MRC/Tutorials/Introduction to Virual Machine

Overview

A Virtual Machine (VM) is a software-based emulation of a physical computer. It allows users to run multiple operating systems on a single physical machine, avoiding the need of having to change all setups on your current laptop and follow this course with ease.

What is a Virtual Machine?

A Virtual Machine acts as an independent environment that runs on top of a physical host system. It has its own allocated CPU, memory, storage, and network interfaces, all of which are managed by virtualization software known as a hypervisor.

Key Components of a Virtual Machine

• Hypervisor: Software that manages VMs, such as VirtualBox
• Guest OS: The operating system running inside the VM, in this case Ubuntu
• Virtual Hardware: Emulated CPU, RAM, disk storage, and network devices.

Benefits of Using Virtual Machines

• Isolation: Each VM operates independently, reducing security risks.
• Flexibility: Run multiple operating systems on the same hardware.
• Testing & Development: Safely experiment with new software without affecting the host system

Use in this Course

• Running Ubuntu on a Windows or macOS machine.

Conclusion

Virtual Machines are powerful tools that enables you students to experiment with different operating systems and applications without having to modify your primary system.

Next section: installing ubuntu in a VM