How to run Windows 11 in a virtual machine on Linux
Looking to run a Windows 11 virtual machine on your Linux desktop or laptop but don’t know how? We can help! Follow along with this guide as we go over how you can run Windows 11 in a virtual machine on Linux.
Setting up VirtualBox on Linux
VirtualBox is a free virtualization tool for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, BSD, and other platforms. It is the perfect tool to run a Windows 11 VM on Linux. However, you’ll need to install it on your computer first.
To install VirtualBox on your Linux PC, open up a terminal window. You can open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.
With the terminal window open and ready to use, follow the installation instructions below to get VirtualBox on your computer.
Ubuntu
To install VirtualBox on Ubuntu, use the apt install command.
sudo apt install virtualbox
Debian
On Debian, get VirtualBox working using the apt-get install command.
sudo apt-get install virtualbox
Arch Linux
On Arch Linux, the VirtualBox application can be installed using the pacman -S command.
sudo pacman -S virtualbox
Fedora
Those on Fedora will be able to install VirtualBox with the dnf install command (provided RPM Fusion is already configured.)
sudo dnf install VirtualBox
OpenSUSE
On OpenSUSE Linux, you’ll be able to install VirtualBox using the zypper install command.
sudo zypper install virtualbox
Downloading Windows 11 ISO
Like Windows 10, Microsoft is giving away Windows 11’s ISO for free. So, you’ll be able to grab a legit copy of Windows 11 for use in VirtualBox. To get your hands on the Windows 11 ISO, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Head over to the “Download Windows 11” page. Then, scroll down to “Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO)” and click on the “Select Download” menu.
Step 2: Inside the “Select Download” menu, choose “Windows 11” and click on the blue “Download” button.
Step 3: Upon choosing “Windows 11,” the page will ask you to “select the product language.” Choose the language you speak. Then, click on the blue “Confirm” button to continue.
Creating your Windows 11 VM
With the Windows 11 ISO downloaded, it is time to create the VM. To make your virtual machine, launch VirtualBox and follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Find the blue “New” button in the VBox UI and click on it with the mouse to create a new VM. Then, type “Windows 11” in the “Name” box.
Step 2: On the next page, you’ll be asked to choose the memory size. By default, the size is 4 GB. Leave it as is, or increase it if you know your machine can handle the load.
Step 3: On the “Hard disk” page, click on the “Create a virtual hard disk now” button. Then, click “Create” to move to the next page. Be sure to select “VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image”) as the file format.
Step 4: After choosing VDI as the drive format, select the “Dynamically allocated” option. Then, on the next page, click the “Create” button to make your drive. The default size is 80, but you can increase this if necessary.
Step 5: Select the VM and click on the green “Start” button to turn it on. Once on, select the Windows 11 ISO file and select the “Start” button to load the ISO.
Step 6: Once the VM has started up, you’ll see a message that says, “Press any key to boot from CD.” Select the VM with the mouse, then press a button on the keyboard to start up the Windows 11 installer.
Step 7: Inside the Windows 11 installer, you will need to do some modifications to install. As VirtualBox doesn’t support TPM, you’ll have to shut it off in the registry. You’ll also have to shut some other things down too.
Press Shift + F10 on the keyboard in the Windows 11 installer to bring up the command prompt. Then, type in regedit and press Enter.
Step 8: Inside of the registry editor, navigate to “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup.” Then, right-click on the “LabConfig” folder with the mouse. Click “New” followed by the “key.” Name the key “LabConfig.”
Step 9: Click on the “LabConfig” key (aka folder). Then, right-click on the blank white space and select “New” followed by “DWORD (32-bit) Value”. You must create three new “DWORD (32-bit) Value” entries in the “LabConfig” area.
These values must be:
- BypassTPMCheck
- BypassRAMCheck
- BypassSecureBootCheck
Step 10: Select each of the values with the mouse, right-click on them and choose the “Modify” option. Change the value from “0” to “1”. Then, close the registry editor and the command prompt.
Step 11: Continue on with the Windows 11 installation. When the process is complete, you’ll have a Windows 11 virtual machine set up in VirtualBox.
Thanks, I was stuck with this and this guide worked for me.