Is it possible to install a guest operating system from USB on virtualbox?
Oracle Virtualbox 4.0.4 Fedora 14
I have installed Oracle Virtualbox on my Fedora 14. Now I want to install windows as a guest. However, I have enabled USB support. But on the system menu there isn't an option to boot from the USB. I have created a bootable windows installation on my USB.
As I am running on a netbook without any DVD/CD drive, my only option it to install from the USB.
Is this possible?
Many thanks for any suggestions.
Solution 1:
There is no GUI option to boot from a USB drive, but VirtualBox provides a script that'll let you do it. See this link for a tutorial: http://agnipulse.com/2009/07/boot-your-usb-drive-in-virtualbox/
The tutorial is for Windows, but the Virtual Box tools they use are the same.
Solution 2:
Yes it is possible to boot from USB and install in another hard drive. After you initially added a Virtual disk for the USB using http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-a-usb-flash-drive-in-virtualbox/ then before you start the VM, you can add more HDD using the Storage option. And while booting, using F12 we can get two controller options. We can select the one for USB for booting and then from within the booted OS, we can choose the other HDD that is detected.
Solution 3:
At the moment it is not possible to Boot from USB in VirtualBOX, no mather what else says, it is not possible, VirtualBOX boot menu does not have USB.
What is posible is to emulate a Virtual Hard Disk based on data being on the USB (called RAW disk access, VMDK, ...)... but that is not boot form USB it is boot from a SATA/IDE device that reads/writes data from/to the USB. This procedure is what is implied in the link of this answer (as of this writing, the accepted one).
Sometimes you need to do a real boot from USB... that is not yet possible on VirtualBOX.
Ah, there is a "Not FAKE" video on YouTube showing a screen of VirtualBOX with USB option on its BIOS / UEFI implementation... that version was created and compiled by some guy but just for one specific USB device (the one used on the video), it is not a general USB boot (neither code is included on VirtualBOX); it will serve as a 1st proof of concept that at least it would be possible to implement USB boot, but it is still not yet implemented.