Help Center> Image Management Service> Best Practices> Creating a Linux Image Using VirtualBox and an ISO File> Introduction
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Introduction

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a free and open-source hypervisor for x86 computers. Developed initially by InnoTek GmbH from Germany, it was acquired by Oracle Corporation and is now part of Oracle's xVM virtualization platform technology. VirtualBox is a virtualizer for x86 OSs based on the provided 32-bit or 64-bit Windows, Solaris, and Linux OSs. That is, users can install and run Solaris, Windows, DOS, Linux, OS/2 Warp, OpenBSD, and FreeBSD on VirtualBox as client OSs.

For more information about VirtualBox, visit the Oracle official website.

Download the installation package from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.

Click here to see the OSs that can work with VirtualBox.

Image Creation Process

The following figure shows how to use VirtualBox to create an image from an ISO file.

Figure 1 Image creation process
  1. Install VirtualBox: Prepare a host machine (64-bit Windows is recommended) and install VirtualBox on the host machine. For details about the preparations and installation process, see Installing VirtualBox.
  2. Create a VM: Create an empty VM on VirtualBox as the image source. For details, see Creating an Empty VM.
  3. Install the OS: Mount an ISO file to install an OS for the VM. The OS of the ISO file determines the OS of the image you want to create. For details, see Installing a Linux OS on the VM.
  4. Install software and plug-ins: To ensure that the image to be created can be used to provision ECSs that can run properly, install the required software and plug-ins on the VM, including native Xen and KVM drivers, Cloud-Init, and one-click password reset plug-in. For details, see Configuring the VM.
  5. Obtain the image file: Export an image file in VHD format from VirtualBox. For details, see Exporting the Image File.
  6. Register a private image: Upload the exported VHD image file to the OBS bucket and register it as a private image. Then you can use the private image to create ECSs. For details, see Uploading and Registering the Image File.