How to Install Guest Additions to Windows and Linux VMs in VirtualBox
How to Install Guest Additions to Windows and Linux VMs in VirtualBox
If you want to run multiple OS on your computer, maybe VirtualBox is a good choice for you to achieve it. Now I will show you how to install guest additions to Windows and Linux VMS in VirtualBox.
Note: In this example we are using version 3.0.2 on a Windows 7 (32-bit) guest OS.
Install Guest Additions for Windows
Guest Additions installs on the guest system and includes device drivers and system applications that optimize performance of the machine. Launch the guest OS in VirtualBox and click on Devices and Install Guest Additions.
The AutoPlay window opens on the guest OS and click on the Run VBox Windows Additions executable.
When the UAC screen comes up, click "yes".
Follow through the installation wizard.
During the installation wizard, you can choose the Direct3D acceleration if you would like it. Keep in mind this is going to take up more of your Host OS's resources and is still experimental possibly making the guest unstable.
You will need to allow the Sun display adapters to be installed once the installation starts.
A reboot is required once everything has completed.
Install Guest Additions for Ubuntu
Note: Here we are using version 3.0.2 on Ubuntu 8.10 (32-bit) version.
If you have Ubuntu running in a virtual machine, installing the Guest Additions is easy as well. With the Ubuntu virtual machine running, click on Devices and Install Guest Additions.
This will mount the ISO and show an icon on the desktop and give you the following message box where you just click Run.
Type in your admin password and click "OK".
Next you will see the installation taking place and you'll prompted to click on Enter once done.
A Reboot of the guest OS is required to complete the installation.
Command Line Installation
Firstly open up a Terminal session if the above process doesn't work or you want to use the command line to install Guest Additions.
Enter the following commands:
cd /media/cdrom
ls
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run
Note: Again a restart of Ubuntu is required from the GUI or type in "sudo reboot" (without quotes) in the command line.