Create a virtual machine for the program. Creating EFI virtual machines in VirtualBox

Today there is a small circle of computer system users who in their work prefer to use not two operating systems installed in parallel on one computer, but so-called virtual machines. Today we will find out what it is, and at the same time we will give readers recommendations on how to set up a Windows XP virtual machine. Let us immediately note that no difficulties should arise here, so you should not be afraid.

What is a Windows XP virtual machine and why is it needed?

Let's start, perhaps, with the most pressing question about what this concept, which seems to many to be a tricky one, actually is.

If we do not consider the technical side of the functioning of such a system, the simplest explanation is the fact that, in fact, such a program in operation is a complete analogue of a real computer, but only in a virtual version. In the operating system, which is provided as a guest, you can work in exactly the same way as in a regular “OS” installed on the user terminal.

It goes without saying that in such a system programs can easily be installed, settings changed, etc. In other words, in virtual Windows you can see how this or that program will work, even if infected with a virus, without affecting the main OS.

And Windows XP was not chosen as a guest system by chance. The fact is that, starting with the Vista version, some applications designed exclusively for the “expansion” simply stop working, and you have to run them in Well, you can’t install two “OSes”, and even so that they don’t conflict between by yourself? Firstly, this is a rather labor-intensive process, and secondly, if we proceed from the integrity of the law-abiding user, then additional costs for purchasing a license are also inevitable.

In this sense, creating Windows XP has many advantages. In addition, the process itself does not take that much time. The only thing you have to pay attention to is some nuances when choosing parameters. But first things first.

Boot disk

Now let’s consider the initial conditions and determine what we need to create a Windows XP virtual machine on Windows 8, for example, although for any other “OS”, starting from “seven” and higher, the process will be the same.

Naturally, you cannot do without a boot disk or image created from the original Windows XP installation disk, preferably with a complete third service pack (SP3).

To do this, you can use your own tools from the system already on your computer, but it is better to give preference to programs like UltraISO, DAEMON Tools and the like. The process is quite simple, so it makes no sense to dwell on it in detail.

Creating a virtual machine: choosing a program and basic requirements

Next, for example, when creating a Windows XP virtual machine on Windows 8.1, you need to decide on the software. It goes without saying that when choosing a program, you should pay attention to the criterion of its compatibility with the installed operating system.

As for the programs themselves, today you can find quite a lot of them. The most common and most popular are VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, QEMU and many others. However, due to, so to speak, practicality and ease of use, in this example we will use VirtualBox - a program often called a “sandbox”.

Installing Oracle VirtualBox

So, a Windows XP virtual machine on Windows 10, for example, can be created only after installing the main software product in the existing environment (“OS”).

As expected, the main installation file of the program is launched first. Let’s immediately make a reservation that the launch should be done on behalf of the Administrator, otherwise errors may occur. Next, as in all standard procedures, we select the location where the software product will be installed, check the boxes next to the lines for creating an icon on the desktop (if necessary), in general, follow the instructions of the “Installation Wizard”.

During the installation process, warning windows may appear indicating that the program has not been tested for compatibility. There's no need to panic. Just press the continue buttons. Yes, by the way, if suddenly during the installation process the Internet connection is lost, there is nothing wrong with that either - this is how it should be. We are waiting for the process to finish.

So, the installation is complete. After pressing the confirmation button (by the way, this is what is good about this program), the application will start automatically, and with an interface in the language that is installed in the existing “OS” by default.

Additional requirements

During the installation process, you should pay attention to the fact that the program may request the installation of all drivers. If such a situation arises, we simply agree with the suggestions in all dialog boxes.

And further. If, after installation, you still need to run the program in compatibility mode, you need to right-click on the exe file and select launch in the appropriate mode with Administrator rights in the context menu. But, as practice shows, this is not required in most cases.

Windows XP virtual machine on Windows 7 and higher: first steps to create

After the first start of the program, you need to create a new virtual machine. To do this, use the corresponding button on the panel at the top or the command to add a machine to the menu. Let's make a reservation right away: depending on the version of the application itself, the names of buttons, menu lines or appearance may differ. But, as is already clear, the essence does not change.

At the first stage, the Windows XP virtual machine requires you to enter its name, after which a category of operating system is selected, which, presumably, will be installed later (in our case it is “expert”).

Criteria for choosing the amount of RAM

At the next stage, you will need to indicate the amount of RAM required for operation. You need to be careful here. For example, if you need to test one or two not too resource-intensive programs, you can set the minimum to 192 MB.

If the user wants to avoid slowdown, it is better to use either 512 MB or 1024 MB. True, you should take into account the capabilities of your system, so it is not recommended to set the bar too high, otherwise, when the virtual machine is turned on, the main system will start to slow down.

The nuances of creating a virtual hard disk

Next, you should select a location on the hard drive where the image of the Windows XP virtual machine with the system installed in the future will be stored. In this case, the “Create a Virtual Hard Disk Wizard” starts.

The user will be asked to choose between creating a dynamic or static partition. See for yourself. A dynamic section can automatically increase in size as it fills, while a static section has fixed volumes. Regardless of which type is selected, it is advisable to specify at least 10 GB (more is possible, but here, again, it all depends on the physical capacity of the existing hard drive, including all its logical partitions).

At the same time, the location for storing information is also selected. Please note that you do not need to manually create a new partition in an existing system. In the program, you can select the desired location in the form of a folder (by default it is Win_XP_SP3 in the specified location). Please note: it is advisable to place it in a logical partition, and not in the one where the main system is installed. For example, if Windows 7 is located on the C drive, for Windows XP it is better to select the D partition.

As you continue the settings, all the parameters of the machine being created will be displayed on the screen. If everything is correct, click on the finish button. The first part of the journey has been completed.

Installing Windows XP

Now let's move on to the guest system installation process. To do this, we use either the created installation disk or image.

But first, in the virtual machine, you need to go to the properties menu, where you will need to configure some parameters, for example, enable 3D acceleration in the “Display” section. The most important thing is that in the motherboard settings menu you need to set the boot order so that the CD-ROM is in the first place for installing the “expansion” (you can simply drag it to the first position with the mouse).

To install Windows XP, use the “Start” button. The installation itself is absolutely no different from how it would be if this “OS” was installed on the hard drive in normal mode.

Shared Folders and Add-ons

But that's not all. The Windows XP virtual machine must somehow interact with the existing system. To do this, it is advisable to create at least one shared folder, although you can also use removable media in the form of regular flash drives.

In addition, the user should be able to switch between the host and guest OS, for example, using a standard mouse. To do this, you should launch the guest operating system, and then in the “Devices” item, select the command to install add-ons for it. That's it now. We have a ready-made Windows XP virtual machine, fully functional and ready to use.

In the “expansion” itself, you can perform all the standard actions, say, adding new devices, working with programs and documents, etc. In general, such a Windows XP virtual machine looks absolutely identical to a real computer. In addition, if the machine is in startup mode, when the main system starts, you can choose which OS to start. Although in fairness it is worth noting that this is never particularly required.

Instead of a conclusion

So, here is a brief look at the main issues related to creating and configuring a Windows XP virtual machine. Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that an option was considered exclusively for Windows systems at a level higher than “expansion”. However, the creation of such a machine can be done in almost the same way in other operating systems, for example, in Linux Ubuntu or any other, while the process of its creation and operation is absolutely no different from everything that was described above. By the way, for all those who work with systems other than Windows, this is quite a serious plus, but for the most part those who develop software will be happy.

VirtualBox- convenient and functional program for creating virtual machines. With it you can install Linux on Windows or vice versa. If you want to try Linux, but are still afraid of doing something wrong, create virtual machine, in which to install Linux!

The 26 steps of this advice will tell you about creating a virtual machine in VirtualBox using Sabayon Linux as an example.

Step-by-step instruction:

For creating a virtual machine in VirtualBox you need to do the following:

Let's select the distribution that we want to install in the virtual machine. I gave an example with Sabayon Linux. You can install any distribution into a virtual machine.
Download the image of the system to be installed as a file with the extension .iso.
Let's launch VirtualBox and see the main program window on the screen, in which we need to click on the "Create" button:
The Virtual Machine Creation Wizard will launch. Click "Forward":
Specify the name of the virtual machine (in my case it is Sabayon Linux 5.4), the type of operating system and click "Forward":
Set the RAM size for the virtual machine. I recommend that you specify a value of at least 512 MB, since the requirements of all modern operating systems include this minimum value. (Attention! During the operation of the virtual machine, the physical RAM of your computer will be used. If the RAM installed in your computer is less than 1GB, the virtual machine will not work quickly). After specifying the value, click on the "Forward" button:
At this stage, you will create a virtual hard disk on which your virtual operating system will be installed. Leave the checkbox "Create a new hard drive" with the "Bootable hard drive" checkbox enabled and click "Forward":
The Create a New Hard Disk Wizard will launch:
Select "Fixed Size Image":
By default, VirtualBox saves disk images in its working directory on drive C. Since drive C will be useful to us for other, more interesting concerns, let's save the virtual hard disk image to one of the other hard drives available on the computer. Click on the folder icon:
Let's select the disk and directory where we will save our virtual hard disk:
I saved it to drive H, but you can save it, for example, to drive D. Then we specify the size of the virtual hard disk to be created. I'm sure that 10 GB is enough:
We complete the creation of the virtual hard disk by clicking on the “Finish” button:
The Create Virtual Hard Disk window appears. you'll have to wait a couple of minutes:
Complete the creation of the virtual machine by clicking on the "Finish" button:
Congratulations on successfully creating a virtual machine in VirtaulBox!
Now let's configure it for further installation of the operating system (in my case Sabayon Linux 5.4). Select the virtual machine we created and click on the “Properties” button: The virtual machine properties window will open:
Let's increase the video memory size:
By selecting "Media", we will see that, by default, the virtual DVD drive is empty:
Click on the folder:
In the Virtual Media Manager window that appears, click on the “Add” button:
and select the image of the operating system that we downloaded and want to install in the virtual machine:
The image we select will be added to the Virtual Disk Manager. All that remains is to select it for use in our virtual machine:
As you can see, everything went well and the “disk” is available:
Let's check the availability and marks on audio and network devices and click on "OK":
Pay attention to the established boot order of the virtual machine. It is this that will allow us to start from the virtual DVD we connected:
The virtual machine in VirtualBox is completely configured and you can start it:
A window will appear for a few moments in which you can select the boot order from different devices:
As we can see, the virtual machine has launched successfully and you can begin installing the operating system of your choice:

Good afternoon

Creating a virtual machine is very simple and can be done completely free of charge. You can use it for developing, testing programs, for work... Yes, in principle, for any purpose. A virtual machine is a full-fledged computer, but you can always stop it, roll it back to its previous state, or completely delete it.

System requirements for the virtual machine

For a virtual machine on a modern version of Windows (7, 8, 10) you will need:

2 gigabytes of RAM, not counting the memory for the main OS of the computer (i.e., at least 4 gigabytes in total). If it is less, slowdowns and “braking” are possible;
Processor i3, i5 or i7. You can run virtual machines on cheap Celeron and Atom processors, but you are unlikely to be able to achieve normal operating speed;
20-50 gigabytes of hard drive space.

For virtual machines on Linux and Windows XP:

from 128 megabytes of RAM (preferably 512);
Any modern (not older than 7-8 years) processor;
2-10 gigabytes on disk.

Preparing to create a virtual machine

You will need special software - free VMware Workstation Player (download its latest version from the developer's website here) and a distribution kit of the Windows or Linux operating system. Linux distributions are free and can be found on developer sites, but Windows distributions are more difficult. Windows distributions in Russian can be found on ruTracker, but it is blocked in Russia. To bypass the blocking, use these instructions: To create a virtual machine, any distribution on disk or in the form of an ISO image is suitable.

Creating a virtual machine - step-by-step instructions

1. Launch the previously installed VMware Workstation Player, in the menu at the top left select "Player -> File -> New Virtual Machine...":

2. In the window that appears, select the disk with the distribution (if you are using a disk), or point it to the ISO image that you found and downloaded during the preparation stage:

After that, click the "Next" button.

3. The following window will be different for different operating systems. For Linux you will be asked to enter the root user information, for Windows the license key and user information:

Be sure to enter the username and password that you will use to log into the virtual system, but you can leave the license key blank. After this, confirm that Windows does not need to be activated by clicking “Yes”.

4. In the next window, select the name of your virtual machine and its location on the disk:

Please note: the disk must have a lot of free space, for Windows this is at least 20 gigabytes.

5. Now you need to select the amount of space (disk size) you are allocating for the new virtual machine:

6. A final window will open in front of you, in which you can either confirm the previously selected parameters or change the configuration of the created virtual machine. If you are creating your first virtual machine, leave everything as default and click "Finish":

If you have any questions or need clarification, please, or leave a comment.

Virtual machines are virtual computers that are emulated using special software. These virtual computers allow you to install operating systems and other software on them. This article will show you how to create a virtual machine using VirtualBox.

There are few free solutions among software for creating virtual machines. One of the best programs of this kind is Oracle VirtualBox. This program allows you to create virtual machines for all popular operating systems, even the latest version of Windows 8.

In order to create a virtual machine, download and install the Oracle VirtualBox software. The installation process is very simple and will not cause any problems.

Launch VirtualBox and click on the “Create” button. After this, the “Create a New Virtual Machine Wizard” will launch, with its help you can quickly create and configure a virtual machine.

Let's go through all the stages of creating a virtual machine in order and try to install the Windows 8 operating system.

In the first window of the wizard, we are asked to enter the name of the virtual machine and select the type of operating system that we plan to install. Enter “Windows 8 Consumer Preview” and select “Windows 8” in the version field. If you plan to install a 64-bit version of the OS, you need to select the version marked “64-bit”.

In the next window we are asked to enter the volume that will be allocated for your virtual machine. For Windows Vista/7/8 it is better to set the value from 1 GB, for Windows XP from 512 MB.

Here we are asked to select the type of virtual hard disk. We leave the standard value VDI (Virtual Box Disk Image) and move on. In the next virtual disk settings window, you need to specify the Dynamic or Fixed virtual disk we want to use.

A dynamic virtual disk will consume space on your real disk only when it is needed. A fixed disk immediately reserves the required space on the real disk. We choose a fixed disk because it works faster.

Let's move on to the next window. Here we need to specify the size of the virtual disk and the folder in which we will save it. For operating systems Windows Vista/7 and Windows 8, it is better to specify a value of 25 GB; for Windows XP, 10 GB will be enough. That's it, this ends the process of creating a disk for our virtual machine. You may need to wait a while for VirtualBox to generate the virtual disk. When the disk is created, we will return to the Virtual Machine Creation Wizard, where we will need to finish setting up the virtual machine.

After this, the virtual machine is ready to work. In the VirtualBox program window, select the created virtual machine and click on the “Start” button. After this, the virtual machine will start and the “First Launch Wizard” will open. Here you can specify the media from which the operating system will be installed. This could be an actual disk drive in your computer, or

Creating your first virtual machine

Click the " Create" in the top corner of VirtualBox.

A wizard window will appear to guide you through setting up your new virtual machine (VM).

On the following pages, the wizard will ask you for the minimum information required to create a virtual machine, including:

Name virtual machine, which will later be shown in the list of virtual machines in the VirtualBox Manager window, and it will be used for the VM files on disk. While any name can be used, keep in mind that once you've created a few virtual machines, you'll appreciate it if you gave your virtual machines fairly descriptive names; "My Virtual Machine" would be less useful than "Windows XP SP2 with OpenOffice".
In chapter " Operating system type» Select the operating system you want to install later. Supported operating systems are grouped; if you want to install something very unusual that is not listed, select " Other" Depending on your selection, VirtualBox will enable or disable certain virtual machine settings that your guest operating system may require. This is especially important for 64-bit guest OSes. Therefore, it is recommended to always set the type to the correct value.

On the next page, select the memory (RAM) that VirtualBox should allocate each time the virtual machine starts. The amount of memory specified here will be taken from your host computer and provided to the guest operating system.

Remember: Select this option carefully! The memory you give to the virtual machine will not be available to the OS on your physical machine while the virtual machine is running, so don't specify more than you have free. For example, if your host computer has 8 GB of RAM and you enter 4000 MB as the amount of RAM for a particular virtual machine, while that virtual machine is running, you will only have 4000 MB left for all other software on your host. If you run two virtual machines at the same time, even more memory will be allocated to the second virtual machine (which may not even start if that memory is not available). On the other hand, you should specify as many as your guest OS (and your applications) require to run properly.

A Windows XP guest will require at least several hundred MB of RAM to function properly, and Windows Vista will even refuse to install if it has less than 512 MB available. Of course, if you want to run graphics-intensive applications in your virtual machine, you may need even more RAM.

For modern versions of Windows (both host and guest OS), it is advisable to have at least 4 GB of RAM for comfortable operation. For Linux with a graphical interface, it is advisable to have 2 GB for comfortable work. For Linux with a command line interface, 100 MB is enough for the OS itself + memory for running applications.

Don't leave your host (the operating system on a physical computer) with less memory than it needs to run, otherwise it will begin to heavily use the page file, which will lead to a significant slowdown of both the host and the virtual machines.

As with other settings, you can change this setting later after you have created the virtual machine.

Next, you must specify the virtual hard disk for your virtual machine.

There are many, and potentially complex, ways in which VirtualBox can provide hard drive space for a virtual machine, but the most common way is to use a large image file on your "real" hard drive, whose contents VirtualBox presents to your virtual machine. as if it were her hard drive. This file represents the entire hard drive, so you can even copy it to another host and use it with another VirtualBox installation.

The wizard will show you the following window:

To create a new empty virtual hard disk, click the " Create».

You can select an existing disk image file - if you have already used virtual disks before, you will see them in the drop-down list, you can also click on the folder image and select a random location where the virtual disk is located.

If this is your first time using VirtualBox, you will need to create a new disk image. Hence, click the button Create».

This will bring up another window - " Create a virtual hard disk" which will help you create a new disk image in the new virtual machine folder.

The Master tells us:

“Please specify the file type that determines the format you want to use when creating a new hard drive. If you do not need to use the disk with other software virtualization products, you can leave this parameter unchanged.

VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)
VHD (Virtual Hard Disk)
VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk)"

VirtualBox supports two types of image files:

Dynamically the distributed file will only grow when the guest OS actually stores data on its virtual hard disk. Therefore, it will initially be small on the host hard drive and only later, as it fills with data, will it grow to the specified size.
File fixed size will immediately take up the specified space, even if only part of the virtual space on the hard drive is actually used. This option, taking up much more space, a file with a fixed size, has less “overhead” (the need to perform operations associated with increasing the container) and, therefore, is slightly faster than a dynamically allocated file.

To prevent the physical disk from becoming full, VirtualBox limits the size of the image file. However, it should be large enough to contain data for your operating system and the applications you want to install - for a Windows or Linux guest OS, you'll probably need several tens of gigabytes for any serious use. The image file size limit can be changed later.

Starting a virtual machine

To start a virtual machine, you have several options:

double click on the virtual machine in Manager
select its entry in the list in the Manager window and click the button at the top “ Launch»
For virtual machines created with VirtualBox 4.0 or later, go to the " VirtualBox VMs" in your system user's home directory, find the subdirectory of the machine you want to run and double-click the machine settings file (the file with the extension .vbox)
if you have created a desktop shortcut for the virtual machine, you can launch it by double-clicking from the desktop

This will open a new window and the virtual machine you selected will boot. Everything that is usually visible on the virtual system monitor is displayed in Preview in VirtualBox Manager.

In general, you can use the virtual machine just as if you were using a real computer. However, there are a few points worth mentioning.

Starting a new virtual machine for the first time

When the virtual machine is launched for the first time, another wizard will appear - "Startup Wizard" - you can select the installation media. Because the virtual machine is created empty, it will behave exactly like a real computer without an operating system installed: it will do nothing and display an error message that no bootable operating system was found.

For this reason, the wizard helps you select an environment to install the operating system.

If you have physical CD or DVD media from which you want to install the guest operating system (for example, in the case of a Windows installation CD or DVD), place the media in your host's CD or DVD drive.
Then, from the Installation Media Wizard drop-down list, select " Host drive" with the correct drive letter (or, in the case of a Linux file, a device file). This will allow your virtual machine to access the media file on your main drive and you can continue with the installation.
If you downloaded the installation media from the Internet as an ISO image file (most likely in the case of a Linux distribution), you would typically burn the file to a blank CD or DVD and continue as just described. With VirtualBox, you can skip this step and mount the ISO file directly. VirtualBox will then present this file to the virtual machine as a CD or DVD-ROM, much like it does with a virtual hard disk image.
In this case, the wizard's drop-down list contains a list of installation media that have previously been used with VirtualBox.
If your media is not listed (especially if you're using VirtualBox for the first time), select the small folder icon next to the drop-down list to open a standard file manager dialog that allows you to select an image file from your host's drives.

In both cases, after choosing in the wizard, you will be able to install your operating system.

Capturing and releasing the keyboard and mouse

Starting with version 3.2, VirtualBox provides a virtual USB tablet device for new virtual machines through which mouse events are communicated to the guest operating system. As a result, if you are using a modern guest operating system that can handle such devices, mouse support may work out of the box without mouse capture, as described below.

Otherwise, if only the standard PS/2 mouse and keyboard devices are visible in the virtual machine, then since the operating system in the virtual machine does not “know” that it is not running on a real computer, it expects exclusive control of your keyboard and mouse. This is not true, however, because unless you are running the virtual machine in full screen mode, your virtual machine needs to share the keyboard and mouse with other applications and possibly with other virtual machines on your host.

As a result, first after installing the guest operating system and before installing the Guest Additions (we'll explain this in a minute), only one of the two - your virtual machine or the rest of your computer - can "own" the keyboard and mouse. You will see a second mouse pointer that will always be limited to the VM window. Typically you activate a virtual machine by clicking inside it.

To return ownership of the keyboard and mouse to your host operating system, VirtualBox reserves a special keyboard key for you: " host key" The default is right CTRL button on keyboard. You can change this default in the VirtualBox Global Settings. In any case, the current setting for the host key is always displayed in the lower right corner of your VM window in case you forget it:

In detail, this all means the following:

Your keyboard belongs to the VM if the VM window on your computer's desktop has the keyboard focus (if there are many windows open in the guest OS, it belongs to the window that has the focus). This means that if you want to make keyboard input into a virtual machine, first click on the title bar of your VM's window.

To release the keyboard from the virtual machine, press the " Host" (as described above, this is usually the right CTRL).

Note that while the virtual machine owns the keyboard, some key combinations (for example, Alt-Tab) will no longer be visible to the host, but will instead go to the guest OS. After you press the host key to re-enable the keyboard on the host, all keystrokes will go to the host again. For technical reasons, the VM will not be able to receive all keyboard inputs, even if it currently owns the keyboard. Examples of such combinations are Ctrl-Alt-Del on Windows hosts or single keys captured by other applications on X11 hosts.

Your mouse belongs to the VM only after you click in the VM window. The mouse cursor will disappear and your mouse will control the guest pointer instead of the normal mouse pointer.

Note that mouse ownership is independent of keyboard ownership: even after you've clicked on the title to be able to type into the VM window, your mouse is not yet necessarily owned by the VM.

To release the mouse from ownership of the virtual machine, also press the " Host».

Because this behavior can be inconvenient, VirtualBox provides a set of tools and device drivers for guests called " VirtualBox Guest Additions”, which make the virtual machine keyboard and mouse experience smoother. Most importantly, Guest Additions gets rid of the second, "guest" mouse pointer and will make your host mouse pointer the mouse pointer in the guest OS.

Entering special characters

Operating systems initiate certain procedures from certain key combinations. Some of these key combinations may be difficult to communicate to the guest OS, since there are three candidates who receives keyboard input: the host operating system, VirtualBox, or the guest operating system. Which of these three gets the keystrokes depends on a number of factors, including the combination itself.

Host operating systems reserve certain key combinations for themselves. For example, it is not possible to enter the combination Ctrl+Alt+Delete, if you want to reboot the guest operating system on your virtual machine, since this key combination is usually hardwired into the host OS (both Windows and Linux catch it) and pressing this key combination will reboot your host.

Additionally, on Linux and Solaris hosts that use the X Window System, the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Backspace usually resets the X server (to reload the entire GUI). Since the X server intercepts this combination, clicking it will usually restart your host's GUI (and kill all running programs, including running VirtualBox).

Third, on Linux hosts that support virtual terminals, the combination Ctrl+Alt+Fx(Where Fx is one of the function keys from F1 before F12) usually allows you to switch between virtual terminals. As in the case Ctrl+Alt+Delete, these combinations are intercepted by the host operating system and therefore always switch terminals on the host.

If you instead want to send these key combinations to the guest operating system in the virtual machine, you will need to use one of the following methods:

Use the items in the virtual machine window menu " Enter» → « Keyboard" There you will find " Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete" And " Ctrl+Alt+Backspace"; however, the latter will only affect Linux or Solaris guest OSes.
Press special key combinations with the key Khosta(usually the right key CTRL), which VirtualBox will then pass to the virtual machine:
Button Host+Del to send Ctrl+Alt+Del(to reboot the guest);
Button Host+Backspace to send Ctrl+Alt+Backspace(to restart the Linux or Solaris GUI);
Button Host+F1(or other function keys) to simulate Ctrl+Alt+F1(or other function keys, i.e. for switching between virtual terminals in a Linux guest).

For some other key combinations such as Alt-Tab(to switch between open windows), VirtualBox allows you to configure: During focus on a virtual machine, whether these combinations will affect the host or the guest. This is a global setting for all virtual machines and can be found in the " File» → « Settings» → « Enter» → « Automatic keyboard capture».

Changing removable media

While the virtual machine is running, you can change removable media in the " Devices» virtual machine windows.

The settings are the same as for the virtual machine in the " Settings" of the main VirtualBox window, but because this dialog is disabled when the virtual machine is in " running" or " saved" state, this additional menu allows you to work with removable media of the virtual machine at any time.

Therefore, in the menu " Devices"VirtualBox allows you to attach a host disk to a guest, or select a floppy disk or DVD image using the Disk Image Manager, as described in the "" section.

Resizing your car window

You can resize the virtual machine window when it starts. In this case, one of three things will happen:

If you have enabled scaling mode, the virtual machine screen will be scaled to fit the window. This can be useful if you have a lot of machines running and want to take a look at one of them while it's running in the background. Alternatively, this may be useful for making the window larger if the virtual machine's output screen is very small, for example because it is running an older operating system.

To enable zoom mode, click Host key+C or select " Screen scaling mode" on the menu " View" in the VM window. To exit zoom mode, press again Host key+C.

The aspect ratio of the guest's screen is maintained when the window is resized. To ignore aspect ratio, click Shift during resizing operation.

If you have Guest Additions installed and they support auto-sizing, Guest Additions will automatically adjust the screen resolution of the guest operating system. For example, if you are running a Windows guest at 1024x768 pixels, and then resize the VM window to make it larger by 100 pixels, Guest Additions will change the Windows screen resolution to 1124x768.
Otherwise, if the window is larger than the virtual machine's screen, the screen will be centered. If it is smaller, scroll bars will be added to the car window.

Saving machine state

When you press the " Close" of your virtual machine window (in the top right corner of the window, just like you close any other window on your system), VirtualBox asks you if you want to " Save machine state", "" or " Disable machine" (you can also use a keyboard shortcut for this action: press the " Host" together with " Q».)

The difference between these three parameters is critical. They mean:

« Save machine state" With this option, VirtualBox “freezes” the virtual machine, saving its entire state on the local disk.

When you start the virtual machine again, you will find that the virtual machine continues from where it left off. All your programs will still be open and your computer will resume functioning. Thus, saving the state of a virtual machine is similar to pausing a laptop computer (for example, by closing its lid).

« Send a shutdown signal" This will send an ACPI shutdown signal to the virtual machine, which will have the same effect as if you pressed the power button on the real computer. If the virtual machine is running a fairly modern operating system, this should trigger the proper mechanism to stop the virtual machine running.
« Disable machine": With this option, VirtualBox also stops working with the virtual machine, but does not save its state.

Warning: This is equivalent to pulling the power plug on a real computer without shutting it down properly. If you start the machine again after turning it on, your operating system will have to reboot completely and may begin a lengthy check of its (virtual) system disks. Those. This should generally not be done as it may result in data loss or inconsistent guest disk state.

This shutdown option should be used in exceptional cases; it can be used to close a frozen virtual machine, or if you have Snapshots that you want to return to and do not want to save new data written after the Snapshot was created.

A similar function as the option “ Send a shutdown signal» executes in the menu « Car» option « To finish work", it has the same effect and everything said above applies to it.