OSBoxes – Free Unix/Linux Virtual machines for VMWare and VirtualBox

This guide explains what is OSBoxes and how to download and deploy all popular Unix Linux Virtual machines from OSBoxes for free in Linux.

Introduction

I have been using Linux for the past five years. My first operating system was CentOS. Later, I moved to OpenSUSE, and tried many distros such as Debian, Fedora, finally now I am using Ubuntu as my primary operating system. In the past, I was not aware of Oracle VirtualBox or KVM, Proxmox and other virtualization applications. So I formatted my Laptop and Desktop four to five times per month and played with different Linux operating systems. This was really time-consuming and I didn't know how to test an operating system without formatting the Host OS.

One day, one of my colleague advised me to use any Virtualization tools such as VirtualBox and VMWare etc. He told me that these tools will help you to install and test most operating systems of your choice without formatting the Host OS. I felt happy and immediately installed VirtualBox on my Laptop and started to test various Linux distributions. Now, I installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as my Host OS and installed Oracle VirtualBox in it, so that I can install and play with any OS of my choice in my Laptop. These tools are really helpful if you wish to test different operating systems.

Now, I have more than 20 guest operating systems in my Laptop and Desktop. Also, I am maintaining a backup copy of all VMs. So, whenever I want to test a new tool or software, I simply copy/paste the fresh VMs form the backup and started to test those tools or OS. This method helped me lot of times. I really don't have to format my Laptop/Desktop every time to test a new tool or OS. If you're anything like me, I have good news for you. Meet OSBoxes, an ideal place to find and download all popular Unix/Linux Virtual machines. You are free to download and use any VM of your choice.

What Is OSBoxes?

OSBoxes is founded and maintained by Umair Riaz, a Computer science student and Geek. He is specialized in networks, and also he is running an another website called NoobsLab. As the name implies, NoobsLab publishes open source and Linux related stuffs everyday, especially for beginners. The idea behind OSBoxes is to provide virtual machines so anyone can download and use it regardless of host OS. There are some reasons that some people (who use other OS) may want to try Linux before they migrate to it, some people simply don't want to dual boot their system or they have some kind of hardware issue, and some people use Linux but also work on other distributions at the same time. That's why OSBoxes was born.

Getting Started With OSBoxes

OSBoxes offers ready-to-use Unix/Linux guest operating systems for both architectures 32bit and 64bit for free. At the moment, OSBoxes offers 30+ Linux/Unix distributions, but they may add more to the list in near future. Want to try some VMs? Then, download them from the following links.

• Linux/Unix virtual machines (VDIs) for VirtualBox
• Linux/Unix virtual machines (VMDKs) for VMware Player/Plus/Workstation

All images for VirtualBox and VMware have the same username and password. After logging into virtual machine that you’ve downloaded from here you can change ‘username’ & ‘password’ or create you new user.

• Username – osboxes
• Password – osboxes.org

For Root user account:

• Password – osboxes.org

Also, you can find the login details in the download page of respective VM.

Cool, isn't? Just download the VM of your liking and play with it.

If you don't know, how to use these VM images in VirtualBox and VMWare, check the following guide.

• How to attach/configure image for VirtualBox?

For more details, check the official FAQ section.