`# Installing-Windows-Server-2016-on-virtual-box-
Step 1 : Download Windows Server 2016 ISO
Click here to visit the Official Microsoft site and download Windows Server 2016 ISO 60-bit edition and start the download.
Step 2: Create a New Virtual Machine
If you haven’t downloaded and installed virtual box, I have created a guide here on how to go about it. Open Virtual-box and click on ‘New’ to create a new virtual machine.
Name your machine:
You are at liberty to call it ‘windows server 2016 ’ and it should automatically change the version to windows 2016 64-bit, so make sure that’s highlighted if it didn’t automatically do it.
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Create a Virtual Hard-disk:
Recommended to have at least 2GB of Base Memory. You could increase if your system has more resources.
Cycle through and complete by clicking Finish to create your virtual machine.
Configure VM settings:
Next go to the Virtual Machine ‘settings’ go to the storage tab, empty disk, locating where you downloaded server 2016 ISO and get it inserted. Then click OK.
Step 3: Start up the virtual machine
Click ‘Start’ to start the virtual machine, or rather start installing the server.
Setting Up Windows Server 2016:
It loads a blue boot screen then the setup screen
Pick the language, time and keyboard formats as you need, hit next then hit install now
It will ask which version to pick. Pick the ones with desktop experience, choose the server 2016 standard with desktop experience and hit next
Agree with the license terms, hit next
Type of install, choose custom
Make sure the drive is selected, hit next
It will go through the install and when done, let it restart. Click nothing as it boots-up into the setup, let it finish
Set up password for the administrator account.
input>keyboard>insert ctrl, alt, delete to unlock
Enter the password as it logs in the account for the first time
Then finally the desktop will load up
You wanted to test something in the windows server operating system; maybe you want to create a domain controller, a DHCP server, or even a DNS server.
The best way to test the windows server configuration is to perform them on a LAB environment. And Some of you may not have lab access, so your available option would be to virtualize the windows server on a hypervisor.
That way, whatever you do on the machine will stay in a virtualized environment. There are multiple hypervisors you can use to spin up the Windows server. And in my last article, we had covered how you can install the windows server on a KVM host. And In this blog, we are going to install the windows server on a VirtualBox.
Can you run Windows Server in VirtualBox?
You can run most operating systems with VirtualBox, provided it should be bootable or a virtual hard disk. Most of the users out there will have Windows server ISO file, and it works perfectly fine. However, you have a choice from Microsoft to download the virtual hard disk in VHD format. You can use that as well to install the windows server on the VirtualBox. And the windows server works great with the VirtualBox.
To get better performance after the installation of the windows, you will also have to install the VirtualBox guest additions. We will cover that as well in this article.
How do I download windows server images for VirtualBox?
You can go to Microsoft windows server evaluation center and download the Version of your choice. When you choose the Version, you will have multiple options; you can either select ISO or VHD. After choosing the Version, you will have to submit the form and post which you will get a link to download the software.
When it comes to the installation, compared to the ISO installation, the VHD file is the easiest way; however, the VHD file size is about 8GB, so you need to be mindful of that.
We will see how we can install the windows server 2019 with both the ISO file and the Virtual hard disk file.
Though we are installing the windows server 2019 in a VirtualBox, the steps mentioned here are identical for other Version of windows as well, such as windows server 2016,2012 and so on.
Prerequisite.
- Download and install the VirtualBox.
- Download the windows server image (Either ISO or VHD)
- Installation using the ISO file.
- How to install windows server using virtual hard disk (VHD) in VirtualBox?
Installation using the ISO file.
1. Creation of Windows server VM in VirtualBox.
Open VirtualBox and click on New or CTRL+N to start the windows server VM installation.
A new Create Virtual machine window will pop up; you can choose either Guided Mode or Expert Mode. We are using the Guided Mode for our lab.
- Enter the name of the VM.
- Select the folder where you want to keep the VM Hard disk files, I left as a default folder.
- Choose the Type as Microsoft Windows.
- Version as Windows 2019 (64bit), for other Version of windows server you may choose them here. For Example, Windows 2016 (64bit)
After specifying the above, you may Click on Next.
2. Specify the Memory.
You now have to define the Memory for the VM; since I most likely use it for a small Lab, I am fine with 2gigs of RAM. However, if you plan to do more stuff with it, you may need to increase the RAM accordingly.
3. Create virtual Hard disk.
We will create a virtual hard disk for our VM; in the hard disk wizard. Select the option à Create a virtual hard disk now and Click on create.
By default, the hard disk type would be VDI, and you may choose the default Value itself if you are planning to use the VirtualBox as your permanent hypervisor.
But I would recommend choosing VMDK so that you have an option to move from the VirtualBox to other hypervisors of your choice. Now Select VMDK and Click on the option Next.
On Storage on Physical hard disk, Choose the default value Dynamically allocated and Click on Next.
We will now define how much storage you want to provision for the windows server; I choose 50GB which is more than enough for me.
If you feel that you might need some extra space, you choose more based on your requirements and Click on Create.
You will be able to see the windows server VM instance is created.
4. Increase the CPU.
By default, the VirtualBox would assign only one processor to the VM, and I need to add one more processor. That way, then the performance would be good. If you do not need more CPU, you may skip this step.
Right-Click on the VM and Click on settings.
Click on System and choose the Processor tab, and in the processor count, increase it to two.
5. Attach the windows server image to the virtualbox.
On the same VirtualBox settings, Click on storage.
Under storage devices, Choose the Empty Disk.
In the attributes, Click on the Disk icon to choose a disk file.
And attach the ISO that we have downloaded earlier and Click on Ok.
Right-Click on the VM and Click on start.
From the start-up disk, choose the ISO image that we have attached and click on start. The VirtualBox instance will boot the windows server image.
6. Begin the windows installation.
After a few seconds, you should see the windows installation screen, Choose the language, and Click on Next.
You can click on Install now.
7. Choose the Version – GUI or CLI.
You will be presented with the different Versions of windows server 2019 on the screen. You must be a little careful here.
If you want to install the windows server with GUI, you may choose Desktop experience, or if you are ok with CLI, you may select the other options.
I need GUI access; hence I selected Windows server 2019 Datacenter evaluation (Desktop Experience)
After you decided on the versions, you may Click on Next.
Accept the license agreement and Click on Next.
Choose the installation as Custom.
Choose hard disk that we have defined earlier, Click on Next.
The windows server installation will now begin; this will take some time to finish.
8. Setup the admin password.
After the installation, you will be prompted to enter the Administrator password. Set the administrator password and Click on Finish.
9. Remove the ISO file.
Installation of Windows server 2019 in Oracle VirtualBox is completed; you may now log in to the windows server.
Let’s remove the windows server ISO file that we had attached during the installation.
On the bottom corner of the VirtualBox window, right-click and click on the disk icon and click on Remove disk from virtual drive.
10. Installation of VirtualBox Guest additions.
Finally, we will have to install the VirtualBox guest addition, which will improve the performance of the windows server VM.
To install the VirtualBox guest additions, you may log in to the windows host.
Click on Input–> Keyboard–> Insert Ctrl+Alt+Del
You will be prompted to enter the admin password that we had set up earlier.
After logging in, Click on Devices > Insert Guest Additions CD image…
It will attach the Guest addition installation disk to the Windows server VM.
Open This PC, and you should see the VirtualBox Guest additions CD drive and double click on it.
Double click on the Virtualbox Guest addition installation setup file to install the VirtualBox guest additions on your windows server machine.
It is a typical software installation and nothing too complex here; you may click on next on all the drive installation prompt that you get.
After the installation, you may now go ahead and reboot the VM, and you should be good to go.
How to install Windows Server using Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) in VirtualBox?
We have successfully installed the windows server 2019 on the VirtualBox hypervisor using ISO image. We now will go ahead and install the virtual machine using the virtual hard disk. We already have a VHD file downloaded from the Microsoft site.
1. Creation of the VM.
On the VirtualBox, Click on New.
- Name the VM and the location where you want to save the virtual machine.
- Type as Windows.
- Version: Windows 2019 (64bit)
2. Define the memory size.
We can provide a Memory of 2GB or more, and I am choosing 2GB for now.
3. Attach the Virtual Hard disk.
When we chose the ISO method of installation, we created a new hard disk in the VirtualBox.
But right now, we already have the virtual hard disk file, We need to attach that here.
Select use existing virtual hard disk file and click on the browse button next to the drop-down.
You will not see the virtual hard disk in the new pop up; Click on Add.
And Select the VHD file which we downloaded from Microsoft.
The new image is added under the not attached section.
Select the image and Click on Choose.
You need to make sure the new virtual hard disk is selected under ‘use existing hard disk file’
Click on Create.
4. Choose the region and Accept the license.
Once you power on the machine, you will get an option to Choose the region, Language, Layout and Click on Next.
You have to accept the license before you continue.
Follow the Step 8 above to set the admin password. Enter the password and Click on Finish.
Your VirtualBox is ready to use, and you still need to install the VirtualBox guest additions following Step 10 above which is important.
Hi Guys! Welcome to the Windows blog series, In this blog we are going to install Windows server 2016 core, configure Active Directory and Add Windows 7 as a domain client.
Before starting I want you to perform some specific task.
- Download and Install VirtualBox.
- Download Windows Server 2016.
- Download any version of Windows 7 SP 1.
Follow the following steps:
1.Creating Virtual Machine on VirtualBox
Run the VirtualBox and click on New.
Give the name to the machine,Select the folder where you want to install it,select the type and version according to the system configuration. then click on Next.
Now, assign RAM to the machine and click Next.
Select Create a Virtual hard disk now and click Create.
Select VDI(VirtualBox Disk Image) and click Next.
Select Dynamically allocated then click Next.
Now, assign Hard Disk to the machine then click Create.
We successfully created the machine on the VirtualBox. Now we deploy the machine.
Select the machine then click on Start. Now we have to choose the disk that we want to deploy in the machine.
Select Windows Server 2016 and click Choose.
Now, click Start button to start the installation.
2.Installing Windows Server 2016 Core
Select language to install,Time and currency format and Keyboard or input method then click Next.
Click on Install now .
It will take some time then select the operating system you want to install. Here we are going to select Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation then click Next.
Accept the licence terms and click Next.
Now, we have click on Custom: Install windows only.
Select the drive and click Next.
Windows Setup will start the installation,take a coffee and wait till it install the windows. It will restart the windows several times in between.
Installation completed successfully, Press CTRL + DEL to unlock.
It ask for the change the password before signing in click OK.
Enter the password and hit Enter.
Password has been changed successfully, now click OK.
3.Setting up server configuration
Now, we have CMD as administrator. Enter sconfig and press Enter.
It open server configuration enter 2 to change the computer name, give a new name to the server and hit Enter. It will restart the machine, wait till it restart.
Again press CTRL + DEL to unlock then Enter the password that you configured and then sconfig to enter server configuration.
Now, Set up a static IP in VirtualBox , to do that Go to VirtualBox menu and select
File ->Preferences ->Network ->Click on + sign ->Enter network details and press OK.
Now, Go to VirtualBox menu and select Machine-> Setting-> Network-> Change Attached to NAT Network “MYNetwork”-> Change Promiscuous Mode to Allow All and click OK.
In server configuration enter 8 to change the Network Setting, Then select the Network Adapter by entering 0.
Now, It is showing adapter details that we have to configure. First we to set IP address Enter 1 to Set Network Adapter Address then Enter S for static IP address. Enter static IP address, Enter subnet mask, Enter default gateway according to the static IP you created earlier and press Enter.
Now, Set DNS Server to do that select 2 option and hit Enter then Enter new preferred DNS Server and Enter alternate DNS Server and press Enter.
Enter 4 to Return to Main menu, then enter 9 to Change Date and Time. Select the Date and Time and press OK.
Enter 15 to Exit to Command Line, It will save the configuration and exit the server configuration menu. Now we switch to powershell, enter powershell to switch to powershell.
4.Configuring Active Directory
Import the server manager module By entering command import-module servermanager
Now, promote is server to active directory domain controller by installing services of active directory, By entering command Add-WindowsFeature AD-domain-services
Check what are the services installed in domain controller, By entering command Get-WindowsFeature *domain* then Install the DNS, By entering command Add-WindowsFeature DNS
Now we import for ADDS Deployment, By entering command Import -Module ADDSDeployment
Then we create a forest, By entering command Install-ADDSForest -CreateDNSDelegation:$false -DatabasePath “C:\Windows\NTDS” -DomainMode “Default” -DomainName “security.com” -DomainNetbiosName “SECURITY” -ForestMode “Default” -InstallDns:$true -LogPath “C:\Windows\NTDS” -NoRebootOnCompletion:$false -SysvolPath “C:\Windows\SYSVOL” -Force:$true
It will ask for the password that you want to set, Enter the password and press Enter.
After the Forest installation completed it will restart the server.
Press CTRL +DEL to unlock it then enter the administrator password. Now enter sconfig to check the server configuration.
Domain controller created successfully.
5.Adding Domain Client
Install Windows 7 in VirtualBox. Here I have already Windows 7 installed.
After Installing Go to VirtualBox Machine Setting->Network->Change the Attached to NAT Network (My Network)->Change Promiscuous Mode to Allow All then press OK.
Now start the machine. Then press WIN + R and enter ncpa.cpl. It will open Network Adapter.
Double click on the Local Area Connection and click on the Properties. Disable IPv6 and Double click on IPV4 and select the Use the following IP Address to set up static IP Address.
Here we are giving IP address 10.0.0.100 to the machine, Subnet mask is same for both the machine 255.255.255.0, Default gateway 10.0.0.1 is also same for both the machine then we are assigning Prefered DNS server to the machine 10.0.0.200 which is IP Address of the server and Alternate DNS Server as 8.8.8.8 then press OK.
Go to My Computer-> Properties-> Change Setting-> Change domain then select domain and Enter domain which we configured on server and press OK.
It will ask for the username and password of the server. Specify the Username and Password of the Server and press OK.
It will give a successful message when connection implemented successfully and restart the machine. Now login to the machine using domain controller credentials.
After login into the machine Go to My Computer-> Properties and we have FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) that is Host name +Domain name.
And we successfully added a client to our domain controller.
References:
- https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016
- https://techverse.net/download-windows-7-iso-x86-x64-microsofts-official-servers/
- https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
I hope you enjoyed my blog. Subscribe to read other upcoming blog. Share the blog with your friends if you found it helpful. If you have any suggestion and feedback, please connect with me on social media or Email me. All details are already in contact.
Happy Hacking!
In this note; I will show you how you can install Windows server 2016 on Oracle VM Virtual Box step by step. Actually all my notes about database security. But I will use this server to show you some security feature of SQL Server.
- First; you have create a blank Windows machine by Oracle VM Virtual Box Manager by clicking New in Machine menu.
2.In the dialog box give a name for the virtual machine and choose Windows 2016 (64bit) as a version.
3. Now ; select the machine RAM , I chose 2 GB as you see in the picture below.
4. After pressing Next; you will come to Hard Disk configuration page; in my machine I decided to create a virtual disk.
5. Choose VDI as a hard disk type.
6. In the Storage on physical hard disk page choose your disk type and I chose dynamically allocated disk
7. In File location and size page; choose you hard disk size and location and press the Create button to create a blank machine. Now you blank Windows 2016 server is ready.
8. Now It is the time to download Windows 2016 Server ISO from Microsoft support page.
9. After downloading ISO page ; insert this file into previously created blank machine. You can do this from the setting page of the machine , choose storage section and Optical Drive part.
10. Now start the machine and press Install Now.
11. Choose Windows Server 2016 Standart Evaluation ( Desktop Experience)
12. This is a new installation for this reason ; choose Custom install
13. Now create you disk drive ; just choose Drive 0 and press Next.
14. Windows installation starts and you have to wait for a while
15. At the and you should enter your Administration password and you have make some regional setting.
16. And now you virtual Windows 2016 server is ready you can open your desktop by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del from Input – keyboard menu .
I hope this note will be helpful for you.
Y. Anil Akduygu from Istanbul
To install VirtualBox on your PC, follow these steps:
- Open this link and select the Windows Hosts option from the list.
- The VirtualBox file will start downloading on your PC.
- Open the VirtualBox file and install it.
Note: If you have issues installing VirtualBox, deselect the USB features in the installation wizard.
Here’s how you can create a new virtual machine (VirtualBox):
- In the Machine section, click the New button.
- Enter a name for the Virtual Machine, select the location of the Windows Server .iso file, and then click Next.
- Use at least 4 GB of RAM and click Next.
- Click the option to Create a Virtual Hard Disk Now (you should use a minimum of 50 GB for proper operation). Then click Next.
- In the next Summary window, click Finish.
- In the Tools tab, select the Windows Server .iso file by clicking the button with the three dots. A dropdown menu will open; click Media.
- Then, select the Optical Disks tab and click Add.
- Turn on the virtual machine by clicking Start.
- The installation of Windows Server 2016 will begin.
Note: Check the box called Skip Unattended Installations.
Note: You can choose any other value according to your preferences, as long as it meets the system requirements.
