Setup a VirtualBox machine for FreeBSD 8.1
This is the sequel to my previous post on installing VirtualBox on Windows XP Home.
This will walk you through setting up a Virtual Machine for FreeBSD 8.1 on Windows XP Home with no problems.
Now that the installation is complete it's time to set up a new VirtualBox machine !
1. On the main 'Oracle VM VirtualBox' window click 'New'.
2. You'll be presented with the 'Create New Virtual Machine' wizard. Click 'Next' to continue
3. Type any Name you want – Under OS Type select 'BSD', under Version select 'FreeBSD' –
click 'Next'
4. Use the slider to select how much memory you would like the Virtual Machine to use. In my
case my Windows XP system only has 1024 MB total (1GB), 128mb is enough for FreeBSD
with a light Desktop Environment and most servers running!
5. Then you will be prompted to use a new Virtual Hard Disk – this is stored as a file on your
Windows machine and in no way can affect your Windows installation! It's completely safe
to do whatever you like inside the Virtual Machine's hard drive. Make sure 'Boot Hard Disk'
is ticked and 'Create new hard disk' selected , then click 'Next'.
6. Then you will get the 'Create New Virtual Disk Wizard' , just click 'Next' to begin
7. Then you need to select your Hard Disk Storage Type. For most cases 'Dynamically
expanding storage' is the best. It means that your Virtual Hard drive file will grow
dynamically as you install more content in your Virtual machine.
8. Then you need to choose the location of where the file container of the Virtual Machine hard
drive will be created. Remember to choose a location with a lot of free space. For FreeBSD I
recommend at least 10GB. This will give you more than enough space for user space and
software installation.
9. Then you get a Summary of the Virtual Disk installation. Click 'Finish' to complete this.
10. And then a Summary of the Virtual Machine creation along with the memory you specified
and Virtual Disk – click Finish
11. You will be returned to the Oracle VM VirtualBox main window. You can see the newly
created Virtual Machine here - click Finish again
12. Select the Virtual Machine (just click it once!) and then click on Settings to modify the
settings further
13. We can optimize the Virtual Machine so it runs a little faster. The less features it tries to
Virtualize the faster it will be.
1. So go ahead and click on 'Audio' and untick the 'Enable Audio'
2. Next click on 'USB' and untick 'Enable USB Controller' (even if you have a USB mouse
this is ok!)
3. Next click on 'Network' and change the 'Attached to:' to Bridged Adapter – this will
make your Virtual Machine to connect straight to your Router as if you had a real second
computer on your network.
4. Click on 'Storage' , Under 'Storage Tree' click on 'Empty' and then on the right of the
'CD/DVD Device:' click on the Icon and you will be presented with the 'Virtual Media
Manager'
5. Click 'Add', navigate to where you saved the FreeBSD-8.1-RELEASE-i386-disc1.iso,
single click on it, click Open...
6. ..and then click on 'Select'.
7. Click on 'System', untick 'Floppy' and make sure 'CD/DVD-ROM' is ticked and it's on
the top, then make sure 'Hard Disk' is ticked and is second. Click 'OK' to finish here.
14. Review the Selections.. it should look like the screenshot..
15. Click on Start to test your Virtual Box Machine!!! FreeBSD installation steps in my next
guide!