Using Virtual Box as 'secure' environment

[John1234]

I have volutneered to teach Java to the local school. The problem is that the school board won't let the students run Java script (or any executable) from thier accounts for 'security' reasons. They can launch applications such as Word, etc, but they can't copy and execute thier own programs. I was proposing to use Virtual Box as a solution -- we would give them a Virtual Box, which has USB access but no network access (so they can't write programs to ping the network to death for example). They would be able to write thier programs on that, and run it without posing any security risks.

Now, I'm new to virtual box, so I'm not sure of the ins and outs. What I'd like is to be able to set up a virtual machine, and then lock it -- students would not have the ability to modify the machine itself -- just to use it. Is this possible to do? If so, would you mind giving me some pointers? (The school machines run windows 7. I'd preferably like to use a windows OS on the VM).

Thanks

John

[John1234]

Ok, I've done some digging, and apparently the virtual box settings are stored in an XML file. If I say gave read-only permissions to this XML file to the students (but left it read-write for the teachers), the students wouldn't be able to modify the settings. I'm wondering if this would work, or if there's a gotcha (the file needs to be read-write while running for some reason).


Any help is greatly appreciated

John

[Perryg]

I don't think that you want to be dinking with the permission of the VirtualBox control file. Weird things could happen.

I would read chapter 9.20 Locking down the VirtualBox manager GUI in your VirtualBox users manual (note: the actual chapter number may vary).