Testing Zorin OS on Virtual Box

[amanajosh]

Hi there.

I am testing Zorin at this moment on Virtual Box. So far so good, everything looks fine. However, these were issues I encountered. I do not think it is an issue of Zorin OS but I'll ask anyway:

1. My audio and video was not working at all. Is it true that audio and video are restricted on VMs? There was a remote job I did where for the first year, I used a VM on a Chromebook, and our phones had to used to take calls. So this had me a little concerned. Any workarounds?

2. I was having issues being able to access the files on USB stick on Zorin on the VM. Any tips to address that?

[Ocka]

Gday @amanajosh , It all sounds like the setup of VM, Everything will work depending on the setup of VM,
Try here,
https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html

[amanajosh]

I'll look

[Ocka]

Just a thought, If your just wanting to try ZorinOS,
Try running it from a usb live, this way you can "TRY" ZorinOS, when you install the live usb drive.
No install needed,
Leaves your pc untouched.
Install when your happy

As you know your performance in VM environment depends on allocation of resources/accessibility.
This may help also

Install Zorin OS in VirtualBox

With Live usb,
you get the full benefit of your pc's resources.
& if your Break ZorinOS under " TRY " ,
All you'll need to do is just restart the pc, & start via live usb again

[Ocka]

For usb instructions see here,

Install Zorin OS

Select the " TRY ZorinOS",
When ready you could then choose to install.
Dual boot or Clean.

[amanajosh]

Yeah so I was thinking that maybe it is just Virtual Box where I have having difficulty using video, audio or access a USB Stick. I tested Linux Mint on Virtual Box and at the very least, I was able to activate webcam and access microphone. I tried again with Zorin but it was not working. What seems to be the issue?

[Ocka]

What are your pc/laptop Details: ??
pc or laptop, Age:
Ram:
cpu:
ssd:
Which Zorin OS? ( core or lite)

[amanajosh]

pc or laptop, Age: HP 17.3 inch Laptop PC 17-c***** (I bought this August-September 2021)
Ram: 12GB (11.7GB available)
cpu: 4 cores, 8 processors
ssd: 1 TB (930GB available)
Which Zorin OS? ( core or lite) Core

[Ocka]

Thank you for that.
Yes try ZorinOS via live usb, just change the BIOS priority to boot from the usb port.
Then when your ready you can install alongside windows ( dual boot) or a clean install.
You could make many partitions & have many OS installed, you only need around 50gb per OS.
Watch the top video here,

Dual-booting Windows with Linux the non-traditional method

To save the least heartache, the best way to dual-boot is the non-traditional method, promulgated by Matthew Moore: [ - YouTube] My long-winded version: [How to install Zorin 9 alongside Windows 7 using Easy BCD - so Windows...] Whilst my video is older windows and older Zorin the principles still apply!

[amanajosh]

Zorin on Virtual Box is only to test things out only. It is temporary. I am not going to start dual booting yet until I test things out comprehensively. So since I am still using Zorin on Virtual Box in a Windows 10 computer, still need a solution to why Zorin on Virtual Box is not having webcam and microphone operate? Is it on Zorin or Virtual Box? Because I was able to have webcam and microphone activated on Mint in Virtual Box...

[Ocka]

@Ocka

It all sounds like the setup of VM, Everything will work depending on the setup of VM,

try here,
https://forums.virtualbox.org/index.php

[swarfendor437]

I find Virt Machine Manager better than Virtual Box, but I understand it is a bit more complicated to use in Windows. Frankly you would be better off running GNU/Linux as your main OS and have Windows as a VM in Virt Manager, which is what I have with Windows 8.1.

Setting up hardware is a bit more straight forward under Virtual Machine Manager (Virt Manager).