This tutorial will take you every single step of the way through installing Fedora 7 KDE using VirtualBox for OS X. In other words, even your parents should be able to follow along.
Background
You can download Fedora from the Fedora Project tracker. This tutorial uses Fedora 7 KDE Live CD (Fedora-7-KDE-Live-i686.torrent) as the version.
VirtualBox is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software. Download VirtualBox here.
Setting up VirtualBox for Fedora
- Launch VirtualBox and click the New button.
- Review the initial “wizard” screen and click Next to continue.
- In the Name field, give your virtual machine a name. It can be pretty much anything, but a descriptive title is always a good idea. For the OS Type select Linux 2.6. Click Next to continue.
- Decide how much memory you want to allocate to your virtual machine, and click Next. Remember, the amount you dedicate to Fedora will take away from OS X, so don’t use that much.
- You’ll need to create a new virtual hard disk, so click the New… button.
- Click Next.
- Decide if you want to use a Dynamically expanding image or a Fixed-size image. I suggest Dynamically expanding, but it’s your call. Click Next after you’ve decided.
- Determine how large you want your virtual disk to be. I went with 8GB and after the installation there was plenty of room left over to install additional programs. When you’ve made a selection, click Next.
- Review your settings and click Finish if you’re happy with everything.
- Click Next now that the disk settings have been created.
- And finally, click Finish.
- Now we’ll set up VirtualBox to boot from an .iso image. This step isn’t required if you’re booting/installing Fedora from a CD. Click the Settings button.
- Select the CD/DVD-ROM item from the list in the left window. Select ISO Image File and then click the button next to the drop-down menu (see screenshot below).
- Click the Add button.
- Navigate to the .iso file, select it and then click the Open button.
- Make sure that everything looks good and then click Select.
- Again, review everything and then click OK.
Installing Fedora in VirtualBox
- Now it’s time to boot Fedora. Click the Start button.
- In all likelihood you’ll be presented with an information window. Review this info so you understand how to release the keyboard and mouse focus from the guest OS (Fedora in this case). The default button is the right apple key.
- When Fedora boots for the first time, click inside the VirtualBox window, select Run from image by using the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard, and hit enter (return) to select it.
- Watch as Fedora boots…
- And you’ll be presented with the Fedora 7 KDE desktop.
- Don’t be at all surprised if you get an ‘error’ message that says sound doesn’t work. I still can’t get sound to work in Fedora via VirtualBox. If you can, please feel free to leave a message in the comments below and I’ll test/update this tutorial accordingly.
- You can play around with Fedora if you’d like. You should be connected to the Internet (assuming your Mac is) so you can surf the web etc.
- When you’re ready to actually install Fedora, double-click the Install to Hard Drive icon on your desktop.
- When the Installer launches, click Next to begin.
- Select the appropriate keyboard layout and click Next.
- A warning message will appear - though it looks a bit scary, remember that you’re installing Fedora on a virtual hard disk - so you won’t be deleting or erasing any of your OS X files. Click Yes.
- Leave the default settings selected and click Next.
- Again, don’t worry about the warning - just click Next.
- Depending on the amount of RAM you dedicated to Fedora, you may get a message explaining that swap space needs to be enabled immediately. If this is the case, click Yes.
- Leave the default settings and click Next.
- Select your city and/or timezone, then click Next.
- Enter a password that you’ll use for the root user. This should be a hard to guess password that contains at least one number.
- Click Next to begin installing Fedora.
- At this point you might want to walk away. On my 2GHz MacBook Pro w/ 2GB, it took an hour and a half to install. And it’s not exactly thrilling stuff to watch.
- After the installation has completed successfully, click Close.
- Click the KDE button in the bottom left corner of your screen and select Log Out….
- Click the Turn Off Computer button.
- Back in VirtualBox, click the Settings button.
- Again, select the CD/DVD-ROM item from the left menu. Change the setting from ISO Image File to Host CD/DVD Drive. Click OK and re-start Fedora by clicking the Start button.
- This time when Fedora starts you’ll be taken through a brief setup. Click Forward to begin.
- Review the license info and click Forward.
- Determine the firewall settings you wish to use. The defaults are fine, and all of these settings can be changed later. Click Forward to continue.
- If a pop-up window appears, review the info and click Yes.
- Unless you really know what you’re doing, leave the default SELinux setting (Enforcing) and click Forward.
- Make sure the correct date and time are set, then click Forward.
- At this point Fedora will ask you to submit your hardware profile. It’s perfectly fine to submit this info - it is all anonymous. Whatever you decide, click Forward to continue.
- If you opted not to submit the hardware info, you’ll be asked to reconsider.
- Now you’ll create the first (non-root) user for Fedora. Enter the appropriate info in the fields, and click Finish.
- Login to Fedora using the account you just created.
- That’s it - you’re done! Have fun using Fedora
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