Windows Server 8 is the next generation Server by Microsoft that is bound to act as the game changer in the server market. It comes with many cloud based enhancements, as well as the new Metro UI introduced by Microsoft for its Windows operating systems, including Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. In a previous post I showed you How to install Windows 8 on Virtualbox. In this post I will show you the procedure for installing Windows Server 8 on Virtualbox. For those of you who might be unaware of the Virtualbox, it is a VMware like application that enables running operating systems virtually. This helps IT professionals to simulate physical environment features, practice on new software applications and operating systems, as well as to save hardware costs in an enterprise environment.
Step 1: First of all Download Windows Server 8.
Step 2: Download the latest VirtualBox , for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X or Sun Solaris to install Windows Server 8.
Step 3: Now, install Virtualbox and follow the simple instruction given below to install Windows Server 8 on VirtualBox.
Step 4: Once VirtualBox is installed on your computer, open it and select New,to create a new virtual machine and click Next on the new window that pops-up.
Step 5: Select Windows 2008 as the operating system and enter a name for the virtual machine, e.g. “Windows Server 8". It is quite likely that you may face installation crashes if you select “Windows 2008 64-bit" option. For this reason, select Windows Server 2008 instead.
Step 6: Now allocate RAM for your virtual machine. The minimum RAM requirement for Windows Server 8 is 512 MB, but the virtual machine may not work with the minimum RAM requirement, therefore, allocate at least 1 GB RAM.
Step 7: Leave the default “Create New Hard Disk” option enabled and click Next to continue.
Step 8: Leave the Virtual hard Disk to VDI (VirtualBox Disk image) and click Next to proceed further.
Step 9: Now, choose the “Fixed Size” option to create a virtual hard disk.
Step 10: Allocate desired disk space for your virtual machine, however, make sure that the minimum hardware requirement for 32 GB is met for your Windows Server 8 virtual machine. You can also change the default location of the virtual hard disk from the folder icon, (next to your virtual machine name) and select a different partition to save the virtual disk image file.
Step 11: Click Create to create the virtual disk image.
Step 12: After your virtual hard disk is created, click Settings to configure VM (Virtual Machine) Settings.
Step 13: Now, go to System menu and enable IO APIC from Motherboard sub-tab.
Step 14 (optional): From the Processor tab, allocate at least 2 processors (provided your hardware can support them) for better Virtual Machine performance and to avoid VM installation issues. I am using a Core i3 Laptop so allocating 2 processor still leaves me with 2 additional ones for my physical machine, as Corei3 has 2 physical and 2 virtual cores due to Hyper Threading.
Step 15: Head over to the Storage menu, click Empty, followed by the CD icon to select the Windows Server 8 ISO image. Click OK to continue.
Step 16: Select your Virtual Machine name and click Start from left side of the main interface to begin installation.
The rest of the installation process is not much different form a normal Windows operating system installation. However, you can check out the rest of the process in this post: How To Install Windows Server 8.
You can also check out this video walkthrough for understanding the complete process of creating a Windows Server 8 virtual machine on VirtualBox. This video is also available on our YouTube Channel. How To Install Windows Server 2012 On VirtualBox
