Microsoft Windows 7 Users

VirtualBox and Fedora 17

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
South Dakota State University
Ken Gamradt
This document describes the installation and configuration of a Fedora 17 virtual machine that runs as a
guest operating system using VirtualBox running on the host operating system Windows 7
This document assumes that a basic knowledge of using Windows 7 and Linux exists
The Fedora 17 virtual machine uses the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment, LXDE
The included screen shots were taken using the Gadwin Systems PrintScreen application running on
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Requirements

15-25 GB of free disk space

o C:\Users\<User Name>\VirtualBox VMs
It is recommended that a secondary partition be used if more than one partition exists.
o The virtual machine will increase in size up to 20 GB as additional software is added or software
updates are applied
2 GB (2048 MB) of free system memory
o 4 GB of total system memory at a minimum
4 GB or more of total system memory is recommended
Fedora virtual machine
o Fedora 17 LXDE 64-bit
Oracle VirtualBox
o VirtualBox 4.1.18 plus Extensions
7-Zip archive tool
o 7-Zip

Installing 7-Zip

Double click on the 7z920-x64.msi installer program file to install 7-Zip

Click Next on the Welcome to 7-Zip 9.20 dialog
Check I accept the terms and then click Next on the End-User License Agreement dialog
Browse to the desired installation location and then click Next on the Custom Setup dialog
Click Install on the Ready to Install dialog
Click Finish in the Completing the 7-Zip 9.20 dialog

Installing VirtualBox and the Extension Pack

Double click the VirtualBox-4.1.18-78361-Win.exe installer program file to install VirtualBox

Click Next on the Welcome to the Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.18 Setup Wizard dialog
Browse to the desired installation location and then click Next on the Custom Setup dialog
Check/Uncheck the shortcut placement boxes and then click Next on the Custom Setup dialog
Click Yes on the Warning: Network Interfaces dialog
o Automatic internal networking setup is required in order to support VirtualBox virtual machines
Click Install on the Ready to Install dialog
Check Always trust software from Oracle Corporation and then click Install on the Would you
like to install this device software? popup
Check Start Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.1.18 after installation and then click Finish on the Oracle
VM VirtualBox 4.1.18 installation is complete dialog
Double click the Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.18-78361.vbox-extpack file to install
the Extension Pack
o If VirtualBox is not currently running it will automatically be started

Click Install on the VirtualBox Question dialog to install the Extension Pack
Scroll to the bottom of the VirtualBox License popup and then click I Agree
Click OK on the VirtualBox Information dialog to complete the installation process

Copying and Extracting the Fedora 17 virtual machine

Copy the two Fedora 17 virtual machine archive files to the desired folder:
o F17L-64.7z.001, F17L-64.7z.002
o C:\Users\<User Name>\VirtualBox VMs
Right click on the F17L-64.7z.001 file and select Extract Here to start the extraction process
Once completed a new folder named F17L-64 will contain the extracted virtual machine

Adding the Fedora 17 virtual machine to VirtualBox

Click the Oracle VM VirtualBox icon found in the Start All Programs Oracle VM
VirtualBox menu in order to start VirtualBox
o Alternative method: use one of the optional shortcut icons configured during installation

From the VirtualBox Machine Menu select Add

o The file browser dialog overlaps the VirtualBox application window so the menu portion is not
shown here
Browse to the F17L-64.vbox configuration file located in the F17L-64 virtual machine folder created
during extraction
o C:\Users\<User Name>\VirtualBox VMs\F17L-64

Notes
Once 7-Zip has been installed its installer program file may be deleted
Once VirtualBox has been installed its installer program file may be deleted
Once VirtualBox extensions have been installed its installer program file may be deleted
Once the virtual machine archive files have been extracted they may be deleted
o Reason to save: if the virtual machine becomes unusable for any reason Remove the virtual
machine from VirtualBox (Delete all files) and return to the Copying and Extracting the Fedora
17 virtual machine section of this document
o From the VirtualBox Machine Menu select Remove

Configuring the Fedora 17 virtual machine

Click on the Settings icon to configure the virtual machine settings to better match the actual system
hardware

Experiment with the settings to find a good resource mix for both the host operating system
(Windows 7) and the guest operating system (Fedora 17)
o As a general rule the Green range should be used for the different resource configuration
options

Base Memory:
Processor(s):

Video Memory:

use a maximum of 50% of the system physical ram

leave at least one physical core for the host operating system (Windows 7)
Core duo/quad series processors (1 physical core = 1 logical core)
Core i series processors use hyper-threading (1 physical core = 2 logical cores)
increasing or decreasing may have an impact on graphics capabilities

Starting the Fedora 17 virtual machine

Click on the Start icon to run the Fedora 17 virtual machine

The GNU GRUB boot menu for Fedora 17 is shown on the right
o The system will automatically boot the default startup option after 15 seconds
o To take control of the virtual machine click on the window with the mouse
Use the arrow keys and the Enter key to use a different startup option
Dialogs describing resource integration, mouse & keyboard, will be displayed
o Click OK to continue
If desired, check the box Do not show this message again before clicking OK

Logging onto Fedora 17 for the First Time root account (non-user account)

Enter the root account login credentials as prompted for in the given textbox:
o User:
root
o Password:
abc123
Do not use the root account for normal computing activities
o Some user software will not function properly when used by the root account
o The root account is similar to the Administrator account from Windows
Use the local user account that is created in the next section for normal computing activities

Creating a Local User Account

Select Users and Groups from the Fedora Administration menu

o Fedora menu f in the lower left corner of the desktop
Fill in the following information for the local user account:
o User Name: example uses naming convention supported by the CS Program
o Full Name:
o Password:
o Confirm Password:
Click OK and the User Manager will display the local user account information

To add file sharing (Shared Folders) support select the local user account and click Properties
Select the Groups tab from the User Properties dialog
o Check vboxsf so the local user account can share files between Windows 7 and Fedora 17
Click OK to close the User Properties dialog
Close the User Manager program
Select Logout LXDE session? Logout from the Fedora Logout menu

Logging onto Fedora 17 using the local user account

Notice that the recently created local user account Full Name and User Name appear in the
user list on the login screen
o For privacy and security reasons this list is not displayed on the computers in the CS Program
classroom and lab
Opening the File Manager (icon to the right of the Fedora menu) shows that the recently created
local user account successfully logged into the virtual machine
o User Name:
gatesb
o Home Directory: /home/gatesb
When done using the virtual machine select Logout LXDE session? Shutdown from the
Fedora Logout menu to logout and close the virtual machine

Adding Shared Folders

Click on Shared Folders scrollable half of Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager

Click Add Share folder icon with +
o Folder Path: browse to the desired folder to be shared
o Folder Name: default name is the name of the folder to be shared
o Auto-mount: folder to be shared is automatically available after starting the virtual machine
Click OK to accept and back out of configuration sequence
Start the virtual machine

On left: shared folder Share as seen from Windows 7

o C:\Users\<User Name>\Share used in this example
On right: shared folder Share as seen from Fedora 17
o /media/sf_Share used in this example use File Manager navigation arrows
Default: /media/sf_<Folder Name>
o VirtualBox Extensions must be installed with VirtualBox
o Guest Additions must be installed with the virtual machine
Downloaded Fedora 17 virtual machine already includes the Guest Additions