and for any subsequent root operations). With the data entries complete, press Continue one last time.
A series of information screens is now displayed as a progress bar indicates that the installation of the OS is proceeding. Eventually, an Installation Complete pop-up dialogue box asks Continue Testing or Restart Now. We will restart the VM and proceed with trying the features of Linux Mint just as though we have installed the operating system on a real computer.
We can ignore the instruction to remove the installation medium. The VM reboots and requests the password that we selected during the installation. The first screen includes the Welcome to Linux Mint tutorial. You can click through the items listed on the left-side menu, but it’s also useful to uncheck the box labelled Show this dialog at startup on this initial screen to prevent the information being repeated ad nauseum.
The final screen should look familiar. It’s basically the first screen that is displayed when a live-USB is booted, minus the option to install Linux (which we have just done!). However, the Linux VM performs pretty much like a version of Linux installed on a hard disk. In particular, the virtual hard drive allows files to be created and stored. It will even retain these files when the VM is shut down, and so provides a more real-world Linux experience.
Our next step will be to physically install Linux on our computer’s hard drive; however, we are going to do this in a way that will preserve the Windows’ installation, and allow the use of either operating system.