Oracle VirtualBox Boot from USB Flash Drive: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you looking for a way to create a bootable USB flash drive using a VHD file in Oracle VirtualBox? If so, this article is here to help. We will walk you through the process of setting up your VirtualBox environment and creating a bootable USB stick.

The first step is to create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox. To do this, go to File > New Machine and follow the prompts to set up your VM. Be sure to select 'Other' as the VM type and 'Other/Unknown (64-bit)' as the version.

Next, you will need to create a new virtual hard disk file. To do this, click on the 'Settings' icon in the top right-hand corner of the VirtualBox window and then select 'Storage'. From here, select 'Add new storage controller' and choose 'SATA' as the type. Then, select 'Use an existing virtual hard disk file' and navigate to the location where your VHD file is stored.

Once you have added your VHD file to your VM, it's time to set up the boot process. To do this, go back to the 'Settings' icon and select 'Boot Order'. From here, move the USB stick to the top of the list by clicking on the arrow buttons next to each device. This will ensure that your USB stick is the first device that VirtualBox tries to boot from.

Now it's time to create a bootloader for your USB stick. There are several tools available that can help you do this, including Grub4Dos and Bootice. For this example, we will use Grub4Dos.

To install Grub4Dos on your USB stick, first plug in the stick and then go back to the 'Settings' icon in VirtualBox. From here, select 'USB' and then click on the 'Bootable' tab. This will allow you to choose which device you want to use as your bootable device.

Once you have selected your USB stick as the bootable device, you can install Grub4Dos by clicking on the 'Install' button next to the 'Grub4Dos' option in the dropdown menu.

Finally, it's time to test your setup. To do this, go back to the main VirtualBox window and select the VM that you created earlier. Then, click on the 'Start' button to start the VM.

If everything is set up correctly, you should see a Grub4Dos bootloader screen when you start your VM. From here, you can choose which operating system you want to boot into by selecting it from the menu.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to create a bootable USB flash drive using a VHD file in Oracle VirtualBox.

Oracle virtualbox boot from usb flash drive