VirtualBox - What is it and what is it for

We explain what VirtualBox is, the open source hypervisor that will allow you to create virtual machines in a simple way

Robert Sole November 11, 2020

0 13.694 3 reading minutes

Virtual machines are well-known in the world of computing. Their use is quite common, and they are fairly easy to create. Here, we'll explain what a virtual machine is and then discuss VirtualBox . This tool is the most widely used due to its simple and intuitive operation.

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Table of Contents

What is a virtual machine

Software that simulates a computer system and has the ability to run programs as if it were a real computer . This software is typically defined as " an efficient and isolated duplicate of a physical machine ." The term now also includes virtual machines that do not have a direct equivalent in physical hardware.

Such virtual machines can run processes limited by the resources and abstractions provided to them. Any of the processes cannot leave the environment of this 'virtual computer' at any time.

One of the most widespread practices for creating virtual machines is running operating systems to 'test' them. It allows us to test an operating system, such as Ubuntu, from our computer with Windows operating system, without the need to install it directly on the computer and without having any impact on the configuration of the primary operating system.

What is VirtualBox

It is virtualization software , also called a type 2 hypervisor . It is used to generate virtualized operating systems within an existing physical computer, creating what are known as virtual machines.

The type 1 hypervisors o simple hypervisors they are a layer of software that is installed on top of a physical server and its underlying hardware, and they are an operating system unto itself. While the type 2 hypervisors they run within an operating system on a physical host machine.

VirtualBox differs from VMWare and other software for creating virtual machines, in that it is free. You do not need to purchase a license to use this type 2 hypervisor.

This tool allows you to run it on all existing Windows distributions . It also offers broad compatibility with Apple macOS and virtually all GNU/Linux distributions . It can even run less common operating systems such as Solaris, OS/2, DOS, QNX, Novell, and BeOS, among others.

Although VirtualBox is focused on the home user, it is also widely used in professional environments. This is because it supports a large number of operating systems. It is also a fairly common alternative when running servers or embedded applications. Especially it is used in small servers destined to small companies, since there is no license fee.

What is VirtualBox for

Essentially, it's used for virtualizing operating systems that we can't or don't want to run on our computer. It allows us to work with the operating systems normally, as if we had installed them on our machine. We can think of it as an isolated box inside our computer; nothing from inside will escape and cause problems with our main system.

They allow you to create Sanboxes, which are nothing more than isolated and safe spaces to run unverified or suspicious applications. So we can run applications that contain malware or malicious code and see how they interact with the operating system. Due to strict execution rules, malware will not be able to affect our main operating system.

Although there are specific applications to create Sandbox, VirtualBox is very simple and intuitive to use. It also offers us a transparent space to any software that can detect that we are in a Sandbox.

We can find programs that can detect the use of a virtual machine, but they are the least. This can be easily hidden, which is a great advantage.

Common uses of VirtualBox

They are typically used to emulate operating systems and install untested updates. In GNU/Linux distributions, they are commonly used to verify that future updates function correctly. We can also create or modify functions or parameters of GNU/Linux distributions and verify their functionality before applying them to our system.

Another fairly common use is running software or applications that don't work on modern operating systems . There are tools that use older versions of Windows or GNU/Linux that can't be updated for security reasons or because the developers have abandoned them. To continue using them, you need to install a virtual machine in VirtualBox with the appropriate operating system version.

VirtualBox and other virtual machine tools are also commonly used to explore malware and other malicious software . Security researchers often use these closed environments to observe how malware behaves. This allows them to then create tools for detecting, protecting against, and removing malicious code.