Install Windows 11 On VirtualBox Virtual Machine: How to Guide

Want to install windows 11 on virtualbox?

If yes then you are in the right place.

On 24th June 2021, Microsoft announced the official release of the Windows 11 Operating System in the launch event.

And according to fans, the live launch event was great that showed all the new features of Win 11 and their performance upgrades.

And after fans got really excited and started searching for Windows 11 ISO file to download & install it.

Although, the official ISO Image file is yet not released by Microsoft but you can find the leaked consumer client version of Windows 11.

And if you also want to use and experience the new 11x OS then this post is definitely for you.

So, let’s get started…

Also, check out our new post on how to upgrade Windows 10 to 11.

How to Install Windows 11 on Virtualbox Virtual Machine

But before we move to the actual process.

Please make sure you have all the essential things like Windows 11 ISO for VirtualBox.

And after I would suggest you to use the PC Health Check app before installing Win 11. Because it will help you to know whether your device is compatible with the new Windows OS or not.

Although, currently there is no official Windows 11 Media Creation Tool right now and in that case, you need to download the ISO file from some external source.

But you can use these given links for downloading all files.

Oracle Virtualbox: Download Link
Virtualbox Extension Pack: Download Link
Windows 11 Virtualbox Image: Download Link
Windows 11 Insider Preview ISO Image: Download Link

Once you are ready with all the files, you can move further.

Important:- Please check your device is TPM 2.0 supported and virtualization technology like AMD-V, Hyper-V, or VT-x are enabled in BIOS settings.

So let’s get started…

1. Download and Install VirtualBox Application

First, Download and Install the Oracle VM VirtualBox application on your PC/ Computer or Laptop. And download link for Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, and OpenSolaris is here. Once the .exe file is downloaded, double click on it and then follow the on-screen instruction and Install it properly.

2. Install Virtualbox Extension Pack

Virtualbox Extension Pack is a great utility provided by Oracle corporation. This actually really helps in improving and adding additional features to the Virtualbox machine. By installing this plugin you can get features like Drag & Drop, Mouse Integration, Internet Connectivity, USB support, and many other awesome features like this.

And to install the extension pack file, double-click on the downloaded file and then click on Install.

3. Open Virtualbox VM Manager

Once both the files Virtualbox app and Extension pack are installed on your PC, now open the Virtualbox.exe file from the desktop.

4. Create Windows 11 Virtual Machine

Now on the right hand side section, click on the New icon to create Windows 11 virtual machine in Virtualbox.

Now a dialog box of Name and operating system will open up, now enter the Name of the virtual machine and type of OS & its version. Since we want to install Windows 11 on Virtualbox virtual machine, so type Name as “Windows 11 VM“, select the Type as Microsoft Windows and version as Windows 10 (64-bit). Now click on Next.

5. Assign Virtual Machine RAM Memory

Once you have created the Win 11 virtual machine, now it’s time to allocate virtual machine RAM Memory. And for Windows 11 the recommended memory size is 4Gb or 4096 MB. So adjust the slider and then click on Next.

Important:- I would suggest you to only allocate the RAM memory till the slider is green. (Allocating RAM more than half is not recommended)

6. Create Virtual Hard Disk

Once you have allocated the RAM memory for the virtual machine, now it’s time to create a virtual hard drive. Now under the Hard disk section, select “Create a virtual hard disk now” and then click on Create.

After that under the Hard disk file type section, select VDI (Virtualbox Disk Image) as file type and then click on Next.

Now under the Storage on physical hard disk section, select Dynamically allocated as storage type and then click on Next.

After that select the File location and size of the virtual hard drive and then click on Create. ( Please check the location of file has enough free space )

Now you have successfully created the Win 11 virtual machine and it is ready to use. But before running it we need to do some basic settings.

7. Setting up Virtual Machine

Now here we will do some basic settings like Processors, Display Memory, USB Ports, and Windows Boot Settings. So click select the Windows 11 Virtual machine and then click on the Settings icon.

First, go to the System settings tab and then set Base Memory as 4GB ( Minimum Recommended ). And then enable extended features like Enable I/O APIC and Enable EFI (special Oses only).

After that, go to the Processors tab & then set Processor(s) as 2, and then enable the extended features like Enable PAE/NX.

Now go to the Display settings tab and then set Video Memory as 256 MB or more. After that, set Graphics Controller as VBoxSVGA and then Enable 3D Acceleration.

And now comes the Storage Settings part which is very important for the installation of Windows 11. Now under the Storage Devices section, click on the Empty CD icon. After that on the right-hand side section, click on the CD icon and then click on Choose a disk file… ( Basically this will help you to directly boot from ISO file instead of using USB to boot. )

After that browse your computer directory and then navigate to the Windows 11 ISO Image File and then select & click on Open. ( Here you can also use the Insider Preview ISO Image )

And Done! All the settings part is done and your Windows 11 Virtualbox virtual machine is ready to run.

Note:- Before installing it, please checkout is your PC follows minimum requirements for Win 11.

8. Run Windows 11 VM Virtualbox

Now Open the Virtualbox Manager and then select the Windows 11 VM machine and then click on Start.

Now it will start loading the Windows OS setup files. After that follow all the on-screen instructions according to your preferences and Install it properly.

At last, you will see that Windows 11 is running on Virtualbox.

Note:- Here we have directly shown the desktop screen and if you want the full Win 11 installation then check this guide.

Important:- Getting some error like “Your PC does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 11” then check your computer/PC or laptop compatibility using the PC health check app mentioned above.

Fix ‘This PC can’t run Windows 11’ on Virtualbox

Now if you are getting an error like “This PC can’t run Windows 11” while installing it on Virtualbox then follow the below-mentioned steps to fix this issue.

And here are the steps to follow:-

1. Open Virtualbox & then again Restart the installation process. And when you are on the Windows Setup screen like shown below, press ‘Shift+F10‘ on your keyboard to open the command prompt.

Note:- If you are using a laptop then press “Shift+fn+F10” to launch CMD.

2. Now type regedit in the CMD dialog box and then hit Enter. After that, Registry Editor will open up and then navigate to the given path.

Location Path:- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup

3. After that, right-click on the Setup key folder and then create a New > key named as LabConfig. Now in that LabConfig folder, create 2 ‘New > DWORD (32-bit)‘ values then name them as ‘BypassSecureBootCheck‘ and ‘BypassTPMCheck‘ and set there values to 00000001.

Note:- If you are still facing issues then create another DWORD (32-bit) key and name it as ‘BypassRAMCheck‘ and set its value data to 00000001.

4. At last, close the registry editor & CMD and then click on Install now button to start the installation process.

You can also follow our previous post on Bypass Windows 11 Secure Boot for the same process.

That’s it for now…

Conclusion

So that’s how you can easily download and install Windows 11 on a virtual machine using Virtualbox. And this is the best method to use new Windows OS without harming your host computer PC. Although, Microsoft has officially released the Win 11 Insider Preview build 22000 ISO and you can also use it by following the same method.

Similarly, if you are a VMware workstation user then also you can use the above file but the steps are a little different.

Check out this new post on Refresh Option in Windows 11 Missing.

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