VirtualBox is an open-source virtualization platform from Oracle that makes it easy to create virtual machines to run Windows 11, Windows 10, or another OS alongside the main installation on the same hardware.

How to boot from USB in VirtualBox, how to enable Aero in VirtualBox, and how to share files between Windows host and virtual machine guides might also interest you.You can install Windows 11 on a VirtualBox virtual machine, and in this guide, you will learn how. You can now select the virtual machine entry on the home screen of VirtualBox Manager and then click Start button to boot from the selected ISO file and start installing your operating system. Select the ISO file and then click OK button. Here, click on Empty (see picture), then click the small icon next to CD/DVD drive, click Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file option to browse to the location of the ISO file. Step 7: In the left-pane of Settings, click Storage, double-click on the Controller (located under Storage tree) to expand the same and see newly created virtual hard drive entry. Right-click on the newly created virtual machine entry (in the left pane of VirtualBox Manager) and then click Settings button. To know, refer to our how to check if Windows 10 ISO is bootable guide. Please note that the ISO must be bootable. Step 6: Now that you have the virtual hard drive, it’s time to select an ISO image file that you want to use to install the operating system. Click Create button to create a virtual hard drive.

Please note that if you want to install Windows 7/8, you need to create a virtual hard drive with at least 16 GB for 32-bit or 20 GB for 64-bit. Step 5: Next, select a location to save the virtual hard drive and also select the size of virtual hard drive. In short, if you select Dynamically allocated option, the virtual hard drive will grow as you use it, whereas Fixed size means that the virtual machine will use all allocated space from right now. Select Dynamically allocated or Fixed size be carefully reading the available description. Here, select VDI or VHD as the virtual hard drive type. To do so, click on the Create button to open Create Virtual Hard Drive wizard. Step 4: In this step, you need to create a virtual hard drive. NOTE: One shouldn’t allocate more than half the size of physical RAM to the virtual machine. After selecting the RAM, click Next button.

Download windows 10 iso for virtualbox