Lab 4B Cyberspace Security ENGI59116

Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

Faculty of Applied Science and Technology

Laboratory 4B
VirtualBox and Windows Server 2016 Installation

Student Name (s) Vrutti Tanna Student Number 991801664 Date 29th October 2024

Objectives:
In this lab the procedure of installing virtual box and windows server 2016 is applied. Figure 1 shows the
abstracted block diagram on how the virtual machine is installed on the physical laptop and one virtual
machine (windows server 2016) will be connected to the VirtualBox.

Instructions:
 VirtualBox installation:
- Download Virtual box by visiting the website https://www.virtualbox.org/
- Click on Downloads on the left side of the screen and choose VirtualBox for windows (Windows
hosts)

Windows 2016 Server

VirtualBox

Physical Workstation

Figure 1

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 Create new virtual machine:

- download the IOS of windows server 2016:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/download-windows-server-2016
- Fill the required information then submit: https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-windows-
server-2016.html

- Go to the virtual box, click on New to add a new virtual machine (Windows server 2016)
- The windows server 2016 is the name of the folder that sits on your hard drive that contains the
virtual machine information which created in the first step. The 50GB can be changed if you
believe that will be doing additional software installation. I would increase it to about 60GB,
then click” Create”
- Click on “Storage,” the title is a link which will take you to that specific section.
- Under the controller IDE, click on “Empty.” Once clicked, the information to the right appears.
Click on the small blue CD icon and new options will appear. You might see other ISO files listed,
but if you do not, select “Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file.” Once you selected this option, a
file been saved on your hard drive, select, and click “open,” then “OK.” Once this complete, the
ISO should now be virtually inserted within virtual box.

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- Now, you are ready to start the VM. You can either double click the VM name on the right, or
select the VM and then press “Start” button located at the top of the virtual box. Follow the on-
screen instructions to install the windows server 2016 operating system.
- When start the installation procedure, choose the desktop experience type, the second option
in the list.
- Then choose a “custom” to get a fresh copy of the windows. Then Choose the location and click
“Start.” (This process might take some time)
- Choose a password for the Administrator and confirm it, make sure it would be secure
password.
- Click “General” tab then “Basic” you can put the name of the VM and find out the type and
version of the windows, click on “Advanced” you can change share clipboard to “Bidirectional”
and the Drag and drop change to bidirectional

- Write an introduction to your lab by explaining what is virtual box and the
advantages/disadvantages in your own words.

o VirtualBox is an open-source virtualization software from Oracle that makes it

possible to use multiple operating systems on one physical machine. It abstracts
your hardware to create "virtual machines" inside of a nested, isolated software
platform each with its own operating system and resources like CPU, memory and
storage. This is useful for the testing and development because it permits to run
distinct OS Windows Server 2016 in other windows without many physical
devices,

o Advantages of VirtualBox:
 Cost effective: VirtualBox comes as free and open source software
compared to any other virtualization-related tools available.
 Cross-Platform Compatibility: It is compatible with most of the host
operating systems such as Windows, macOS, Linux and Solaris.
 Resource Utilization: Users can assign the processor, memory and disk
resources per VM to finely tune performance vs resource consumption.
 VirtualBox offers the benefit of creating snapshots, which can in turn save
VM states and revert back to them at any time -- particularly beneficial for
testing.
o Cons of VirtualBox
 Performance Overhead: Running VMs can be resource-intensive, which
might slow down the performance of your systems if you run multiple or
underpowered hardware.
 Limited Graphics Support: VirtualBox does support rudimentary 3D
acceleration but it is no where as good when compared to other
virtualization solutions for running graphics intensive applications.

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 Issues In Hardware Compatibility: Sometimes, VirtualBox might not work

with some hardware configuration and it is responsible for any sort of
disturbance in VM functionalities.
o This lab uses VirtualBox to build a virtual machine that will run Windows Server
2016 and create for yourself an environment where you can learn server setup,
administration etc.

Submission:
- Submit your work by providing screenshots with explanation on each task.

The initial interface for Oracle VirtualBox Manager, which allows users to see what Basic and
Expert Mode look like.
Key Points:

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1. Welcome Screen – This section offers an overview of VirtualBox that you are using to
handle the virtual machines (VMs). The left panel has options managing VMs
creation,import and export of vms etc.
2. Basic Mode vs. Expert Mode:
1. Basic Mode (easier to use, less options) — For new or casual users who prefer a simpler
interface.
2. Expert Mode — meant for the more advanced users that require control over
everything VirtualBox allows you to do at your workstation.
3. Action Options:
– Configuration (Preferences, Import, Export New and Add) toolbar buttons from
the top end which permit users to configure settings import/export VMs
read/write a new virtual machine.

While, on the other screen you can see two options available to users; The user experience at
this point looks similar but only because of it is catering dynamically for both beginner and
more advanced VirtualBox Users keeping in view their needs.

Here is the screen shot for virtual box this virtual box console) (This name could be different
based on which hypervisor are you using i.e. VirtualBox or VMware Workstation). An ability for
user to configure a new VM with the next settings;
1. Name: `vrutti_vm`. This is the name of this machine within Virtual Box.
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2. Folder: The VM's files will be located there C:\Users\tanna\VirtualBox VMs Folder
3. Variant: The image was obtained from `Windows_Server_2016_Datacenter_EVAL_en-
us_14393_refresh.iso`. Hello`, is at `C;\Users\tanna\Downloads.ISO`. This ISO file is that
used to install the operating system.
4. Where edition: Windows Server 2016 Standard Evaluation
5. OS Type and Version: I have "Microsoft Windows" set as the OS type, and selected
version is "Windows 2016 (64-bit)" which match with ISO's OS version.
6. skip unattended installation — whether the user must run through each install in gui,
rather than allowing virtualbox to do it automatically.
7. OS Type Detected Alert: VirtualBox has detected the checkbox ISO as Windows 2016
(64-bit) and verifies that this setup should programmatically continue once you close
out of this window.
Next, the user would click Next to proceed with configuration for resources such as memory
and storage.

Virtual Machine (VM): This is the "Unattended Guest OS Install Setup" portion of VirtualBox
which allows you to set up an unattended installation for your VM. With this arrangement, the
VM's OS can be installed unattendedly from start to finish via hardcoded settings. In the screen
shot it looks like this (details below):
1. Username and Password:
- Username: vboxvrutti( This is the username you will log into your VM with)

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Password: Here you type your password (obfuscated for security) and then retype it
-
in the Repeat Password field.
- Additional Options:
- Product Key: It occurs in a placeholder format (`#####-#####-#####-#####-#####`),
which shows where you can enter the product key if it was needed for your
operating system installation.
- Hostname: The hostname for the VM is set as `vrutti-vm’ so that it can know who
it identifies itself on a particular network.
- Domain Name: The VM get a domain name myguest. virtualbox. org`.
- Check "Install in Background" (which will run the OS installation while you do other
things within VirtualBox during setup)
2. Guest Additions: Guest Additions ISO: This contains VirtualBox Guest Additions that give
you advanced features for guest VMs like shared folders, clipboard sharing and more.
Here Guest Additions isn' t to be installed automatically as seen below.
After configuration, installation may continue with Next. This arrangement is ideal for the
automation of VM deployment process, negating all manual OS installations.

The following screenshot shows "Hardware" tab in a virtual machine guest e.g., VMware type of
VM. The elements are as follows:
1. Base Memory (RAM) Slider: Here you slide to increase and decrease the
amount of RAM available for use by the virtual machine. The current setting
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is 5201 MB of a total often sites that can be used up to (you also only have
access to all your own allocated memory) 16384 MB ==16 GB.
2. Processors (CPU Cores): With this slider, you can choose how many CPU
cores to use. The default choice is 2 CPU cores, with the maximum being 16
cores.
3. Enable EFI Extensible Firmware Interface: This checkbox should be ticked
when creating a virtual machine which needs bootrom like BIOS requiring
support for UEFI functionality.
After doing this, you can move on the above screen by clicking "Next" to set up your virtual
machine.

Screenshot of the Virtual Hard Disk configuration screen during a virtual machine set up process
(Could be VMware or similar) Information is below of the choices:
1. Create a Virtual Hard Disk Now: This option is selected as we will create this new virtual
machine with its primary hard disk. Use the slider to increase or decrease the disk size.
2. Disk Size: The current setting is 60.00 GB (4.00 MB minimum, 2.00 TB maximum)

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3. Pre-allocate Full Size: This causes the full size of disk space to be allocated immediately,
which can increase performance but also increases storage use on host system up front.
It is not marked as checked means disk will grow if require up to maximum size.
4. Attach a virtual hard disk file later: By selecting this option, you can attach an already
existing Virtual Hard Disk File to the virtual machine.
5. Do not add a virtual hard disk: will create the VM without adding any kind of storage,
useful for net-boot or testing purposes if you don't want to have local storage.

Oracle VirtualBox Manager to show a running virtual machine The settings and statuses shown:
1. Virtual Machine (VM) Details:
- Name: `vrutti_vm`
- Status: Running
- Operating System:- Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)
- General Settings:
- Base Memory: 5201 MB, this is the amount of RAM we have allocated to our VM.

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-Processors:2 (ie 2 CPU cores used by the VM)

-Boot Order: Hard Disk, Optical, Floppy — the order in which devices are checked
during boot.
- Speed, Nested Paging & Hyper-V Paravirtualization.
2. Display:
- Video Memory: 128 MB shared with video display.
- Graphics Controller: VBoxSVGA (the VirtualBox graphics adapter).
- The remote desktop servers and recording are turned off.
3. Storage:
- Controller: SATA
- SATA Port 0: Connected to `vrutti_vm´ vdi` with 60.00 GB of virtual hard drive.
- SATA Port 1: Windows Server 2016 ISO file
(`Windows_Server_2016_Datacenter_EVAL_en-us_14393_refresh.iso`) attached to
optical drive ISO`) with a size of 6.49 GB.
- Controller: Floppy
- Floppy Device 0: Connected to an unattended setup file (1.41 MB).
- This perspective shows the existing setup and exactly how this digital device
currently works within DigitalBox. The tiny preview window on the right shows what
is actually being written to the VM's screen.

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It shows the virtual machine is displayed after we click on start

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Screenshot showing a Virtual Machine in Oracle VirtualBox This will open a Command Prompt
window with administrative rights for the Windows operating system in the Virtual Machine
Window. The Command Prompt now has the current directory set to `C:\Users\vboxvruti`.
Some details:
- VirtualBox Window: The title bar given at the very top as "vruti_vm[Running] – Oracle
VirtualBox," So here it shows that “vruti_vm” is name of virtual machine.
- Command Prompt: The command prompt running as an administrator is denoted by
Administrator in the title bar.
- current directory : `C:\Users\vboxvruti` seems to be an user-specific folder inside the
virtual machine.
- Other than this, there are also some options present on the right side of the VirtualBox
window to toggle mouse integration and keyboard capture related while dealing with
virtual machines.

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In this screenshot, we have a virtual box settings menu for vm — vruti_vm It opens up in the
'General' mode and you can even access settings under extreme [Expert] mode.
All the public information is outlined as follows:
1. General Information:
- Name: The name of the virtual machine is vruti_vm.
- Type: The type of operating system you want to use for this VM, which is "Microsoft
Windows" in the case.
- Version: The VM is set to run "Windows 2016 (64-bit)," which means it's been
configured for the x86_64 edition of Windows Server 2016.
2. System Settings:
- Base Memory: VM is using approximately 5201 MB memory (Out of total available RAM
on Host System —(16384 MB)
- Boot Order: The VM is First Booed by "Hard Disk"
- The left sidebar offers a series of additional system (System), graphics option(Display),
hard drive (Storage) functions, in audio(Audio) and network(Network). In addition to

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other peripheral configuration options can be used for further setting up the VM's
hardware.

General Settings of vruti_vm in Oracle VirtualBox — Expert Mode & Requested Screen Shot The
advanced tab is opened, showing more setting that connect the host with the guest systems.
Here’s what is shown:
1. Snapshot Folder – The folder where snapshots (VM saved states) are saved.
Path: `C:\Users\tanna\VirtualBox VMs\vruti_vm\Snapshots`
2. There is also a shared clipboard that can be set to Bidirectional so you may
copy text, images and other clipboard content between the host OS and
guest OS.
3. Drag'n'Drop: Also configured as "Bidirectional" to allow drag and dropping of
files between the host machine and guest OS.
4. System Settings: As above, with a 5201 MB base memory allocation and the
boot order set to "Hard Disk."

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These settings improve the interaction between host and guest machine, making data sharing
and other tasks that easier across both environments.

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