Linux Mint is an extremely popular distro. It uses the same repositories provided for Ubuntu by Canonical. Unfortunately, Linux Mint has had some bugs of late, but there are a few workarounds that solve them pretty easily. Installing Linux Mint in VirtualBox is a good way to test the distro to see if you would like to install it permanently on your computer. If you’re not ready to take the plunge and install Linux Mint alone or dual boot on your computer, VirtualBox is the way to go. Before getting started with these steps, make sure you download the version of Linux Mint you’d like to install.
Now, start VirtualBox. I usually do this by typing VirtualBox in the Run field in Ubuntu.
Click the New button.
Type the name of the version you’re installing. The software should automatically fill in the other fields, but if it doesn’t, select Linux as the Type and Ubuntu (64 bit) as the Version. Click Next.
Increase the memory size. For Linux Mint, 2048 MB is probably enough. If you have more memory, you can set this a bit higher. Click Next.
Select Create a virtual hard disk now, then click Create.
Select VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) as the hard disk file type. Click Next.
Select Dynamically allocated for Storage on physical hard disk. Click Next.
For file location and size, you may type the name of the virtual hard disk, and select another folder to create it in, if you like. It’s fine to go with the default here. I generally like to increase the size of the hard disk from the default to 20 GB. You can choose a smaller or larger virtual hard disk depending on your available disk space. Click Create.
Now click the Settings button in the VirtualBox toolbar. Click System. Increase the number of CPUs depending on how many cores your CPU has. My laptop’s CPU has 2 cores, so I typically push this value up to 2. Notice that the slider allows up to 4 CPUs, but that the area above 2 is red. Even though VirtualBox will allow me to increase this value to 3 or 4, it’s probably not a good idea. Linux Mint is pretty lightweight, so it’s probably not really necessary anyway.
Then click Display. Increase the video memory as much as you like. I usually push it all the way up to 128 MB, since I have a pretty good graphics card on my laptop, despite the fact that it’s getting pretty old. If you’d like, you can enable 3D and 2D acceleration. I don’t really have much use for these, so I’ll leave them unchecked.
Some people encounter problems connecting to the Internet in VirtualBox. If this happens, you can select Network and try a different connection method. The default in VirtualBox is NAT, but another method such as Bridged adapter works better in some configurations.
Click Storage. Under Controller: IDE, select Empty. Then on the right where it says Optical Drive, select the CD icon. Then navigate to the place on your hard drive where you have downloaded the Linux Mint ISO. Click OK.
Click the Start button in the toolbar. In my case, since I was installing Linux Mint 19.1, I had problems starting the program. Whenever I tried to start Linux Mint in VirtualBox, the screen was garbled. So I started it in Compatibility Mode after that, which solved the problem.
Now double-click Install Linux Mint on the Live CD desktop. Select the desired language, then click Continue.
Select the desired keyboard layout, and click Continue.
Click the check mark beside Install third party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware, Flash, MP3 and other media. (This screen may look different depending on which version of Linux Mint you’re installing. In version 20.1, it reads, Install Multimedia Codecs.) This is necessary for certain proprietary hardware or software to function properly. Click Continue.
Select Erase disk and install Linux Mint. This will only erase any data on your virtual hard disk that you created earlier in these steps. It will not erase any other data on your hard drive, so you don’t need to worry about partitioning or setting up a dual boot system. Linux Mint, like other versions of Ubuntu, will do the partitioning for you automatically. Click Install Now. You will see a warning dialog, asking you if you want to write the changes to the disks. Click Continue.
Now select the time zone. I’m in the Central Time Zone, so I usually just choose Chicago.
In the next dialog, type your name, pick a username and a password. Select whether you want to log in automatically, require a password at login, or encrypt your home folder. Click Continue.
Linux Mint will now begin to install itself in VirtualBox. This process can take some time, so you might want to get busy doing something else for about half an hour.
When installation has finished, you will see a dialog box offering to let you continue testing Linux Mint or restart your virtual machine. Click Restart Now.
After restart, you can log in and start using your new Linux Mint virtual machine. Check to see if your installation automatically connects to your Internet (it should show a wired connection). If it doesn’t, go back to VirtualBox settings and edit the Network connections.
Conclusion
It’s fairly easy to install Linux Mint in VirtualBox, but not always necessarily problem free. There are various troubleshooting methods will help you get a functional installation of Linux Mint up and running.
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