Install Fedora 20 on VirtualBox with Guest Additions

The following installation guide demonstrate the procedure for installing Fedora 20 on VirtualBox. This procedure was tested on VirtualBox installed in a Mac Mini host.

For installation of Fedora 20 on a computer, please refer to Installation Guide for Fedora 20. For netinstall, refer to the post Install Fedora 20 using Netinstall.

This installation guide consist of 3 parts: Configuration of Virtual Machine, Installing Fedora 20 and Install VirtualBox Linux Guest Additions.

Configuration of Virtual Machine

On the VirtualBox Manager, click New.


Enter the name of virtual machine, select Linux as type and select Fedora. Click Continue.


Enter the allocation of system memory to the virtual machine. For Fedora system GNOME desktop it is recommended to allocate 2048MB or 4096MB depending on your resources. Click Continue.


Select "Create a virtual hard disk now". Click Create.


Leave the hard disk file type as default. You can choose other file type so that it can be ported to other virtual system. Click Continue.


Use default "Dynamically allocated". Click Continue.


Enter the hard disk name. You can also increase the hard disk space of the virtual hard drive provided your physical hard disk space can accommodate the disk space when needed. Click Create.


After the creation, you are back to the VirtualBox Manager.



Highlight the virtual machine. Select Machine >> Settings


Select the System tab and select Processor. You can allocate additional CPU for this virtual machine.



Select the Display tab. You can allocate additional video memory for this virtual machine. It is recommended you use the maximum of 128MB as shown below. Click to Enable 3D Acceleration if required.


Click OK.


Installing Fedora 20
Start the virtual machine. On first boot you are given a dialog box to choose the disk image you want to use. Select the appropriate disk image and click Start


One the system is booted up. The following screen appears. You can test Fedora 20. To install Fedora 20 right away, click Install to Hard Drive.


The first screen of installation wizard is shown below. Select the language you want to use.


On the installation summary, you'll notice that there is a warning sign on installation destination. You need to confirm the installation target drive. Click on INSTALLATION DESTINATION.


As you can see the only hard disk was already checked. Do not click the hard disk again as it will uncheck the target drive. If you have more than 1 disk, make sure the correct disk is checked. Click Done on the top left.


The dialog box below allows you to configure the partition manually. I usually let the system configure it automatically, however, I would change the partition scheme to standard partition. Leave as LVM mode if you think you might run out of disk space. LVM mode is useful as it can layer a single partition on two hard disk. Click Continue.


Review the summary page and change any setting such as time zone or keyboard. Click Begin Installation.


Once the installation starts, in the meantime, you can set the root password and add user. Click ROOT PASSWORD.


Enter the root password and click Done when ready. Click USER CREATION.


Enter the user name and set the user password. Make sure you check Make this user administrator. Click Done when ready. 


Wait for the installation to complete.


Click Quit on the lower right corner when installation is complete. Shutdown the system first.


Remove the boot disk from the storage by selecting Machine >> Settings. Select the Storage tab, highlight on the disc image on the left panel and then click on the disc image on the right panel and select Remove disc from virtual drive


Click OK when done and start the virtual machine again. You will be shown the login screen.


The desktop is shown as below:


The following dialog box will be shown for the first time: Select English and click Next.


This allows you to add different input sources. Click Next.


This dialog box allows you to configure your cloud storage. Click Next.


Click Start using Fedora


Finally, the Help screen will appear. If you are not familiar with GNOME you may want to take a second to watch the video. Otherwise, close the application.



Updating the System
Click Activities and type in Terminal on the search box. Launch the terminal.

Use the following command to update the system

sudo yum update -y

Once the update is complete, restart the virtual machine. Usually there is no need to restart the machine after the update. However, you need to restart the system if you've just update a new kernel.

Configuring VirtualBox Linux Guest Additions

VirtualBox guest additions allows you to control the screen size of the virtual machine, in addition, you can share folders between Fedora and the host system.

Open a terminal, and install the following software in order to configure the guest additions:

sudo yum install gcc dkms kernel-devel

Once the installation is complete. On the menu of the virtual machine select Devices >> Install Guest Additions...

A dialog box asking to if you want to run the disc just mounted. Click Run.

Enter your password.

The installation proceed as follows:



You need to restart the virtual machine

If for some reason you could not run the disc image. You can navigate to the folder of the mounted disc and launch the program from there.

Please be reminded that the mount CD drive in Fedora is located at /run/media/<username>/

If you navigate to
cd /run/media/technozeal

You will notice a folder named VBOXADDITIONS.....
Navigate into the folder and run the program
sudo ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run



After you have installed Fedora 20 on the virtual machine and you've also installed the guest additions, you may need to install additional software and plugins. 





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Comments

  1. Thank you! Very good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. One of the better tutorials on this topic

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, this helped a lot !

    ReplyDelete

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