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I have already dual systems : Windows 7 and Ubuntu installed on my laptop. The Windows 7 had been installed when I bought this laptop, and I don't have a CD.

I just installed VitrualBox under Ubuntu, hoping that I could install another Windows in this virtual machine, so that I could run some applications of Windows even under Ubuntu.

But it seems that I need a CD or ISO of Windows to boot inside this virtual machine. Otherwise, there is an error: FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted. My question is where I could find a CD or ISO?

At the moment, I am downloading ISO from this page, but do not know if it will work. By the way, I am not sure if I should pick the 32-bit or 64-bit? As my CPU is 64-bit but my Ubuntu is i386.

Could anyone help? Thank you very much.

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  • It shouldn't really matter whether you go with 32 or 64 bit, but you will need to adjust your VirtualBox settings for that VM in order to support 64 bit. If you can't install 64 bit, you'll know it right away.
    – Shauna
    Jun 16, 2011 at 16:47
  • OK, first of all you're downloading an ISO, which is illegal, then ir order for a Virtualmachine to boot it NEEDS to have an OS installed or a livecd running Jun 16, 2011 at 18:43
  • @Uri I can download Windows completely legally. And I'm sure the OP can as well. Jun 16, 2011 at 22:51
  • How is it legal to download copyrighted material through a 3rd party website that list files hosted on a file hosting server. Jun 17, 2011 at 3:15
  • 1
    @Uri Students and employees of some companies have access to Windows installs via download. Jun 17, 2011 at 4:34

4 Answers 4

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Yes, you need an ISO or cd of the os that you want to install inside the virtualbox.

VirtualBox supports 64-bit guest operating systems, even on 32-bit host operating systems, provided that the following conditions are met:

  • You need a 64-bit processor with hardware virtualization support .
  • You must enable hardware virtualization for the particular VM for which you want 64-bit support; software virtualization is not supported for 64-bit VMs.

  • If you want to use 64-bit guest support on a 32-bit host operating system, you must also select a 64-bit operating system for the particular VM. Since supporting 64 bits on 32-bit hosts incurs additional overhead, VirtualBox only enables this support upon explicit request.

    Read more here: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#intro-64bitguests

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    If your aim is to run just a few windows apps under ubuntu, take a look at the wine project. http://www.winehq.org/

    When you boot the VM for the first time, it should ask you the details of installation media.. Select your downloaded iso file, and it should work great. If you have a cd, select your cd drive there.Virtualbox first-run wizard.

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    In theory you could do a physical to virtual conversion of your existing windows installation although it's not something I've tried using virtualbox. These instructions claim they should work with win7 http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows

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    I'm installing Windows 7 using VirtualBox in Ubuntu 11.10. You can choose "Settings" from your VM and adjust to boot from CD by moving the CD ROM up top. When you start your VM for installation, the CD will be booted first.

    If you use ISO, just mount it in a daemon tool and do the same above.

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