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Steps 31-47 of this guide to install Ubuntu on a virtual machine (using VirtualBox) describe how to attach the Ubuntu instal ISO image file to the IDE Controller of the virtual machine.

This has not been mentioned or explained in any of the YouTube tutorials I watched on installing Ubuntu to a VirtualBox VM. I have no idea what it is doing or what it means. Is this a necessary step? What does attaching the Ubuntu ISO file to an IDE Controller mean?

The CD icon on my VirtualBox Manager under the IDE Controller section in the Storage setting shows a CD that reads "Empty" at the moment, which is the same as how it is in the guide before they change it to be lined with the Ubuntu ISO file.

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  • Actually, there is technically another way you could install. You could burn the Ubuntu install ISO image to a CD, insert the CD into the optical drive of your computer, and then attach the optical drive of your computer to your virtual machine. But using the ISO is faster. You don't waste time burning a CD and the average read speed of a mounted ISO image is much faster than a physical CD in an optical drive. Being able to mount the ISO directly is a feature.
    – irrational John
    Jun 13, 2012 at 6:05
  • @irrational John I know, but spell check keeps changing it, and I forgot to add to dictionary. My bad :)
    – Mitch
    Jun 13, 2012 at 6:07

3 Answers 3

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It means that this is needed to let Virtual Box know where to install from, so it is a necessary step. Attaching the ISO to IDE, will simulate having a physical CD in the CD Drive.

Once you get to the last screen of creating the Virtual Machine, and Click on Create, you will

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See the screen where you have the option of choosing where to boot from

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Click on Empty, and then click on the little down arrow on CD icon to the right of the drop down box that gives you the option to choose a CD/DVD Drive or virtual drive

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You will see a drop-down menu that will let you choose where the installation mediumenter image description here is located. Click on Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file

Choose you file, and then click Open.

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Once done you can start your virtual machine, wich in turn will start the installation.

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  • Thanks for the screen guide- I get why I need the link now (with no link, it has no place to install from).
    – Jay
    Jun 13, 2012 at 5:40
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It is an absolutely essential step if you want to install Ubuntu on your virtual machine!

You're attaching the ISO to the virtual CD drive which is connected to the IDE controller (not directly to the controller). To the virtual machine, this step will make it look like an actual Ubuntu CD was inserted into its optical drive. It will then attempt to boot from it, and you can run the LiveCD, install, etc. within the virtual environment.

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  • Thanks izx- I will make sure to follow this through then.
    – Jay
    Jun 13, 2012 at 5:41
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Everyone's answers are great, I just wanted to more specifically answer your question:

What does attaching the Ubuntu ISO file to an IDE Controller mean?

IDE stands for Integrated Drive Electronics created in 1986 but now most computers use SATA to connect to hard drives. Now in VirtualBox you'll see a Controller: SATA there as well! At first, I thought the I in IDE stood for Interface b/c that is what it is. Here's a picture for visual learners: enter image description here

The file you place or connect to the Controller: IDE is the virtual version of placing a cd in a computer, then booting up. In the old days, people would often boot a new OS from a CD, which is essentially loading whatever iso file is on that CD into RAM. From there you have a running OS!

A boot device could be a hard drive, floppy disk drive, or CD-ROM and the way we typically connect to these devices is through an IDE or SATA interface (cable if you want the eli5 version). I suppose the creators of this portion of VirtualBox used IDE for nostalgic purposes? Or to create a nice visual? For new students, they often confuse IDE with 'integrated development environment' programmers use to write code but this is not related at all.

So what do you attach to the IDE controller?

I really like this analogy from lifewire:

Think of an ISO file like a box that holds all the parts to something that needs to be built — like a child's toy you might buy that requires assembly. The box that the toy pieces come in does you no good as an actual toy but the contents inside of it, once taken out and put together, become what you're actually wanting to use.

This means an iso file doesn't HAVE to be an operating system, these files are similar to a zip file but uncompressed. I know bootable antivirus programs are in an iso format. Like the analogy above, all the components to make something work is in this file, and if bootable, has a special set of code that begins to run to utilize all these components in the iso file.

Interestingly, you can use software like 7 Zip to extract files from an ISO image. Creating them is easy, but relatively tough to modify the data already in one. Since we are on an Ubuntu forum, imagine the Ubuntu iso you downloaded as having the Linux kernel, but many more folders/files/drivers/executables that make Ubuntu different(and similar in some ways) from the other distros; say Manjaro, CentOS, the list goes on and on.

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