VirtualBox is an open source application that lets you to create virtual machine on any computer easily. Using this simple application you can install Windows in Ubuntu and run Windows within Ubuntu without the need to reboot your system.

Installing VirtualBox

First download and Install VirtualBox from here. Select Ubuntu 8.04 (x86) from the drop down menu, if you are AMD user then select Ubuntu 8.04 (AMD64) and check the agreement box and click on Continue button.

Now check the file to download and click on “Download selected with Sun Download manager”. If you do not have Java Runtime installed then right click on the link below the file name and select Save link as from the menu. This will download the file Sun xVM VirtualBox to your machine.

Double click on the file that you have just downloaded to start the installation process. Now follow on-screen instructions to finish installation.

After installation VirtualBox will ask you to create a group called vboxuser. To do this go to System –> Administrator –> Users and Groups. Now click on the Unlock button and then Manage Groups button.

You can now see Group settings window in this scroll down and select vboxuser from the list and click on properties.

Now Check the box beside your username and click Ok.

Now go to Applications –> System Tools –> Sun xVM VirtualBox and click on it. If the VirtualBox option is not present you need to restart your system and try again.

Now you will see the main window of the application like the image below. In this click on New button to install new Virtual machine.

A welcome screen appears, click next, in this screen you need to give a name for the new Virtual Machine and select the OS type, in this select Windows XP or other OS that you want to install and click next.

In this screen you need to base memory that you want to assign to new Virtual Machine. For Windows XP it is recommended to have 512 MB. Click next.

In this screen you need to select Virtual Disk, Click on New button to open a separate window.

Upon welcome screen click next, in the next screen select Dynamically Expanding Image option and click next.

In this screen give the disk a name and allot size of the disk using the slide bar and click next.

Read the contents of this screen and when you are satisfied click on the finish button to successfully create Virtual disk.

Now from the main screen select virtual machine entry that you have created and click on settings.

In the settings screen, from the left sidebar select CD/DVD ROM or other storage media from which you want to install Windows.

Select the Virtual Machine from the Virtual Box and click Start. Now follow the on screen instruction to install Windows. Once the installation of Windows is finished, reboot into the virtual machine and from the device menu select install guest addition.

To exit virtual machine at any time press and hold right CTRL button.