Introduction:

VMs allow testers to perform regression testing easily by resetting the state of the virtual machine to the state of before the test was run. Even if the tester isn’t regression testing, occasionally bugs only occur on the first time an application is run or the website is visited, therefore resetting a VM is a great way to ensure the OS does not have any cookies or other data stored from prior tests. On rare occasions, software being tested may also be dangerous and cause permanent damage to your computer’s ability to use the internet or function properly, completely unintentional by your customer, but enforces why Virtual Machines are essential for testing.

Requirements:

Windows 7 or desired ISO
Approximately 15GB (Depending on your desired operating system)

Procedure:

1) Running the application
Virtual box is currently under 0.2MB. Download virtual box from “https://www.oracle.com/us/technologies/virtualization/virtualbox/overview…”. There is a different version for each operating system. Select the correct virtual box download for the operating system you are using. The software will close your internet. Run the installation without any critical software running in your background that requires internet. Once the installation has completed, start virtual box.

2) Creating your first VM
In the main menu, click the “new” button. Give your new virtual machine a name. Select the type of operating system your VM will be running. Select the correct version of the operating system. Give your VM enough RAM to run properly. Your virtual machine needs a virtual hard drive, so select “Create a virtual hard drive now”. Since we are using virtual box, let us create a virtual box disk image. Select “VDI”. You might not want to use up all your memory right now, so select “Dynamically allocated”. Keep track of where you are saving your VM. Make sure your VM has enough hard drive space to run.

3) Selecting your ISO
Click Settings in your main menu. Select storage, currently the 4th option from the top. Select the Empty CD in the Storage Tree section. Notice the “Attributes” section. Notice the field called “CD/DVD Drive.” Notice the picture of the CD to the right of the drop down for this field and click on the CD. Search your computer and select your ISO.

4) Enabling essential functionality in settings ( IO APIC )
Click Settings in your main menu. Select System, currently the 2nd option from the top. Notice the section “Extended Features”. Put a checkmark in the checkbox field called “Enable IO APIC”.