LEARN HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS SERVER 2022 ON VIRTUALBOX 6.1 AND CONFIGURE RDP
REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this tutorial, the following is a list of items that may be needed or required. Please ensure to have these items available before taking implementation action on this tutorial to ensure success:
1) A desktop or laptop with 8GB RAM, a core i3 processor and 50GB of free disk space
2) Windows 8, Windows 10 or Windows 11, MacOS High Sierra or newer, or any upto date LINUX distro with a desktop environment (XFCE , KDE etc)
3) Oracle VM VirtualBox 6.1 or any newer version
4) The WINDOWS SERVER 2022 disk image file
5) Virtualbox guest additions software
OVERVIEW
1) Download and install VIRTUALBOX on to your computer
2) Download the WINDOWS SERVER 2022 disk image file
3) Open VIRTUALBOX and create a new WINDOWS virtual machine
4) Edit the virtual machine settings and attach the WINDOWS SERVER 2022 disk image file
5) Start the virtual machine and install WINDOWS SERVER 2022
6) Install virtualbox guest additions software, create a shared folder and configure microsoft remote desktop
WINDOWS SERVER 2022 MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The following are the minimum system requirements needed to deploy WINDOWS SERVER 2022 as a virtual machine on VIRTUALBOX 6.1. Please check through these system requirements with your computer to ensure success:
1) 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor
2) Compatible with x64 instruction set
3) Supports NX and DEP
4) Supports CMPXCHG16b, LAHF/SAHF, and PrefetchW
5) Supports Second Level Address Translation (EPT or NPT).
STEP 1: Download and install VIRTUALBOX on to your computer
1) Click HERE to go to the VIRTUALBOX downlaods page to download a copy of the VIRTUALBOX installation file for your operating system. Click on the DOWNLOAD VIRTUALBOX and below the “VirtualBox 6.1.34 platform packages” title click on the link for your operating system tostart the download process.
STEP 2: Download the WINDOWS SERVER 2022 disk image file
2) Once the download process is complete, click HERE to go the the MICROSOFT downloads page to download the ISO file for the EVALUATION version of WINDOWS SERVER 2022.
STEP 3: Open VIRTUALBOX and create a new WINDOWS virtual machine
3) Before you can open the virtualbox app, you first need to install it, if you are using a WINDOWS PC, double click on the virtualbox installation file and click on RUN, click on NEXT on all the prompts and click on INSTALL.
4) Once the installation process is complete, click on FINISH and click on NEW to open the virtualbox virtual machine creation wizard. On the CREATE VIRTUAL MACHINE window, type in a descriptive name to identify the virtual machine on the NAME input box, select a MACHINE FOLDER to save virtual machine files, set the VERSION to WINDOWS 11 and click on NEXT.
5) Set the MEMORY SIZE to 4GB or more and click on NEXT
6) On the CREATE VIRTUAL HARD DISK window click on the CREATE VIRTUAL HARD DISK NOW radio button and click on NEXT.
7) On the HARD DISK file type window, click on the VDI (VIRTUALBOX DISK IMAGE) and click on NEXT.
8) On the STORAGE ON PHYSICAL DISK window, select the DYNAMICALLY ALLOCATED radio button and click on NEXT. cHOOSING DYNAMICALLY ALLOCATED will create a virtual hard disk that will not take up all of the allocated physical disk space but will however increase in size as more data is added and saved on it.
9) On the FILE LOCATION AND SIZE window, we recommend that you leave the default file location. Se the size of the virtual hard disk using the slider and click on CREATE.
STEP 4: Edit the virtual machine settings and attach the WINDOWS SERVER 2022 disk image file
10) Once the virtual machine creation process is complete, right click on the VM and click on SETTINGS, click on the NETWORK tab, set ADAPTER1 to bridged adapter and select the NETWORK INTERFACE that has access to the internet
11) Click on the STORAGE tab and click on the ADD button. Browse to the folder where the WINDOWS SERVER 2022 iso file is located, select it and click on OPEN. You will now see the ISO file in the OPTICAL DISK SELECTOR. Click on the ISO file and click on CHOOSE. Click on OK to save changes
STEP 5: Start the virtual machine and install WINDOWS SERVER 2022
12) Right click on the virtual machine and click on START > NORMAL start. When the virtual machine boots up, select ENGLISH UNITED (STATES) on the LANGUAGE TO INSTALL drop down, select your tine and currency on the TIME AND CURRENCY FORMAT drop down and click on NEXT
13) Click on INSTALL NOW to start the WS 2022 installation
14) On the SELECT THE OPERATING SYSTEM YOU WANT TO INSTALL window, click on WINDOWS SERVER 2022 STANDARD EVALUATION (DESKTOP EXPERIENCE) and click on NEXT. You can select any other version that you would like to use instead.
15) Accept the MICROSOFT LICENSE agreement by click on the checkbox at the botton of the WINDOW and click on NEXT
16) Next, WINDOWS SETUP will ask which type of installation you would like to perform. Click on CUSTOM: INSTALL MICROSOFT SERVER OPERATING SYSTEM ONLY (ADVANCED)
17) Next, you will have to specify where you would like to install WS 2022, select the VIRTUAL HARD DISK that you created in the previous steps and click on NEXT
18) WINDOWS SETUP will now start copying system files, install features, updates and other system critical components, simply wait for the installation process to complete.
STEP 6: Install virtualbox guest additions software, create a shared folder and configure microsoft remote desktop
19) Once the installation process is complete, WINDOWS SERVER will prompt you to set a username and password. Enter your credentials on the spaces provided.
20) PRESS CONTROL +ALT + DELETE to log into the server. Use the username and password that you created in the previous step to log in. Click on DEVICES > INSERT GUEST ADDITIONS CD IMAGE
21) Press WINDOWS + E to open the Window explorer, and double click on the VIRTUALBOX GUEST ADDITIONS CD. Click on the NEXT button on the setup program and click on INSTALL.
22) Once the installation process is complete, ensure that the REBOOT NOW radio button is selected and click on FINISH, this will actually restart the virtual machine. Click on DEVICES > SHARED FOLDER > SHARED FOLDER SETTINGS. Click on the ADD button to open the ADD SHARE window
On the ADD SHARE window, select a folder on your host computer on the FOLDER PATH, click on the AUTO MOUNT check box, set the mount path to C:\ and click on the MAKE PERMANENT checkbox. Click on OK to apply changes.
23) To access the shared folder, open WINDOWS EXPLORER in the WS 2022 virtual machine and click on NETWORK. Click on OK and click on the message display at the top of WINDOWS EXPLORER informing you that “NETWORK DISCOVERY AND FILE SHARING ARE TURNED OFF. NETWORK COMPUTERS AND DEVICES ARE NOT VISIBLE. CLICK TO CHANGE”
Proceed by click on TURN ON NETWORK DISCOVERY AND FILE SHARING and click on YES TURN ON NETWORK DISCOVERY AND FILE SHARING FOR ALL PUBLIC NETWORKS
24) Once you have made the above changes you should now see the VIRTUALBOX SHARED folder and you can now use it to access files saved on your host computer from with the virtualbox virtual machine
The shared folder should be listed in the NETWORK LOCATIONS section of WINDOWS EXPLORER
25) Finally, to enable remote desktop, right click on THIS PC in windows explorer and click on PROPERTIES. On the RELATED SETTINGS section, click on REMOTE DESKTOP and toggle the REMOTE DESKTOP switch to ON. Click on CONFIRM on the pop up window that appears.
On the “KEEP MY PC AWAKE FOR CONNECTIONS WHEN IT IS PLUGGED IN” check box click on SHOW SETTINGS and on the WHEN PLUGGED IN, TURN OFF AFTER drop down, select NEVER.
Open up the microsoft remote desktop app on a different PC and try to connect to the virtual machine using its IP address of computer name
