Welcome!

Here we will be learning how to set up a virtual machine with Oracle VirtualBox and how to manage the desktop and users within it. Once you have successfully installed or updated the program you can begin creating new virtual machines within your host computer. Often it is helpful to test run things in a VM, it protects the host operating system from software that might be harmful or unwanted and can preserve the stability in your base computer. It may take a few minutes to fully set up a new virtual machine, you will have to create and run the program, while also allowing windows (or another OS) to install.

Creating Your New Virtual Machine

 Upon starting Oracle, a manager window will open. Along the top will be multiple-colored icons where you can control your VMs and down the left side is where the names of each VM will appear. Begin by selecting the NEW icon and a task wizard will generate. It will ask you to name your virtual machine and offer an option for its location. Following the wizard by selecting next, you will be asked how much RAM you would like allocated to your new virtual machine. Choose which type of hard disk you would like your VM to be. In this example we are staying within VirtualBox so the preset option “VirtualBox Disk Image”, or VDI, remains appropriate. Lastly, select between a dynamically allocated or a fixed sized file. Dynamically allocated files will use memory as the file fills, whereas fixed will stay at the normal file size regardless of it being used or not.

Settings 

Now that you have made a virtual machine you can change and personalize the settings the same you could a physical device. On the left, select the name of the VM you wish to alter, and then press the SETTINGS icon at the top. You will notice some of the system settings are the same as during setup, although some new features, such as adding CPUs and networking options are here as well. If you leave your virtual machine running you will not be able to access the settings. The VM must be powered off to change functions in VirtualBox.

Network Adapters

You will also need to give your VM a network to connect to. Go to the network option and select Adapter one. If you want your virtual machine to share the network of your host computer leaving the network adapter in NAT (Network Address Translation) will do this. However, if you wish to give each system its own IP address, changing to a Bridged Adapter will do this. Leaving it unattached will not allow your VM internet capabilities.

Adding Hard Drives

To add a hard disk onto your VM, go to the storage option and select “add hard disk”. There are two places you can click to do this. The first icon is located at the top of the page (there is an ‘add optical drive’ option as well) and the second is on the bottom next to the remove option. Both ‘add hard disk’ buttons will do the same thing and are underlined here in red. Select create and a wizard will again prompt. Follow through and choose your preferences then press create. Scroll drown the hard disk selector list until you find the correct one. Select it and then press choose. This will attach your new hard disk to your VM.

Allow your VM to power on by pressing the START button on the menu window and follow the booting process. You will need to deploy an operating system the same you would a host device. Here we will be using Windows to finalize our setup. The host computer must have the memory/ ability to support the virtualization. Once it has finished its initial startup, exit out to finalize setting up memory and storage.

Partitioning the HDD

Before you begin using your virtual machine, it might be a smart decision to partition the hard disk drive. To do this, start by typing in “partitions” into the search bar within your virtual toolbar. The top option that will show is “Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions”. Choosing this will take you to the disk management section of the control panel.

This is where the computer manages and separates the drives installed on it. Black boxes are unallocated files, meaning they have not yet been designated for specific purposes. Blue boxes are drives occupied or labeled. Right clicking the box and selecting ‘New Simple Volume’ will generate a new wizard for file volumes. Assign your dive a new letter to diferentiate it from other drives and to choose the formatting you wish your files to have. Keep in mind the NTFS option has higher security than FAT32, but both are acceptable choices. Press finish and your partition has been made. 

Naming Your Computer

Although we have already named our virtual machine through VirtualBox, it still is considered it’s own device and can be named within the desktop. In the toolbar, begin by searching “system settings”. Scroll all the way down the menu list until you see “About” and select it. Under device specifications there is an option to rename the PC. Doing this can make you, additional devices (such as printers), and other end users locate this computer easier. You can also access the File explorer and change the name under THIS PC (right-click properties).

Time and Language

While in your settings you may also see a “Time and Language” button. You can pick which time zone or even decide to manually set the clock here. If at any point you need to add a secondary keyboard to your device, you can also do it under this setting feature in the language subheading.

Adding Other Users

Another Feature under the settings window you may find useful is the “Accounts” option. You can add other users and accounts to your VM the same way you would a physical computer. Once in Accounts, select the “Family and Users” button from the left panel menu. There will be a gray box labeled “Add”, choose this and follow the prompts to adding your new user. If they are not linked through Microsoft, you can still add them under the “Add user without Account” feature.

Changing Your DNS

The domain name system and IP address are how the computer translates everyday text into the information readable by the network. Sometimes you might want to alter the DNS or the IP address to allow for faster or broadened browsing abilities. To locate these settings, begin by searching for your control panel. Once there, select “Network and Internet” and proceed to the sharing option. On the left, you should see a feature to “change adapter settings”.  Select this and then Right-click the Ethernet icon, finally choosing the Properties button. Find “Internet Protocol Version 4” and press properties. Here you can manually enter the DNS you want or simply leave the obtain automatic feature selected.

Adding Apps to Your Desktop

By now, you may have notice the VM Desktop is looking rather bare. We can add things to it by downloading application shortcuts through the help of websites designed to install processes. There are a few different places you can go to do this, in this example the website (Ninite, 2020) will be what we use. This website is fairly simple in the sense all you need to do is select which apps you would like downloaded. Scroll down to where it says “get your ninite” and cick it. A download bar should appear at the bottom of your screen alerting you the downlaod has started. Open and save the file and it will finalize the process.

Setting Your Apps to Personal Prefrences

Certain apps will download without any further prompting, however some will require you to make choices on how you would like the app to run. Adobe Reader, for instance, walks through a wizard-like process on its setup. Other apps, like Chrome, require you to manually change the functions you want to include. For example, if you wish to make Chrome your default browser or want to change the homepage to something else, you will need to open the app before accessing the settings. Along the top of the web browser, you will find an ellipse towards the right. Clicking this will drop a menu down, in which is the settings option. You can also access your apps settings by going to the “Settings” feature and then selecting the ‘Apps’ subheading. To make Chrome default, proceed to “Default Apps” and select it under the web browser feature.

Now that you have downloaded other apps, they should appear simply on your desktop. If they arrive as a file, right-click and select ‘create a shortcut’. You can also use Chrome to help make shortcuts of websites. At the top right of your browser there is an ellipse, click it and hover over the “more tools” option. If you want all your users to share this shortcut you can bring a copy of it to the Public Desktop. To do this, go to your C-drive in the file explorer (under THIS PC), open the USERS folder and find the PUBLIC subfolder. Once here you may or may not see an option for “Public Desktop”. If you do not, in the pathway bar at the top, after Public type “\Desktop” and then press enter. Drag your app shortcut from the desktop into the Public Desktop window. Once your user is on their desktop they can right-click and select “New” followed by “Shortcut”. Click the Browser button and scroll until the proper app is found. Follow the steps to finalize the shortcut.

Accessing Users and Groups Features

We briefly touched on how to add other users and you might be wondering where to go to find them. There are two common ways of doing this, the first being through your settings. The second option is to access the file Computer Management by typing “management” into the taskbar search. Under system tools you will find “Local Users and Groups”. To create a new group to help organize your users, go to the Groups folder and right-click New Group.  You can then name and add users to your group and manage folder permissions in the file explorer (taskbar search “files”). Windows has a property that all subfolders will automatically assume its parent folder’s traits. To override this, right-click the file and select “Properties”.  In the breakout window press the SECURITY tab and then ADVANCED. Another window will open and here press the “disable inheritance” option and REMOVE. You can then set your own preferences by clicking ADD. For example, if you wish to make a file for only your marketing people and admin to view, adding only the IT group and Admin will deny access to the Marketing and Sales Groups.

Testing this Via Users

To test this, we can simply test run an account designated to another group and see what can and cannot be opened. Now that we know each user will only see what they are allowed, remember folders that do not have permissions set will be visible to other users and can be copy and pasted at will. Often this can be a useful way to share information or to backup data on multiple accounts. You can have users right-click and COPY the docoument (press the control key if you wish to select more than one) and then paste in an open folder.  If we know user Jenny Park is in IT and we have changed her user permissions to match the IT groups, she should only be allowed to open the folder designated to her division. We can have her add files from her device to the folder and only other IT group members and admin will b able to view or modify it. However if you create a backup folder with no assigned permisssions and copy/ paste the contents from a folder with authorizations, those rules will not carry and the folder will assume defult properties until it is given specfic ones.

User Account Settings

To be aware of unauthorized changes on your operating system, proceed to the “Security and Maintenance” feature of the control panel. On the left you will see an option to ‘change user account control settings’, once there you may choose how often you want notifications on changes made and when applications are trying to install unwanted hardware.

Allowing Remote Access

To connect onto another device from your own is called remote access. To support this, go to Security app and scroll to the bottom of the left panel menu. Here you will see a “Remote Desktop” and select the ‘enable’ button.