VirtualBox - Install Windows 8

How to Install Windows 8 and 8.1 in VirtualBox​

   Information

This will show you how to install either the 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) version of Windows 8 and 8.1 in the free program VirtualBox.

For FAQs and more information about VirtualBox, see: End-user_documentation - VirtualBox

   Note

In order to run VirtualBox on your machine, you need:

• Reasonably powerful x86 hardware. Any recent Intel or AMD processor should do.
• Memory. Depending on what guest operating systems you want to run, you will need at least 512 MB of RAM (but probably more, and the more the better). Basically, you will need whatever your host operating system needs to run comfortably, plus the amount that the guest operating system needs. So, if you want to run Windows XP on Windows XP, you probably won't enjoy the experience much with less than 1 GB of RAM. If you want to try out Windows Vista in a guest, it will refuse to install if it is given less than 512 MB RAM, so you'll need that for the guest alone, plus the memory your operating system normally needs.
• Hard disk space. While VirtualBox itself is very lean (a typical installation will only need about 30 MB of hard disk space), the virtual machines will require fairly huge files on disk to represent their own hard disk storage. So, to install Windows XP, for example, you will need a file that will easily grow to several GB in size.
• A supported host operating system (your computer). Presently, VirtualBox supports Windows (XP and later), many Linux distributions, Mac OS X, Solaris and OpenSolaris.
• A supported guest operating system (virtual machine). Besides the user manual (see below), up-to-date information is available at "Status: Guest OSes".

   Warning

64-bit guests Requirements:
VirtualBox supports 64-bit guest (virtual machine) operating systems, even on 32-bit host (your computer) operating systems, provided that the following conditions below are met. See page 166 in manual.

• You need a 64-bit processor (CPU) with hardware virtualization support.
• You must enable hardware virtualization in your motherboard's BIOS settings.
• If you want to use 64-bit guest support on a 32-bit host operating system, you must also select a 64-bit operating system for the particular VM. Since supporting 64 bits on 32-bit hosts incurs additional overhead, VirtualBox only enables this support upon explicit request.

On 64-bit hosts (which typically come with hardware virtualization support), 64-bit guest operating systems are always supported regardless of settings, so you can simply install a 64-bit operating system in the guest.

Here's How:

1. If you have not already, then you will need the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 8 or 8.1 ISO file version you want, and save it to your desktop (ex: Windows 7 or Vista).

2. If you have not already, download and install the latest version of VirtualBox (Windows hosts), download and install the VM VirtualBox Extension Pack (All platforms), then run VirtualBox. (see screenshot below)

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3. In the left side of the toolbar, click/tap on the New button. (see screenshot below)

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4. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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5. Type in a name (ex: Windows 8) for the virtual machine, select Windows 8/8.1 if have a 32-bit ISO (step 1) or Windows 8/8.1 (64-bit) if you have a 64-bit ISO, then click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)

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6. Select or type in how much of your computer's RAM (1024MB = 1GB) you would like for the virtual machine to use when it's running, then click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: I would recommend to use at minimum 1GB. Ideally, 3GB for 32-bit and 4GB for 64-bit would be the sweet spot if you have plenty of RAM (ex: 8GB+) installed on your computer and can spare it to be used by the virtual machine.

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7. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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8. Select (dot) VHD, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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9. Select (dot) Dynamically allocated, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: You could use either fixed or dynamic, but I would recommend using dynamic to help save HDD space.

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10. Select how large you would like the VHD file to be, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: The default size is 20 GB, and is fine if you are not going to be installing a lot on the virtual machine. For 64-bit, you might use 25 GB instead since 64-bit uses a bit more space.

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11. Click/tap on Create. (see screenshot below)

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12. Click/tap on Create. (see screenshot below)

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13. In the left pane, double click/tap on the new virtual machine (ex: Windows 8). (see screenshot below)

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14. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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15. Click/tap on the browse folder icon, select the downloaded ISO from step 1, click/tap on Open, and click/tap on Next. (see screenshots below)

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16. Click/tap on Start. (see screenshot below)

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17. Now, you will just need to finish installing Windows 8. (see screenshot below)

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18. When you are finished installing Windows 8, click/tap on Devices on the VirtualBox menu bar, and Install Guest Additions. (see screenshot below)

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19. When the new CD drive notification pops-up at the top right corner, click/tap on it to open AutoPlay. (see screenshot below)

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20. Click/tap on the Run VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe option. (see screenshot below)

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21. If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes. (see screenshot below)

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22. Run the VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64.exe (64-bit) or VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86.exe (32-bit) file that you selected in step 21 that is the same as the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 8 ISO you are using, then click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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23. Click/tap on Next. (see screenshot below)

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24. Click/tap on Install. (see screenshot below)

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25. When prompted twice, click/tap on Install each time. (see screenshot below)

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26. When finished, select (dot) Reboot now, and click/tap on Finish. (see screenshot below)

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That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

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• How to Install Windows 8 and 8.1 on VMware Player
• How to Upgrade from Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, or XP to Windows 8 or 8.1
• How to Download and Run "Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant" and "Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant"
• How to Create or Download a Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO
• How to Do a Clean Install of Windows 8 or Windows 8.1
• How to Do a Clean Install with Windows 8 Upgrade
• How to Reset Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Do a Dual Boot Installation with Windows 8 and Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Create a Windows 8 VHD at Boot to Dual Boot with Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Boot from a VHD using Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Speed Up Performance of a Virtual Machine

 

[leimone]

When I'm trying to install Windows 8 on VMWare WOrkstation 8.0 it fails during the install and tells me to type in a Product Key
Windows cannot read the <ProductKey> setting from the unattend answer file.

 

[z3r010]

That's odd!!

Have a look at the tutorial for vmware here and see if it does anythng different to ahat you have - Install Windows 8 Dev Preview in VMware Workstation - AfterDawn

 

[leimone]

Alright, that fixed the Product Key problem.
Now when I'm installing it's trying to find Media Drivers, and I have to manually find them.
What is this?

Anyone?

 

[z3r010]

I've no idea, mine installed without a problem.

 

[mckiss]

Under Windows 7 professional 32 bit I've had to check "Enable IO APIC" under System Tab to let Win 8 64 boot... Anyone else?

Hello Mckiss, and welcome to Eight Forums.

I noticed that my 64-bit VM's had this checked by default, and that my 32-bit VM's do not have it checked. This is all on my 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate (host).

Hello Brink,

strange enough it's always disabled for me and always necessary to boot windows 8 (behave differently for 32 and 64 bit, but with the same result: unable to boot)...

 

[nikhil]

Ok, so I don't have hardware virtualisation so Virtualbox failed for me.

Tried vmware workstation 7, also failed

Tried vmware workstation 8 (which i didnt even know had been released) and it gave me leimones product key error.
Fixed that by not selecting a disk image when creating a new vm (but filling out everything else in normally, win7 ect), then selecting the disk image in the settings.

So now thats booting.
EDIT: HEEEEEEELLL YES IT WORKS. Installing vmware tools.
Wow, microsoft did a really good job. Who would have thunk?

Btw I am running 32 bit Windows 8 on a 64bit Windows vista host.

 

[Smoke]

Running mine on a MacBook Pro with VMware Fusion 4 with no problems at all. Going to take some getting used to.

 

[onlytanmoy]

neatly explained..very nice..thanks Shawn.

 

[kado897]

Now running mine on VMWare Player V4 which my player was upgraded to today. Follow the instructions for Workstation 8 and it works nicely. At last I have it in 16:9.

 

[Brink]

Tutorial has been updated to include how to Install Guest Additions from step 18 on for a Windows 8 Developer Preview VirtualBox VM.

 

[Dave76]

Nice addition, will help, have seen questions about this already.

 

[Brink]

Tutorial has been updated for changes in the newer VirtualBox 4.1.4r74291 version.

You now are able to select Windows 8 or Windows 8 (64-bit) as your OS type instead of "Windows 7", and you can now install the Guest Additions in either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 8 withour having to use compatibility mode.

 

[Omar Mosa]

Same as yowanvista.

 

[Brink]

Hello Omar, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you post some more details on what you mean so that we may be able to help?

 

[Omar Mosa]

Hi! Thanks for your quick reply.

This is what I'm seeing every time I run Windows 8 32 bit on Virtualbox. I tried removing it and doing it again, but nothing works. I am considering trying to run the 64 version instead, when I get around to it. Any hints would be appreciated. I am running Virtualbox 4.1.4 on Windows 7 64 bit.

Thanks!
Omar

 

[Brink]

Omar,

Double check to make sure that you have hardware virtualization enabled in your BIOS settings.

Could you also upload and post the contents of the VBox.log file and VBox.png in your D:\VirtualBOX\Windows 8 Developer preview\Logs folder? It may be able to help us determine better what the issue may be.

 

[Omar Mosa]

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

Sorry about that, but I already have removed the 32-bit version and tried using the 64-bit version of Windows 8. I have gotten closer, the only thing left is that I need a 64-bit processor, but that's impossible because the host is Windows 7 64-bit version.

Also, I have no idea what are BIOS settings, could you explain?

Thanks!
Omar Mosa

 

[Brink]

Omar,

If you currently have Windows 7 64-bit installed on your computer (host - not the VM), then you should already have a 64-bit processor.

Here's a guide at the link below that may be able to help with the BIOS settings.

How to enter the BIOS or CMOS setup.

 

[Omar Mosa]

Hi

For some reason I can't get BIOS to show up. I think I will try dual-booting Win8 instead of using VirtualBox as some users on the Virtualbox forum said that dumping VMs works sometimes I'll update as soon as I get to doing this dual boot technique.

Thanks for trying to help! You are awesome.
Omar Mosa

 

[whs]

In preparation for the Beta I made a trial installation of vBox 4.1.8. on my laptop. Both the Win8 DE and the extensions. What I am unable to install are the Guest Additions. It always hangs up on the PnP driver and aborts.

Because of that I also cannot set my screen to more than 800x600. Any bigger resolution works but then the screen shows only partly and the whole bottom of the screen disappears.

Anybody have an idea what I can try with that.