Virtual Machine in Gnome Boxes not Working

Hi everyone,

I am sorry to always be coming here for help, however I am stuck again. I am new to Linux, and I wanted to run a virtual machine to test things, so I don't damage my main OS if I make a mistake. I am using Gnome Boxes because most people agreed it was the most beginner friendly. The OS I am using for the virtual machine is the latest LTS version of Ubuntu downloaded from their website as a .iso file (version 24.04.2).

I am able to create the virtual machine, open it, and "try" the OS. However, after I run the installer and try to install Ubuntu in the virtual machine it breaks. After I go through all the prompts on the installer, it loads for a minute then asks me to restart. I select restart and then it asks me to remove the installation medium and press enter. Obviously, there is no installation medium, so I just hit enter and then the virtual machine quickly displays some text that I can not read and crashes. When I open the virtual machine again, it brings me back to the BIOS screen to "Try or Install Ubuntu" and seems to fail to install Ubuntu. Essentially, I can only ever access the trial version of the OS.

I also tried using my Zorin OS .iso file for the virtual machine's OS and that also did not work. I was able to create the virtual machine and "try" Zorin OS, but once I ran the installer I got an error after trying to select continue on the first prompt. Then Zorin crashed and I had to shut down the virtual machine. I would rather use Ubuntu for the virtual machine anyway, but I'd figure I'd try it out.

Do I need to install a separate piece of software in order for it to work? I've done some research on virtual machines, but I still have no idea what to do from here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

You'll still need to "eject" the disc in Gnome Boxes when it asks, as you can see here:
How to remove installation media when requested inside GNOME Boxes? - Applications - GNOME Discourse
The reason it's probably booting back into an install screen is because if the install iso hasn't been removed, it'll default to that after install instead of booting up the newly installed OS.

2 Likes

Thank you so much; I did that and it worked. :slight_smile:

2 Likes