virtualbox.org

I am familiar with VirtualBox but I've never setup a virtual machine. I searched through the How-tos, FAQ and google but I can't seem to find how to get it running. I just installed VM VirtualBox 4.2.6 r82870. I also downloaded Ubuntu both 12.04.1 and 12.10. I initially downloaded 12.10 for my OS but when I couldn't get it running I tried 12.04.1. I created a VM and went into settings then storage and under IDE devices I tried to load an image but it keeps saying this error: I also have Clonedrive running and mounted the image but that didn't work either. Then I burned the Ubuntu 12.10 image to a CD and I still can't get it running. I read another post about someone who doesn't have any drives present. This may be my issue but I don't know what to look for or how to mount drives to be able to install Ubuntu on my VM. Help Please! Thanks!

Your guest should already have a virtual HDD attached to it. You are asked about making a HDD when creating the guest.
The guest should also have a CD drive.

So if you click on "Storage" for the guest, under "Storage Tree" you should have something like this: (Also in the docs)
If you are using SCSI on a host with EXT4, select the SCSI node and tick "Use host I/O cache". You will get warned if you haven't done this.
If you are missing a HDD, just add one. For Ubuntu a 20GB drive is more than enough. Just below "Storage Tree" click on the "Add attachment wizard", "Add hard disc", "Create new".
Or delete the guest and go through the wizard again.

Select the CD drive in the tree, attach your Ubuntu ISO to it (click the CD symbol on the right, "Choose virtual...", find the ISO, select it.
Note: You do not use "Add attachment" to mount an ISO. That is for creating new drives.

Boot the guest.

I'm pretty sure all this is explained in the documentation, maybe you accidentally skipped a bit?

You are right that I didn't read the manual and I was aware of clicking on the CD symbol and locating the ISO. I've done it and I get the error:
When making the VM it made a virtual CD drive and a HDD. After trying it with both versions of Ubuntu and my other attempts I decided to get advise here.
Here is a screen shot of my current VM:

Have you checked the MD5 checksum to verify that it is not corrupt? Or may download it again.

I will give it a shot but I've tried Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10. Neither worked so I tried a version of Mint and they all give me the same error. Tomorrow I will try to do a checksum. Is there a program you would suggest? Thanks!

After re-reading this from the start and looking at your screen shot I have a question. I see the virtual CD is empty. Did you actually add the *.iso to the virtual drive in the guest settings? I also see that you only have 3GB assigned to the guest HDD. This is not going to be enough to actually do anything. I would start over and make sure to set this to 20GB.

I took your advise and did a checksum and some how all of them downloaded improperly. I re-downloaded it and did a checksum and it matched up. I was able to load the ISO and I'm installing Ubuntu right now. I also increased the HDD. Thanks!