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Installing Android on a Virtual Machine running inside Windows using VirtualBox

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

  1. Download VirtualBox (filename: VirtualBox-4.0.0-69151-Win.exe) from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
  2. Download a ISO image of Android-x86 built for installation on a virtual machine (filename: froyo-vm-20100812) from http://www.android-x86.org/download 
  3. Install Virtualbox.
  4. Download "VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" (filename:Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.0.0-69151.vbox-extpack) from http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
  5. Install "VM VirtualBox Extension Pack" by double clicking on the file.
  6. Start VirtualBox
  7. Create a new Virtual Machine named "Android-x86-froyo" for OS "Linux" and Version "Linux 2.6" with RAM as 256 MB and dynamically growing IDE (not SCSI) Harddisk of 2 GB Capacity. Enable both the serial ports (COM1 and COM2) but leave them in "Disconnected" mode.
  8. To the above Virtual Machine, attach "froyo-vm-20100812.iso" as CD image to the IDE controller to which the above Harddisk is also attached.
  9. Start the above Virtual Machine and when it boots from the ISO image, select the option "Install Android to harddisk"
  10. When asked to choose partiton, select "Create partition" to enter the cfdisk utility. Within this utility select "New" and create a "Primary" partition of the default selected size (2146 MB).
  11. Select the option to "Write" the partition table.
  12. Set the just created partition to be bootable
  13. Again select the option to "Write" the partition table.
  14. "Quit" the partition utility.
  15. Select the "sda1" partition and press "OK" to install Android to this partition.
  16. When presented with the filesystem options to format sda1, select "ext3".
  17. Select "Yes" when asked about installation of GRUB bootloader.
  18. Select "Run Android-x86" at the end.
  19. For the currently running "Android-x86-froyo" Virtual Machine window select "Disable Mouse Integration" from Machine menu of virtualbox. Once that is done, click within the window so that mouse pointer is captured. This will enable you to click and drag the mouse pointer to unclock the Android homescreen. To release capture of mouse pointer press the "Right Ctrl" key on the keyboard.
  20. To shut down the Virtual Machine send an "ACPI Shutdown Signal" from the Machine menu of Virtualbox then switch to the Virtual Machine screen and select "Power off"

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