每个人都喜欢尝试新的，有光泽工艺玩具象Windows 7的beta, but when the price is having to replace your existing operating system, that's too much for most people. That's when being able to use a virtualization program can come in darn handy.
为了测试如何好Windows 7的虚拟化系统上的作品，我决定使用Sun的VirtualBox软件。虽然有，当然，其他的虚拟化计划在那里，如VMware的工作站and的Parallels Desktop, VirtualBox has two significant advantages over the others. First, it's free. Second, you can use it as a host for other operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh andOpenSolaris的。
就我而言，我决定使用VirtualBox的在两台戴尔Inspiron 530S系统，一个运行Windows XP专业版SP3和其他运行MEPIS Linux的7运行Windows 7。每个PC附带有一个800兆赫的前端总线，4GB的RAM，一个500GB SATA驱动器和一个集成的Intel 3100图形媒体加速器2.2 GHz的英特尔奔腾E2200双核处理器。虽然没有强大的系统，这些证明有足够多的CPU处理能力同时运行的本地操作系统和Windows 7。
VirtualBox的运行
VirtualBox的有两个版本。全VirtualBox是免费供个人使用和评估，但不附带完整的源代码。VirtualBox的OSE（开源版），也是免费的，不附带源代码，包括一些企业级特性，如RDP（远程显示协议）服务器和USB的支持。（其他的虚拟化应用程序，如Xen的，需要的调整，他们将支持USB之前。）两个版本可以运行Windows 7。
In general, you'll need at least 1GB of RAM to run VirtualBox and a guest operating system. More RAM is always better. In my testing, I found that Windows 7 would actually run on as little as 512MB, while Vista really needs at least 1GB of its own.
VirtualBox的应该在任何近期的CPU上运行，但它最好的高端处理器支持硬件虚拟化增强功能，如Intel的VT-x和AMD的AMD-V。
所述第一个步骤是download a copy of VirtualBox。要运行Windows 7的成功，你需要至少VirtualBox的2.1.0 - 我跑了它的最新版本，VirtualBox的2.1.2。
If you're a Linux or OpenSolaris user, you can also obtain a copy using yoursoftware package manager program。VirtualBox的支持openSUSE, Fedora, Ubuntu，Debian的，的Mandriva，PCLinuxOS的，RHEL（红帽企业Linux），系统性红斑狼疮（的SUSE Linux Enterprise）和Xandros的。您还可以找到更多的支持，无论是针对特定的操作系统和一般，在FAQ文件而在用户手册（PDF）。
在Windows和Mac OS X，安装需要一点比点击安装文件并让它运行更多。它是一个比较复杂的Linux和OpenSolaris。在Solaris上，你需要编译程序。在Linux上，你需要遵循一些额外的步骤，这在Linux的下载部分描述。
最后，如果你需要更多的指导，你可以找到在一步一步的指示进行的VirtualBox 2.1.0Two Guys Tech site。
Setting up the VM
下一步是通过单击新建按钮，然后会问你有多大要用于操作系统的硬盘驱动器设置为Windows 7的新虚拟机你做到这一点。默认值是给它一个20GB的虚拟硬盘驱动器。使用Windows 7，我决定给它一个更慷慨的40GB。您也可以让VirtualBox的动态确定的操作系统能够有多少硬盘驱动器的房间有，但我更喜欢自己来判断。
This done, you set up how much RAM and video memory Windows 7 can have. I prefer to give the operating system an ample 1GB of RAM and 128MB of video memory. You can get by with less, but you'll start noticing system delays.
VirtualBox also lets you set up 3-D graphics acceleration and access optical discs, USB devices, shared drives and so on through its main interface. You can set this up after you have Windows 7 installed, but I prefer to get this basic configuration out of the way first.
安装Windows 7
With this done, you're ready to actually install Windows 7. You can either run the installation from a DVD or just load the Windows 7 ISO image file. Since I hate wasting time, I loaded the ISO. VirtualBox can load ISOs over both a network or from a local drive.
On both the Linux and Windows test systems, the Windows 7 installation was a snore. It took about half an hour, and the only thing I had to do was to set the proper time zone and enter theWindows 7的betaproduct key.
一旦到位,我也另外加载VirtualBox客人tions -- an additional set of functions that includes mouse integration (so you can mouse over from Windows 7 to your host desktop and back again without needing to hit the right-hand control button) and the ability to run the VM as a full desktop. They only work with Linux and Windows guest operating systems. But in either case, they're darn useful.
要安装客户添置（其下载与VirtualBox的自动），你需要运行虚拟机，并选择设备 - >从VirtualBox的主菜单中选择安装客户添置。
我发现Windows 7中为下两个MEPIS Linux和Windows XP SP3中的虚拟机上运行得非常好。就我而言，在Windows 7测试版实际运行比Vista SP1更好。
You should be aware, though, of some fundamental differences between running an operating system in a VM and running it natively. The most common problem is the inability to use the higher performance features of graphics, audio or network cards. That's because, like most virtualization software, VirtualBox provides the guest operating system with a virtual VESA-compatible graphics card, a virtual Intel ICH AC '97 audio and several virtual network cards. In short, your virtual Windows 7 can't use your high-end graphics card or what-have-you because only the host system has access to it, not the guest operating system, which must use virtual drivers instead.
不过，除非你想运行高端游戏，你不会注意到这些缺乏。VirtualBox的给你一切你最需要决定自己的Windows 7是否将是值得你的时间。就我而言，Windows 7和VirtualBox的是一个伟大的组合。
新的，新的VirtualBox
我是一个VirtualBox的用户有一段时间，我真的很喜欢它。这是简单的使用比Xen的;it's largely open source, unlikeVMware的;它运行几乎任何你愿意的名字桌面操作系统，这当然不是与本案有关Parallelsor微软的Hyper-V。
此外，Sun公司一直在提高VirtualBox的努力。仅在过去的两个月里，该方案已经获得了对显著升级。
Back in September,VirtualBox 2.0added 64-bit support. Only a few months later, in December, VirtualBox 2.1.0 picked up better 64-bit support and Mac hardware virtualization, 3-D graphics acceleration and support forVMware的VMDF (Virtual Machine Disk Format) and微软VHD（虚拟硬盘驱动器）。
What this means is that if you already have VMware or Virtual PC VM images of your data, you can run these operating systems under VirtualBox. I was able to use a VMDF Server 2003 image and a VHD copy of Vista on both my Windows and Linux systems. If you already have a lot invested in other virtualization systems, this is a darn handy feature.
Then Sun released Version 2.1.2 in January. While it included numerous bug fixes and performance enhancements, the most noteworthy change is that VirtualBox now supports the Windows 7 beta natively. Before this, in 2.1.0, you had to do some tweaking with the audio and networking drivers to get Windows 7 running properly. In addition, if you wanted to use the Guest Additions, you had to run the Additions installation program in XP compatibility mode.
有可能比VirtualBox的提供更好的桌面虚拟化方案，但我还没有找到一个还没有。它的灵活性，速度和特点的组合使它成为我的PC虚拟化方案。如果你给它一个尝试，我想你会发现你的看法。
这个故事，“以Windows 7为在VirtualBox中自旋”最初发表计算机世界 。