3 basics of virtual machine configuration, Basics of virtual machine configuration – Sun Microsystems VIRTUALBOX 3.0.0 User Manual

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3 Starting out with VirtualBox

much more space, a fixed-size file incurs less overhead and is therefore
slightly faster than a dynamically expanding file.

For details about the differences, please refer to chapter

5.2

,

Disk image files

(VDI, VMDK, VHD)

, page

77

.

To prevent your physical hard disk from running full, VirtualBox limits the size
of the image file. Still, it needs to be large enough to hold the contents of
your operating system and the applications you want to install – for a modern
Windows or Linux guest, you will probably need several gigabytes for any serious
use:

After having selected or created your image file, again press “Next” to go to the
next page.

4. After clicking on “Finish”, your new virtual machine will be created. You will

then see it in the list on the left side of the main window, with the name you
have entered.

3.3 Basics of virtual machine configuration

When you select a virtual machine from the list in the main VirtualBox window, you
will see a summary of that machine’s settings on the right of the window, under the
“Details” tab.

Clicking on the “Settings” button in the toolbar at the top of VirtualBox main window

brings up a detailed window where you can configure many of the properties of the
VM that is currently selected. But be careful: even though it is possible to change all

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