How to install Windows 7 on a PC with VirtualBox

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.