Welcome to Part Five of this module in this module we will be looking at some of the deeper workings
of virtual box that were alluded to but not covered in the previous modules.
For example we will learn how to install the guest edition S.D. on other emulated operating systems
how to setup a U.S. B in your virtualizing environment how to setup shared folders change your memory
allocation as well as a number of other functions to begin I'm going to point out that the emulated
system I'm going to be running will be Windows 7 within Windows 7 with the emulated system appearing
within this confined window so to begin I'm gonna go ahead and pull up the system which is already running
here is our emulated Windows 7 and we're going to start by installing the guest Ed. C.D. And this is
a great deal easier than it was in Cali Linux.
As I mentioned in the previous modules dealing with the installation of Kali on virtual box there is
a bug with the Kali linux kernel as it relates to virtual box and it's a little hard to get specifics
on this.
However it appears that what happens is that when you try to install the guest Ed. C.D. which will allow
for full screen mode tele Linux just doesn't recognize it or it doesn't recognize the kernel of Kali
Linux as being up to date even though it is but because your kernel is up to date attempting to update
it or get up to date headers will simply not work and you'll be stuck.
Which is why the update command for both the system and the distribution had to be run and this fixed
it however it is a great deal easier with other operating systems as I will demonstrate.
So with Windows 7 all you have to do is go to devices insert guest additions seedy image and then open
up your file manager
and then we'll click on our computer or in the case of later Windows versions it may be called this
P.C. and here we see the guest editions see Rahm is already input it into the virtual box drive as if
it were a real seedy Iran.
So we're just going to double click it.
And now if we're running a Windows system that is using the 64 bit version we would need to run the
AMD 64 bit which we will do in a moment.
If we were running an older version of Windows a 32 bit version for an older computer model we would
need to run the X 86 version for any other distribution of Linux other than Solaris which has its own
special package.
We would simply run the V box Linux editions so we're gonna go ahead and we're going to run the 64 bit
version by double clicking on it.
We're gonna verify by clicking yes and from here the process is really very simple we'll just click
next and there's nothing wrong with the default destination folder click next.
You could choose to install direct 3D support.
This is entirely optional.
I don't really recommend it unless you have a powerful system.
Remember that a virtualizing environment has much fewer resources than your primary system.
In fact usually half or less than half and direct 3D can really slow things down and grind to a halt.
But you can't click this if you wish when you're ready click install
once the virtual box guest edition S.D. has been installed full screen mode will work normally
if you attempt to enter full screen without installing the guest additions and this applies to any operating
system you're using.
Be it Windows or Linux or anything else.
The aspect ratio will be incorrect and there will be black and borders around the screen but once guest
editions is installed.
This problem will be fixed and you will have the full range of aspect ratios available.
You can go into full screen mode or resize the virtualize window as you please.
Once finished a reboot will be necessary however first I will select manual reboot to demonstrate what
I was talking about.
So if we go into full screen now it looks like this.
There's a large area of darkness around the main screen.
Once we reboot the changes will go into effect and that problem won't be fixed
now with the reboot out of the way we can easily go into full screen mode.
Click view and you can either press the host an f key with host by default being the right control key
or we can just select full screen from this menu
and here we have it full screen mode to leave this mode you could press host an F.
Once again or just come down here and pull up this menu which hides at the bottom of the screen and
now we're out of it.
Next I'm going to show you how to set up a shared folder for virtual box.
This will allow you to easily transfer files between your primary system and the virtualize system and
vice versa.
So to do this we're gonna begin by creating a folder in the real system or the post system.
In this case on the desktop and I'm going to call this
V box shared you could call it whatever you want.
And now we're going to go up to settings
shared folders and we're going to click add a new shared folder and we're going to browse and find the
path to our newly created folder that will serve this purpose which in this case is going to be on my
desktop.
As I said you may create the folder wherever you wish we're gonna select it.
We're going to click auto mount and make permanent.
This way the folder will be available each time we boot the system.
We won't have to manually configure it.
We click OK and click ok.
Now if we open up our file manager and go to network
we can see the box as we are.
We double click it and here is our shared folder now.
Anything that we put in here will appear in both operating systems.
I'm going to demonstrate this now.
So I'm going to minimize the screen for a moment and open up my public folder and put this Firefox installer
into the shared folder.
So this is the primary host operating system Firefox is now in the shared folder
pull the pull the emulation backup.
And now when I open a shared folder there's Firefox and this works both ways.
Files can be transferred from the emulated system to your primary system as well.
Keep in mind that this is the only point of contact between the two operating systems.
So it's entirely possible to test various forms of software that you would not normally feel comfortable
running any real operating system such as for example various pieces of malware Trojans scripting programs
or any file that you just don't trust because when we delete the system it all goes away it is self-contained
nothing we do to this operating system will touch our host operating system but it is very important
to be careful not to accidentally transfer potentially dangerous or infected files by the shared folder
method to the primary operating system.
It's best to treat virtual box as a test bed.
It is a contained environment so you can do whatever you want in there.
Just be careful not to let it bleed through onto your primary system.
As you can see we have an internet connection through our shared adapter.
I'm going to minimize this however and go into settings and click on network now the default that virtual
box has set to is net.
But you can drag this menu down and you can select bridged adapter if you're having any kind of a connection
problem.
And this will allow you to select a specific adapter.
This is also useful if you have a USP adapter such as for example an alpha card that you wish to use.
Keep in mind that when using a bridge adapter this is considered to be its own unique connection even
though it may be technically using the same adapter that your host operating system is using what I
mean by this is that if you run and encryption program for example if you run a VPN which is short for
virtual private network the connection on the host operating system if it's the VPN connection will
not translate to your emulated environment and vice versa.
Meaning if you alter your IP with a VPN in your primary system you will still be exposed in your virtual
system.
And if you alter your IP in your virtual system you may still be exposed in your primary system.
So it's necessary to run such pieces of software in both systems if you wish to achieve anonymity.
Now if this information was a bit over your head please don't be concerned.
I had to insert it as a footnote and it will be covered in much more detail in the section regarding
encryption.
I will cover virtual private networks and the Tor anonymity network and I will again call your attention
to this detail.
However as we were here I felt it was important to point out because many people are unaware of this
and they can unwittingly unmask themselves when using virtual box assuming that they are anonymous when
they are in fact completely exposed.
Next we'll move on to setting up our USP adapters.
Now you will immediately notice that the USP controller options are all great out.
This is because virtual box needs a further piece of software and additions in order to actually function
properly in this regard and virtual box never actually tells you this.
So many users find themselves confused.
They try to add a filter or add a specific USP device and are confused as to why the emulated system
will not recognize it.
So to begin we're going to need to open up our browser in our host system and we're going to need to
search for virtual box extension pack
it'll be on the main virtual box page
under virtual box extension pack.
You'll want the latest version please note however and it does say this somewhere that older versions
will only work with older versions meaning that a newer version will not work with an older version
and an older version will not work with the newer version.
They have to be specific to the version a virtual box that you are using in all cases so click all supported
platforms and will save the file
once the file is downloaded.
Go ahead and make sure that virtual box is closed and then open it up by double clicking
click the reinstall option
and of course you must agree to the terms
and it really is this simple once successful click OK.
And now when we go to Settings USP we can see that the controller options are no longer great out.
So you can for example click USP 3.0 if you have 3.0 ports that are backwards compatible you could add
a generic filter.
I don't really recommend that you do it this way but you could add a generic filter and name it whatever
you want which would mean that any USP device that you plug in will automatically be recognized by virtual
box within the virtualize system meaning that while virtual box is loaded your host operating system
will not recognize the USP device.
But virtual box will for that reason I prefer to do it one at a time as an ad need as on an as needed
basis by clicking this option and selecting whatever device you need to select maybe add a USB thumb
drive or an alpha card or whatever device you need to select.
Now we're going to take a look at memory allocation.
I mentioned during the module dealing with the installation of virtual box that it was possible to adjust
your memory after the installation process and this is where you would do it.
This is the ram that is allocated to your virtualizing environment.
Now as I said during installation tutorial just slightly under half is ideal for operating system performance.
However if you have a lot of RAM and you want to run multiple virtualize systems at once which can be
done I don't really recommend it but you can do it you would just scroll this slider back to whatever
amount you feel is prudent and you would click OK and again you cannot go over half or you will be told
that you have an invalid setting it will appear right down here
and remember that you will need to allocate enough RAM for the virtual system to run so later versions
of Windows and Linux do have certain requirements that you will have to adhere to if you wish the system
to operate normally or even operate at all.
You can also adjust how many of your processors are dedicated to the virtual system.
My computer has four CPR use and only one is being used for the virtual environment.
If I try to go over half I will be told that I have an invalid setting.
This holds true of any option that you can tweak in virtual box.
You can never have a setting in your virtual system that is higher than half of your total system capability.
Some people are confused by the storage device option and I'll elaborate a little more on this now.
This little seedy icon represents the virtual sized C.D. tray.
Right now it shows the virtual box guest editions.
ISO is inserted but we can change that by clicking on this icon and we can either remove the currently
mounted image mount some other image or we could say host drive which in my case is the letter J.
Yours may vary and if I click this this represents the actual city drive of my host computer.
And if I click the pass through button the virtual environment will now recognize any CDE that is inserted
in this drive.
That is a real physical s.t. that will be read by the virtual operating system.
It is also possible to boot from that CDE when loading the virtual box virtualize system.
You might do this if you were experimenting with partitioning and dual booting and you didn't want to
run the risk of damaging your real system.
You could use a fixed volume size then partition that fixed volume install one operating system and
then life boot with a real C.D. or USP and install another in the free partition space as an experiment.
There's also some confusion about this.
Second location here.
This is your virtual box disk image.
Now you could actually take this image to another computer and mounted
by clicking over here.
And you could either create a new image or choose an existing image so your virtual system is in fact
portable from one computer to another provided that the computer you ported over to has the capability
to run the system with the specifications such as memory allocation and 3D acceleration that you've
chosen when you created the virtual image as a final footnote.
It's worth pointing out that on some operating systems it will be necessary to click enable 3D acceleration
if you wish some of the advanced features of your graphics card to be utilized by your emulated system.
Now again I don't really recommend this unless you have a powerful host system since this will drain
a lot of your very limited resources.
However it is an option that you can do finally if you wish to delete your operating system.
You would simply right click click remove and you would click delete all files.
By doing this your host system will recover any memory that was allocated to the fixed drive at the
time that you created the virtual box image.
In other words if you allocated 15 gigabytes worth of space to the virtual device that memory will be
reclaimed by your host system.
When you delete all files if you remove only then the virtual box image will still exist on your system
and you will need to manually delete it if you wish to reclaim that memory.
You can also remount the image at a later date by going to settings storage clicking on this entry and
then choosing the virtual disk image.
As discussed previously
those are the aspects of virtual box that most people tend to find the most confusing.
Hopefully this tutorial was helpful and answered all of your questions.
Thank you.