How to Boot From a USB Drive in VirtualBox

Posted on Latest In How-To Geek / Technology
165

To boot from a USB drive in VirtualBox, follow these steps:

  1. Connect the USB drive to your computer.
  2. Open VirtualBox.
  3. Right-click the virtual machine that you want to boot from the USB drive and select Settings.
  4. Click on the Storage tab.
  5. Under the Controller section, select SATA.
  6. Click on the Add Controller button.
  7. Select SATA Controller (AHCI) and click OK.
  8. Under the SATA Port 1 (SATA Controller) section, click on the Add Hard Disk button.
  9. Select Use an existing virtual hard disk file and click Browse.
  10. Navigate to the location of the USB drive and select it.
  11. Click OK.
  12. Click on the OK button to close the Settings window.
  13. Start the virtual machine.
  14. The virtual machine will boot from the USB drive.

Here are some additional tips for booting from a USB drive in VirtualBox:

  • Make sure that the USB drive is formatted in a supported format. VirtualBox supports FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS formatted USB drives.
  • If you are using a USB drive that contains an operating system, make sure that the operating system is compatible with VirtualBox. VirtualBox supports a wide range of operating systems, but not all operating systems are compatible with VirtualBox.
  • If you are having trouble booting from a USB drive, try restarting the virtual machine. Sometimes, a simple restart is all that is needed to get the virtual machine to boot from the USB drive.