Skip to main content

Use Portable VirtualBox to Take Virtual Machines With You Everywhere

Install Portable VirtualBox to an External Drive

First, get started by downloading the Portable VirtualBox installer from vbox.me. Run the downloaded file and extract it to an external drive or wherever else you want to store your portable VirtualBox system. You can always move it later, if you like.
extract-portable-virtualbox-to-usb-drive
Launch the Portable-VirtualBox.exe program from here and you’ll be prompted to download and install VirtualBox’s program files on your external drive. The tool can automatically download VirtualBox’s files for you. After it does, click the OK button to unpack them.
If the full version of VirtualBox is already installed on your computer, you won’t see this screen and VirtualBox will just open instead. You’ll want to uninstall VirtualBox first or set this up on a computer without VirtualBox installed.
portable-virtualbox-setup[4]
Launch the program again after it finishes unpacking files. After you agree to a UAC prompt, you’ll see the standard VirtualBox window.
virtualbox
A VirtualBox system tray icon will appear while Portable VirtualBox is running. If you don’t see it, click the up arrow in your system tray to access the rest of the icons.
Right-click this icon and select Settings or press Ctrl+5 to modify Portable VirtualBox’s settings.
portable-virtualbox-system-tray-icon
Note that USB and Network support are disabled by default. To use these features, select the appropriate tab in the configuration window and enable either option. You’ll be prompted to install the appropriate drivers on the current system every time you open Portable VirtualBox.
Settings you change here are saved in Portable VirtualBox’s directory so they’ll follow you between computers.
enable-network-support-in-portable-virtualbox

Create and Run Virtual Machines

Creating a virtual machine is simple. Just click the New button in Portable VirtualBox and go through the wizard to create a new virtual machine and install an operating system in it. Run Portable VirtualBox on another PC and your virtual machines will appear in the window, ready to use.
By default, Portable VirtualBox will save your virtual machines to the Portable-VirtualBox\data\.VirtualBox\Machines directory. You should be able to your external drive open them in Portable VirtualBox.
portable-virtualbox



Be sure to quit VirtualBox and allow Portable VirtualBox to clean up before unplugging your USB drive. You should also safely remove your USB drive before unplugging it from your computer. If you yank the USB drive out of your computer while a virtual machine is running, that virtual machine’s files may be corrupted.
exit-portable-virtualbox
Portable VirtualBox can also be installed on a live Linux USB drive. You can then use it to run the Linux system on the USB drive from within Windows without even restarting your computer.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How To Setup a USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 7

If you have an ISO image of Windows 7, using Microsoft’s free utility is a quick and easy option to get the image on your USB flash drive. It requires XP SP2 or higher and if you’re using an XP machine you’ll need .NET Framework 2.0, and Microsoft Image Mastering API V2…both of which can be downloaded from the link below. It seemed to work best if I formatted the flash drive as NTFS before using the download tool. But that could be because of the flash drive I used…your mileage may vary.   It’s a pretty straight forward process, first browse to the location of your Windows 7 ISO file and click Next. Select USB device…this also helps you burn the ISO to DVD as well if you need that option. Choose your flash drive and click Begin copying. Now just wait for the process to complete. The drive will be formatted and files copied to the flash drive. When the process is finished you will be able to see the files on the flash drive as you would if you opened the installat...
1 comment
Read more

Configuring the Linksys WRT54GS Router for wifi

Basic ADSL Router setup The full GUI can be accessed at http://ui.linksys.com/WRT54G/v1-v4/4.20.7/index.htm location  The router will work out of the box, but has none of the security functions enabled as standard. It should be connected by Cat5 or 5e ethernet cable between a modem and the computer network as its job is to manage traffic and protect the network with its built-in firewall. Configuring the WRT54GS is quite straightforward thanks to its user-friendly web interface. To access it enter; http://192.168.1.1 into your web browser. You will be prompted to enter a username and password. Enter admin for both, you will be changing this later. Router Name This image above is of the first web interface showing the basic configuration settings. Nothing needs to be changed here for most home user setups, but I suggest changing the Router Name to something meaningful and changing the Time Zone. If you have made any changes, click Save at t...
1 comment
Read more

Tiny 11 - A Lightweight Windows 11 that can run on 2GB RAM and requires less harddisk space.

  In terms of Windows 11, its   system requirements   are high since this system requires at least 4GB RAM, 64GB storage space, enabled TPM & Secure Boot, a high CPU (1 GHz or faster with 2 or more cores on a compatible 64-bit processor), etc. compared to any old Windows operating systems. If you have an old or lower-end PC, Windows 11 is not a good option to install since many issues like random crashes, blue screen errors, etc. could appear on the unsupported hardware. Overview of Tiny11 If you want to run Windows 11 on your old computer with low RAM and disk space, Tiny11 appears in public. It is a project from NTDev and Tiny11 is a Windows 11 tiny edition. This edition is based on Windows 11 Pro 22H2 and includes everything you need for a comfortable computing experience since this tool doesn’t have the bloat and clutter of a standard Windows installation. Tiny11 Requirements In terms of Tiny11 requirements, a scant 8GB of storage and just 2GB of RAM are requ...
Post a Comment
Read more