How to install Windows 8 Developer Preview on VirtualBox in Ubuntu?

I have downloaded the Windows 8 developer preview ISO and I'm trying to get it running on VirtualBox 4.1 in Ubuntu 11.04 64-bit. Short story: it doesn't work.

I see a message "Loading files..." followed by a title screen that says "Windows Developer Preview." Then I get an error with some funny boxes and in between it some text that appears to say '... restart your computer...' followed by some error codes.

My machine is a dual-core Intel Centrino running at 1.6GHz with 2GB of RAM. I have assigned the VM 1GB of system RAM, 32MB of VRAM and enabled PAE/NX and 2D acceleration.

What am I doing wrong?


Additional information:

  • My CPU does not support hardware virtualization.
  • The download is not corrupt since it boots in the actual computer without issue.

  • Select Windows 7 as option in VirtualBox
  • Enable VT-x and Nesting Paging
  • Enable PAE/NX
  • Enable IO APIC
  • Enable 3D Acceleration, you can enable 2D Acceleration also

Source and step by step guide here : http://www.sysprobs.com/guide-install-windows-8-virtualbox


This article will step you through installation on VirtualBox.


VirtualBox seems to have more success loading the Windows 8 image than either VMware's or Microsoft's offerings. Grab a VirtualBox if you haven't already (why not? It's free!) and create a new system, using "Other Windows" as the OS type.

I don't know what the minimum required specs are for Windows 8, but I gave the VM 4096MB of RAM and a 60GB hard drive, which should be plenty. Choose to create a new start-up hard disk using the VDI file format.

More detailed instructions on these steps can be found here:

http://www.hypervhd.com/hyper-v-install-and-upgrade-f24/install-windows-8-in-vbox-t1726.html