virtualbox.org

[I'm sure this has been covered - but didn't know how to locate previous posts!]

How do I set up a computer for public use so that users log into virtualbox without
being aware that this is happening? Can this be done? This is to prevent anyone
causing any damage or making any lasting changes.

Ideally this would happen:
1 on boot the user sees the fullscreen virtualbox login - looks like regular windows (or linux or whatever)
2 in the background the virtualbox container file in use is being backed up from the 'master copy'
ready for next boot. Booting is from this copy - the master is untouched.
3 the PC owner has a secure way to gain control, swap systems, etc

That really has nothing to do with VirtualBox. VirtualBox is just an application which runs under the OS installed on the machine. What you are talking about is all about the OS on the host, not the virtual machine. How you implement it would be no different from locking down any other application on the host. It is basically an OS security problem.

Hi - thanks for replying.

My thinking was that it is quite conceivable that VB has provision for preventing a standard user from exiting to the host,
and that there is a way to get VB to start automatically with a guest loaded.

When I place a shortcut in startup, VB loads to the standard screen allowing the user to select the guest.

What I'm after is a way to load a guest automatically so that the windows user sees the login from that guest
without seeing all that happening. This is a virtualbox config issue - not windows.

What I'm after is a way to load a guest automatically so that the windows user sees the login from that guest
without seeing all that happening. This is a virtualbox config issue - not windows.

Actually it isn't a vbox config issue but is a Windows config issue.

There is a program that starts a guest at boot time for Windows hosts. See the sticky topics in VirtualBox on Windows hosts.