VirtualBox on Vista

[AJ&NiteOwls]

Is it possible to load VB on Vista home basic? I have tried to search the forums for installation requirements and know that other virtual XP installations require Vista Home Premium or better to install.

[vkov_tinsky]

Hi,

I'm pretty VirtualBox should work fine with Vista Basic (from looking at differences between the editions). The real question is have you got enough RAM? 1GB should do if you're planning to run an XP guest. (Realistically depending on what you're planning to run in your virtual XP installation you'll have to dedicate 256MB+ to the virtual machine.)

Regards,
VT

[Dest]

If you have vista you really want a minimum of 2 gigs before trying to do anything "virtual"

4 Gigs would be better.

but for the OP, Virtualbox should work just fine on Vista Home

[AJ&NiteOwls]

I am not so confident about the ability of the virtual XP to use the drivers for Vista Basic.

I see that VB has 2 versions for Windows - 1 allowing USB support and the other not. I have previously run into similar difficulties with MS Virtual PC 2004 (and I note similar with 2007) in that the VPC requires multiuser capability (up to 10 concurrent sessions under Win XP Peer2Peer mode) which has been removed from Vista Home Basic I think.

I do not have any experience with VMware, but from reading site info it appears it only installs (as host) on a Server machine (therefore will not like Vista H Basic).

Therefore I have come to the same conclusion regarding VBox.

[Sasquatch]

Your idea is flawed. The whole idea about virtualisation is that it's run on a workstation (this method anyway). Vista Home Basic has about the same network options as Windows XP Home, which does run VB just fine.

The two versions you speak of, are the OSE version, which you have to compile manually with some tools mentioned in the compile help, and the PUEL version, which is ready to install and has some additional features compared to the OSE version. See the versions page in the wiki for more info.

[AJ&NiteOwls]

Thanks for reply. I have realised my 'conclusion', above, might have appeared as though it related to the Server issue whereas I meant it to relate to the 'multiple user' capability of Win XP (and the lack of that capability in Vista Home Basic).

I understand that once VBox is loaded (hosted) it will support XP. The main question is can it be loaded onto Vista H Basic and provide support for USB 2.0, wireless networking and CD/DVD read and write.

I understand the Screen (VESA), Audio (AC'97), power (API?), HDD (NTFS) and LAN are supported - have I got this right?

Thanks

[Sasquatch]

VBox will be able to allow you to access your USB devices and burn a CD/DVD, but it doesn't allow you to use your wifi. This is because the VM does not know about your wifi NIC. Use NAT for internet and/or ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) for some more advanced stuff. Wifi + bridge won't work.

XP will support most of the VB virtualised hardware. The NIC, however, depends on what type you pick. Only the Intel Pro cards need a seperate driver (though some mentioned that the server version is supported by XP, how strange).

[AJ&NiteOwls]

Thanks again. As you answered most of the questions, I will have a go at loading VBox.
I am still doubtful that Win Vista Home Basic will allow multiple users P2P so I think I will run into the same issue as I have previously with M$ VPC 2004.

I'll let you know.