virtualbox.org

Hello,

I am setting up VirtualBox in our school for the students to do their computing course on.

Students log into a Windows 7 Pro machine and from there open VirtualBox to gain access to a Windows 7 VM.

Looking at how I configure internet access it seems my best option is NAT (the manual says "Network Address Translation (NAT) If all you want is to browse the Web, download files and view e-mail inside the guest, then this default mode should be sufficient for you".

I would like the students to be bale to access the internet via their VM but not be able to access the school netowrk in any way (apart from via the 1 shared folder i've setup).

Is this possible with Virtualbox? If so, is NAT my best option?

Yes it is totally possible, but is not related to Virtualbox at all. You need to put in place some network security (in the form of a firewall, or proxy, or the like) and configure your guest OS properly.
The network mode used in the VM config is actually irrelevant on this matter. It will only change the way you put in place such security, but not the fact that security is required.

Ah right, that makes sense. Thank you very much

I am new to these forums (and to VirtualBox) and I must say they are very friendly and helpful! Thanks guys!