On multiple occasions we have talked about Windows 10, operating system that will be one of Microsoft's favorites and that we can possibly have it on our personal computer from mid-2015, time when its official launch will take place.
Despite having given so many recommendations, perhaps a large number of people have not had the opportunity to corroborate the presence of its best characteristics, this despite the fact that Microsoft offered a free download of the previous version with your serial number included. So that you can verify the presence of each of the tricks that we have recommended in this blog, below we will mention how you could get to test Windows 10 within any other version of the operating system from Microsoft, which is possible thanks to VirtualBox, a free application that will help us with the creation of a virtual machine.
Prerequisites for using VirtualBox with Windows 10
Despite that VirtualBox is an excellent virtual machine manager, When installing Windows 10 in our current operating system, a few characteristics need to be taken into account, which we will mention below before you proceed to follow each of the suggested steps:
- You can use any version of Windows compatible with VirtualBox.
- You need a large amount of RAM (we recommend at least 8 GB).
- The Windows 10 ISO image that you must download must be the version that contemplates 32 bits.
On the last literal that we have mentioned there is a large amount of information that we have published on the Vinagre Asesino blog, a very important factor to take into account that you will find it in the article we previously published. The reason why we must download the 32-bit version is because Windows 10 64-bit (as an ISO image) would need a large amount of RAM, an excellent video card and a large hard disk space. Under these circumstances, it would be impossible to install Windows 10 64-bit using a virtual machine with VirtualBox.
Steps to follow to install Windows 10 with VirtualBox
Well, once we have given the recommendations (and if you agree with them) then we will suggest you follow a few sequential steps that will help you install in the first instance, at VirtualBox and later to Windows 10 as a virtual machine.
First of all you must head towards the official website of the VirtualBox developer and download the version that corresponds to your computer and operating system. We emphasize again, that you should read the documentation that we mentioned earlier about the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit.
After installing VirtualBox you must run it, at which point you will find an interface very similar to the screenshot that we will propose below.
There you only have to select the button «New»To start creating a new virtual machine; In the new window that appears you will have to define the type of operating system that you are going to start creating. You just have to write the name of it (Windows 10), choose the type of operating system (Microsoft Windows) and the version you are trying to create.
At the moment there is no default configuration for Windows 10, but since this operating system is very similar to Windows 8.1 you can select it to use its configuration features. Later you will have to define the type of hard disk that you are going to create with this virtual machine; We recommend you to follow the example shown in the screenshot below.
With the aforementioned steps you practically already have configured Windows 10 within your operating system but, as a virtual machine. Now you only have to make a few adjustments from the VirtualBox configuration for the operating system that you are creating at this moment.
The driver to use for let VirtualBox recognize the Windows 10 image In this configuration, the IDE type must be used, something that will also help you to make this virtual machine recognize the CD-ROM (or DVD) drive. If you want to have a technical knowledge of what this type of IDE controllers represent, we recommend you see the information where we did a full differentiation of this technology with SATA and others as many more.
That's all you have to do to create Windows 10 virtual machine using VirtualBox, a procedure that will recognize the previously downloaded ISO image (32-bit) and that will help you toInstall this operating system into another version of Windows.