In this post, I will go through the steps to install Windows 7 as a guest OS in VirtualBox. Previously, I wrote about how to install Ubuntu in VirtualBox, so check that out if you’re a Linux person.

What I like about VirtualBox is that they already support Windows 7! You have to download the latest version of the software to see the option, 2.2.2, but it’s there!

Here are the steps to install Windows 7 in VirtualBox:

Step 1: First, click on New to start the new virtual machine wizard and click Next.

windows 7 virtualbox

Step 2: Type in a name for the OS and choose Microsoft Windows and Windows 7 for the Version. Click Next.

virtualbox windows 7

 

Step 3: Choose the amount of RAM you want to allocate to the guest OS and click Next.

guest os virtualbox

Step 4: Next choose whether you want to create a new virtual hard disk or use an existing one.

new virtual hard disk windows 7

Step 5: The new virtual hard disk wizard will pop up. Choose Dynamically expanding storage and click Next.

dynamically expanding storage virtualbox

Step 6: Choose the location for the virtual disk file and the size. It’s best to leave it at the recommended size. Click Next and then Finish.

virtual hard disk size

Step 7: The guest OS will show as Powered Off, so click on it and choose Start.

start windows 7

Step 8: Click Next on the wizard and then choose CD/DVD-ROM Device as the Media Type and choose Image File for Media Source.

image file windows 7

Step 9: When you click the icon, you will be brought to the Virtual Media Manager window where you will need to click Add and browse to the location of the Windows 7 ISO file. Then select it and click the Select button.

virtual media manager

Step 10: Click Next and then click Finish. Now the ISO image will be mounted and you can begin the installation of Windows 7!

windows 7 on virtualbox

Enjoy Windows 7! I’ll also write another post on how to install Guest Additions on Windows 7 in VirtualBox!