Install Ubuntu 13.10 on VirtualBox

Review

The latest release of Ubuntu 13.10 is here. I've installed it on a VirtualBox virtual machine running on a Mac OS host. This version is an improved version of 13.04. It is much more stable than the previous version.

Please note that Ubuntu is a resource intensive OS. Please ensure that your host OS is running on a powerful hardware. Please allocate more memory to the virtual machine. You can use Ubuntu 13.10 as your primary OS. Please refer to the installation instruction below.

Installation Notes

Setting up Virtual Machine

On VirtualBox select "New".

Enter the name of virtual machine. Click "Continue".

Set your memory allocation for this virtual machine. Click "Continue".

Select an existing virtual hard drive or create a new one. Click "Continue".

If you are creating a new virtual hard drive, select the hard drive file type. Select the default. Click "Continue".

Select "Dynamically allocated" and click "Continue".

Name the virtual hard drive and select the virtual hard drive size. It is better to set a bigger disk space. Anyway, it will not occupy the hard disk until it is used. 

Click "Create". Then you are back to the virtual machine manager screen.

You may want to change some setting such as video memory and number of processor as shown below.

Installing Ubuntu 13.10

Click "Start" to start the virtual machine.

You need to select the start-up disk. Select the ISO image of Ubuntu 13.10. The system will launch Ubuntu.

Click "Install Ubuntu"

Check the additional option if you want to download updates while installing and install third party software.  Click "Continue".

Select "Erase disk and install Ubuntu" and click "Install Now".

Select your time zone. Click "Continue".

Select the default keyboard and click "Continue".

Create the username and set a new password. Click "Continue".

Ubuntu One is a cloud service that allows you to store your data in the cloud. It also allows you to sync data across multiple mobile devices. In addition, you can stream music from the cloud service to your mobile device.

If you have want to have an Ubuntu One account, you can create a new account here. If you already have an account, please enter your credentials. Otherwise, click "Log In Later". 

The installation begins.

Once the installation is completed you need to restart the system. 

Software Updates and Management

Use the first icon on the top left corner as shown below to search for applications.

For software management enter "software" and the results is shown below.

To narrow the search, click "Filter Results" on the top right corner.

You can deselect the rest if you are only looking for Applications.

Software Update

Launch the icon named "Software Updater". The system will search for new updates and prompt you for installation when necessary.

Alternatively, you can use the following command

sudo apt-get update

You might want to set how the system perform software updates. In this case, launch the icon named "Software & Updates". Select "Updates".

I choose to check for update daily and prompt for updates immediately when there is new updates available.

Install New Software

To install new software, launch the application "Ubuntu Software Centre".

Search for the application you want and click install as shown below.

Install Guest Additions

You need to install dkms first as follows:

sudo apt-get install dkms

To install VirtualBox Guest Additions, you can use the command:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions-iso

I don't know how fast VBox update the guest additions in the Ubuntu software repository. If you just update to a new version of VBox, you might want to install the guest additions from VBox. 

To install from VBox, select Devices >> Install Guest Additions

The following screen will follow:

Click "Run"

The system will install the guest additions as follows:

Restart the vm and enjoy Ubuntu!

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