As you might have heard, yesterday Microsoft made Windows 7 beta available to public. Windows 7 is the next version of the Windows Client operating system after Vista. To know what is new and other features, read this…
People went crazy about downloading and testing this latest Microsoft kid. Microsoft servers could not handle the load and so Microsoft had to postpone the beta release to public.
But now everything seems OK and Microsoft has also removed the initial first 2.5 Million download availability cap as well.
Assuming you have already downloaded the .ISO file and got a key as well. I will go ahead and show you how you can try Windows 7 with Ubuntu using VirtualBox. Instructions should be same for any other Linux distro. And if you are using VirtualBox with Windows XP and Vista, then also you can follow this tutorial. (I have used Ubuntu in this tutorial.)

Preparation:

  1. If you haven’t already installed VirtualBox. Then go and download latest VirtualBox application (Latest version is 2.1.0 at the time of writing). It’s a 34.3 MB deb file. (Make sure you don’t have any previous version already installed. Else uninstall that first.)
    The one available in Synaptic is old, so please don’t install it.
  2. Double click the downloaded file and install the package.
  3. Follow the on screen prompts (if any.) That should go smooth.
  4. As soon as you have installed the application, reload the session. (Not a necessary step, but to be on the safer side I recommend.) A simple CTRL+ALT+Backspace should be OK.
  5. Go to Applications > System tools > Sun xVM VirtualBox to open the application for use.

Initial VirtualBox Setup for Windows 7:

Go through the following screencast for step by step instructions to setup VirtualBox for Windows 7. Please note the memory usage carefully. (Don’t assign more RAM for guest OS, as you host OS might become unusable.)

Installing Windows 7:

Once everything is setup in Virtualbox, you should see a item on the main screen of VirtualBox. Click on Start to start the Windows 7 installation process.
To install Windows 7, just follow the on screen prompts and everything should be self explanatory. But you can go through the screencast to see what you should see during installation:

Now once you have done all that mentioned above, you should see Windows 7 desktop with Blue Background and fish. As shown below:

But two things you won’t find working – (i) Sound and Video and (ii) Network Adapter i.e. Internet.

Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions:

To get them working, we’ll need to install VirtualBox Guest Additions. And how do you install VirtualBox Guest Additions:

  1. Click Devices in the menu bar, and choose Mount CD/DVD-ROM, and then choose CD/DVD-ROM Image.
  2. Choose VBoxGuestAdditions.iso, and click the Select button.
  3. The AutoPlay window should open at this point, click on Open/View files. If it doesn’t don’t panic; on your newly installed Windows 7 Desktop, click on Start and go to Computer and explore the CD Image you just mounted.
  4. Right-click the VBoxWindowsAdditions file and choose properties.
  5. In the Properties window, go to the Compatibility tab. Check the Run this program in compatibility mode for box, and choose Windows Vista in the box below it. Click OK.
  6. Double-click the VBoxWindowsAdditions file to run it.
  7. Follow on-screen prompts.
  8. After a few seconds, you’ll be asked if you want to install the Sun display drivers. Select the check box to trust software from “Sun Microsystems, Inc.” and click Install.
  9. Once the installation is finished you will be prompted to restart virtual machine. Please restart.
At this point it will become easy to move and control the mouse and you will be able to use your Virtual Machine in Full Screen mode. But you still don’t have sound or network.
Installing Hardware Drivers:

Please follow the remaining instructions to get the sound and network working.

  1. Please shut down your virtual machine within Windows 7.
  2. That should bring you back to Virtual Box application.
  3. While selecting the Windows 7 entry in Virtual Box application, click on settings.
  4. Select the downloaded Windows 7 ISO image file under CD/DVD ROM -> ISO Image.
  5. Change Audio and Network setting as shown below.
  6. Say OK.
  7. Start your virtual machine with Window 7.
  8. You should see a pop-up showing that Windows 7 has found hardware and is installing the drivers.
  9. Once that is done. You are ready to rock and roll with everything working on your Virtual Windows 7 installation with Ubuntu.
  10. If you plan to use it more than 30 days then Activate Windows by searching for ‘Activate Windows’ on the Start Menu. (Remember, if you don’t activate, you won’t be able to use Windows 7 after 30 days.)
Hope you find these instruction handy.
Over to you:
Don’t forget to tell me your installation experience and what are your views about Windows 7.
Only thing which I was not able to figure out myself was the network adapter configuration because of which I was not able to connect to internet.
I am looking for some instruction on that, as soon as I find something I will update this article. Meanwhile if you guys know how to do it, please point me to some wiki or blog article. (The article has been updated with details after reading the Virtual Box manual carefully.)
If you find any step confusing, let me know in the comments. Your feedback will be highly appreciated.
Else enjoy Windows 7 Beta till August 2009.

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