We want to create a virtual hard drive now (the 8gb default is probably a little too frugal). Set the memory to something sensible (1gb), remember you need to save some for the host, so stay away from the red section of the sliding bar. Typing Arch into the name box should populate the other options. Download the latest Arch ISO, remember to use a torrent to save the arch servers bandwidth (and its a good FU to the MPAA). Hopefully this step by step guide will help someone out. With the excellent Arch beginners guide installation wiki things really are not that difficult, however, there certainly are some got-yas (hair pulling), especially when installing inside a VM.

And with virtualisation software like virtualbox, we don’t have to worry about turning our computer into a fancy doorstop while we madly google a solution to that frozen black screen.

Installing Arch is incredibly satisfying (maybe thats code for frustrating) as it really does introduce you to the flexibility offered by the modular nature of Linux.

Windows virtualbox arch linux