VirtualBox

If I install VirtualBox x64 can you install x86 operating systems into it?
I realize I could find this information but it easier to come here?
--
Bill

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

Bill Bradshaw wrote:

If I install VirtualBox x64 can you install x86 operating systems into it?

Yes, but if you have certain windows features installed (sandbox, wsl2,
whatever-else is based on hyperV) you probably can't install vBox.

Bill Bradshaw wrote:
If I install VirtualBox x64 can you install x86 operating systems into it?
I realize I could find this information but it easier to come here?

It used to be rather flexible.

On my current x86 system, with x86 Virtualbox, I can run both
x86 and x64 Guests.

It can do that, because the CPU is 64-bit and runs both.
The Hosting software can be 32-bit, while the Guest
can be 64-bit. There are some other Hosting softwares
which can't do that.

And when you set a preference in the Guest, and tell VBox
the Guest is 64-bit, you can't then turn around and insert
a 32-bit CD and do the install. It'll whine if it detects
that happening. VirtualBox sports German Precision.

If Hyper-V in "Windows and Features" is not turned on, then
a lot of other Windows 10 frippery could be disabled as
a side effect, leaving even an old copy of VirtualBox working.
You might expect the 5.2.40 version to run on WinXP, while
some 6.x.x version tracks stuff such as interworking with HyperV
on Windows 10. I'm pretty sure on some disk drive here,
I have a Windows 10 with 5.x.x on it, still running and
workable. If doing new installs, then you select a stream
based on known details (use 6.x.x on a Win10 Host).

Microsoft has application filters, and trying to install
Windows Virtual PC on Windows 10, should be stopped right
away by the OS. It even did that in Windows 8, let alone
Windows 10. When an application is banned, the ban could
have been around for a while. Generally, anything with a
lot of low-level hooks (potential Ring0 material), that's
the kind of stuff that gets banned when the next Host OS
version comes along.

So whatever you're doing, try it and see. That's the quickest
way to discover this weeks new rule set, whatever it is.
We can't constantly be building User Manuals out of
user experiences in web forums. There might not be a
detectable thread with the info needed.

And VirtualBox does have manuals available. We can't fault
them on that. They have manuals. But when Microsoft
slaps VirtualBox around, leaving VirtualBox to pick up
the pieces, the details don't magically rush into
the manual by themselves. VirtualBox has had to issue
emergency updates, when Microsoft changed a kernel file
format in Windows 10. VirtualBox does mess around. It's
not all as innocent looking as it appears. Before your
Guest starts, there is some extensive "vetting" going
on before launch. For example, you could have a
"Hardening Failure" when a Guest starts. Now, you'll
need your reading glasses...

Paul