Busy working away in Linux, and you need to check something that can only be done through Windows?  I know this does not happen very often, but it is a real pain to reboot into the dual partition, check what you have to, and then boot back into Linux.  Wouldn't it be easier if you could just boot Windows into a new desktop, and flip between the two as and when you have to?

Now, thanks to VirtualBox you can do just this.  I found the best way to install this application is NOT to use the Synaptic Package Manager, but to download and install the version on the on the VirtualBox site itself. 

The advantage for me is that dispite loving Linux, I use FileZilla as my FTP to upload files to DS.com.  I have yet to find anything better than FileZilla, but much prefer the GUI that comes with the version for Windows.

I know that the golden rule for obtaining software is to use the repositories, as you can be assured of regular updates as well as the integrity of a product, however the version from the website is different from the OSE version found in the repository.  In addition whenever you run VirtualBox it will check with the VirtualBox website to ensure that you are running the most up-to-date version.

Find the Linux distribution that you are running, as well as the version.  Click the link, and just wait for the download to run. Once everything is dowloaded and installed it is necessary to unlock the 'Users & Groups'.  This is the part that that is easy to forget to do - it took me ages to work out why VB wouldn't work for me. 

Find Users & Groups by following the menus System -> Administration -> Users & Groups. You'll have to enter your admin password, and then click on Unlock. 

You'll then be shown a list of applications which is in alphabetical order - so you will find VirtualBox towards the bottom of the list.

Highlight VirtualBox, click on Properties, and check off the users who you want to allow access to this feature.  Once this is done, Virtual box is ready to go.

The first virtual machine I installed was Windows XP.  Once again this was self-explanatory.  Because I intend to use it for testing and reference purposes I just took the default values, put theXP instalation disc in, and loaded up XP in the normal manner.

The great thing is that the only limit to the number of virtual machines you can install in VirtualBox is only limited by the amount of memory you have installed.  This means that you can use VirtualBox for testing and trying out a new distro, or release of you favorite distro without the speed compromise you get when running a distro from a CD.

Robbie Ferguson demonstrated how to intall this version of VirtualBox on Episode 78 of Category5 Technology TV. Robbie's demo starts at 17mins 45secs, and runs for about 3mins 30secs.