Start a virtual machine from an ISO in VirtualBox [How to]

How to start or boot an ISO image from a virtual machine using Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization software.

Sometimes we want to do certain things on our computer, such as install Linux on a Windows computer and have dual boot, but we want to try it before in a virtual machine so as not to take unnecessary risks.

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How to start a virtual machine from an ISO in VirtualBox?

For the task set as an example we will need to boot the computer from a USB or disk with the Linux .iso. Let’s see how we can do it in virtual box.

• In virtual box, we select the machine to which we want to add the .iso and click on configuration.
• In system we make sure that the optical drive is above the hard disk.
• We go to storage and add a new storage controller and choose to add IDE controller.
• In that controller we are going to click on add optical drive and select the desired disk (that is, the .iso).

Now we start our virtual machine and it will start from the .iso that we indicated in the previous point.

You can download Oracle VirtualBox software here.