Sun Microsystems VERSION 3.1.0_BETA2 user manual Configuring virtual machines

3 Configuring virtual machines

Whereas chapter 1, First steps, page 9 gave you a quick introduction to VirtualBox and how to get your first virtual machine running, the following chapter describe in detail how to configure virtual machines.

You have considerable latitude in deciding what virtual hardware will be provided to the guest. The virtual hardware can be used for communicating with the host system or with other guests. For instance, if you provide VirtualBox with the image of a CD- ROM in an ISO file, VirtualBox can present this image to a guest system as if it were a physical CD-ROM. Similarly, you can give a guest system access to the real network via its virtual network card, and, if you choose, give the host system, other guests, or computers on the Internet access to the guest system.

3.1 Supported guest operating systems

Since VirtualBox is designed to provide a generic virtualization environment for x86 systems, it may run operating systems of any kind, even those that are not officially supported by Sun Microsystems. However, our focus is to optimize the product’s per- formance for a select list of guest systems:

Windows NT 4.0 All versions/editions and service packs are fully supported; how- ever, there are some issues with older service packs. We recommend to install service pack 6a. Guest Additions are available with a limited feature set.

Windows 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Vista / Server 2008 / Windows 7 beta All ver- sions/editions and service packs are fully supported (including 64-bit versions, under the preconditions listed below). Guest Additions are available.

DOS / Windows 3.x / 95 / 98 / ME Limited testing has been performed. Use beyond legacy installation mechanisms not recommended. No Guest Additions available.

Linux 2.4 Limited support.

Linux 2.6 All versions/editions are fully supported (32 bits and 64 bits). Guest Addi- tions are available.

We strongly recommend using a Linux kernel version 2.6.13 or higher for better performance.

Note: Certain Linux kernel releases have bugs that prevent them from exe- cuting in a virtual environment; please see chapter 11.3.3, Buggy Linux 2.6 kernel versions, page 159 for details.

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