VirtualBox Windows 7 install

[The_Mowgs]

I would like to install Windows 7 in Virtual Box but which version do I install and where can I download the ISO from?

I have a couple of Windows 7 Enterprise licenses but not sure which version to install as I am very new to VM.

 

[Johnatan56]

I think https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7 should let you get the ISO.

The latest version.

EDIT: in virtualBox:
New > Pick a name, Type: Windows, Version: W7 64bit, Next.
select your RAM (stay within the green zone, 4-6GB should be enough, my green zone is ~12GB on 16GB RAM), Next.
Create a virtual hard disk now > Create.
Pick your type (Chapter 5.2 Explains), I picked VDI, Next.
Either pick dynamic or Fixed size, I picked dynamic.
Select size of disk, to start off with I gave it 50GB, Create.

Now double click on the new machine on the left-hand side, it will have the name of the machine you chose on it. (You can also right-click and select start).
It will ask you for the boot ISO, select it and it will mount off of it and do the normal windows install.

If you cancel/"shutdown" the machine on that first boot, it will say no boot medium found when you boot it. At the top, select devices > optical drives > Choose image and select the iso.

EDIT2: Dynamic image you can increase the virtual drive's size if you need it, fixed can't but fixed is supposedly faster (I didn't notice a difference using either one of them).

 

[The_Mowgs]

I think https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7 should let you get the ISO.

The latest version.

EDIT: in virtualBox:
New > Pick a name, Type: Windows, Version: W7 64bit, Next.
select your RAM (stay within the green zone, 4-6GB should be enough, my green zone is ~12GB on 16GB RAM), Next.
Create a virtual hard disk now > Create.
Pick your type (Chapter 5.2 Explains), I picked VDI, Next.
Either pick dynamic or Fixed size, I picked dynamic.
Select size of disk, to start off with I gave it 50GB, Create.

Now double click on the new machine on the left-hand side, it will have the name of the machine you chose on it. (You can also right-click and select start).
It will ask you for the boot ISO, select it and it will mount off of it and do the normal windows install.

If you cancel/"shutdown" the machine on that first boot, it will say no boot medium found when you boot it. At the top, select devices > optical drives > Choose image and select the iso.

EDIT2: Dynamic image you can increase the virtual drive's size if you need it, fixed can't but fixed is supposedly faster (I didn't notice a difference using either one of them).

Thank you very very much, really appreciate the link and the subsequent instructions.

 

[HAL 9000]

I run 3 different VM's in Oracle's VirtualBox on my Lenovo G50 i3 laptop, which has 16GB RAM installed.

I use them for desktop applications training purposes and they all run Windows 7 Enterprise, with three different versions of MS Office Pro on them - 2007, 2010 & 2013. The only other software I have installed on the VM's is Adobe Reader, CCleaner, PatchMyPC and Google Chrome.

I have set the 3 VM's to all use 4GB RAM, which is OK for just Win 7 & MS Office, but I found that my initial VM size of 50 GB for them was insufficient, due to the perennial Windows & Office updates which added extra bloat to them, until they started to run out of free space, when I increased them to 60 GB.

This was OK for about another 6 months or so, until the updates started to again encroach on the remaining free space of the VM's.

I have now increased all of the VM's to 80 GB, which seems to be OK for the moment, until such time as additional updates have an impact on the remaining free space again, and I may have to increase them to 100 GB or so.

 

[kolaval]

80GB for Windows, office, acrobat, ccleaner and chrome?!

Does not sound right.

 

[Rickster]

I set a bare bones VM with 15GB, works perfectly.

 

[HAL 9000]

80GB for Windows, office, acrobat, ccleaner and chrome?! Does not sound right.

After about 3 years or so of constant Windows 7 Enterprise & MS Office 2013 Pro updates - even a 50 GB VM fills up rapidly - so I increased the Office 2013 VM to 80 GB (and the other 2 VM''s for Office 2007 & 2010 as well) just as a precaution - so if I then decide to upgrade any of the VM's to either Win 8.x or 10 in the future, that there is sufficient free space in reserve.

 

[AlphaJohn]

I would like to install Windows 7 in Virtual Box but which version do I install and where can I download the ISO from?

I have a couple of Windows 7 Enterprise licenses but not sure which version to install as I am very new to VM.

Why not just get one of the Free VM's provided by Microsoft?

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/

You can change the key to one of yours.