Curious about trying Linux? Install Kubuntu in 20 minutes with VirtualBox
Mon Jun 28 2021
Daniela Giorgio
My interest in Linux started because of the infinite tools for customization it gives you, also for privacy and security reasons.
Btw, when I saw you can make your desktop environment look like this, I was completely sold:
But wait, what is Kubuntu? Is it similar to Ubuntu?
Yes, it's similar. It's Linux distro with all the great features of Ubuntu, but it uses the KDE Plasma Desktop environment instead of GNOME. KDE Plasma is one of the most polished and beautiful desktop environments for Linux. It lets you add widgets, customize window screens, add a macOS-style dock and many other things.
In this guide we'll try the latest Kubuntu release, 21.04.
Pre Requirements
- Kubuntu 21.04 ISO file. Download
- Virtual Box. Download
If you have Windows, choose "Windows hosts".
Let's get started 👩🔧
1) Install Virtual Box
Installation is quite straight-forward, just click next until it's complete.
2) Open Virtual Box.
You should see something like this:
3) Click on "New" to create a new VM. I named it "Kubuntu" and VB was smart enough to instantly recognize it as a Linux distro. Make sure the type is Linux and version is Ubuntu (64-bit).
4) Now it's time to allocate some RAM, generally it's recommended to set half of your total RAM. In my case I set about 8600MB, since I have 16GB of RAM. Anything from 4000MB is good. You should leave enough memory for your main operating system to operate normally.
5) Click on "Create a virtual hard disk now".
6) Select VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)
7) Select dynamically allocated. (if you're wondering, you can increase the space of your disk if you select this option)
But what does dynamically allocated mean?
It means the disks are faster to create and can grow to larger sizes. Fixed size disks may be faster to use, but can't grow any larger once they fill up.
8) Now it's time to allocate some hard disk space, I went with 30GB. Again, this depends on your needs and available space.
9) Now you should see something like this:
Something pretty useful to have is the ability to copy paste/drag&drop between Windows and Virtual Box. To enable this, right click on Kubuntu and select Settings.
Then in General tab, go to Advanced and select "Bidirectional" both in "Shared Clipboard" and "Drag'n'Drop".
Now we're ready for the real installation! 😲
10) Click on the green Start button at the top bar.
11) Select the ISO file you downloaded.
12) You'll see a Window like this. Select Kubuntu and press Enter.
13) Select "Install Kubuntu".
14) Choose a keyboard layout. (if the continue button isn't visible, click on the Kubuntu window title and drag it to the left)
15) Select "Normal installation" and mark "Download updates while installing Kubuntu".
16) Select "Guided".
17) Select "Continue".
18) Select your Timezone.
19) Pick a username and password. (Make sure you choose a password you can remember, cause you'll need it in order to login and install some programs)
20) You should see something like this. It should take 5-10 minutes to complete.
21) Click on "Restart Now". (This will restart the virtual machine, not your actual PC)
22) Press Enter.
23) Enter your password.
24) Voila! You're done
You might be wondering how to make the window full screen. In order to do this we need to install Guest Additions. Here's a tutorial for that.
Cool UI stuff I recommend installing:
This is cool but, do all Windows programs work on Linux?
Unfortunately no, but there are some really good resources for finding alternative software like this mega compilation, Awesome Linux Software and also AlternativeTo.
Generally videogames are the ones who suffer the most from lack of support. Popular software like Chrome, Firefox, Slack, Telegram, Steam, WhatsApp, Spotify, VsCode, Discord, OBS, VLC are available on Linux.
Notes
If you don't want to depend on Virtual Box you can install Ubuntu using a USB Drive. The process is very similar, you need the same ISO and a program to create a bootable USB Drive. I recommend Rufus for this.
You can also choose to Dual Boot, which means installing multiple operating systems and being able to choose which one to boot. Make sure you extensively research about this, cause there are some horror stories about Windows installing updates and messing up with the Linux OS.
And that's it! You have successfully installed Kubuntu!
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we covered an easy method for installing Kubuntu on VirtualBox. For additional information on VirtualBox, visit the VirtualBox Wiki. And don't forget to check out these basic Linux commands for beginners.