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Linux is a wounderful operating system for coding and development, but Windows or Mac OS also have advantages. My favorite Linux distribution is Ubuntu (even if there are good reasons to use Linux Mint or Xubuntu). To combine the best of different operating systems, you don't have to install them side by side: In many cases a virtual machine (VM) is sufficient, especially if your system has a SSD, 8 GB ram and an eight-core processor.I'm using Oracle Virtual Box, because it's free and together with an extension pack it delivers a bunch of useful options and features (like a shared clipboard or shared folders and so on).Before you set up your virtual machine, you should check if your BIOS has virtualization enabled. You should turn it on to get 64bit support for your guest system. Restart your computer and press del or probably a F-Key like F12 to get to your BIOS setup. Most of the time you will find this option in the advanced CPU settings tab (see figure 1).[caption id="attachment_63" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 1: The setting can be found under "Virtualization Technology" or "Intel® Virtualization Technology", mostly under the tabs "CPU Configurations", "System Configurations", "Advanced" or "Security".[/caption]After that, visit the download page and get the Virtual Box packages (below VirtualBox x.y.z platform packages) and the extension pack, too (below VirtualBox x.y.z Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack).Now install and start Virtual Box. You should see something like figure 2, but without those VM "Ubuntu 1810", that I already set up.[caption id="attachment_74" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 2: Virtual Box Manager Front Page.[/caption]Klick on Preferences&#62;Extensions&#62;adds new package to add the extension pack (see figure 3). It provides some additional features like the shared folder, which I mentioned above. The green tick below the active tab marks a succesfully installation.[caption id="attachment_75" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 3: Click here to add extension pack.[/caption]In this post, I like to emulate Ubuntu by way of example, so go to the Ubuntu dowload page and get your ISO-file of Ubuntu (at the time of writing the latest version is 18.10 - Cosmic Cuttlefish )You are now ready to set up our virtual machine. Go back to the front page of your Virtual Box Manager, click new (figure 4).[caption id="attachment_77" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 4: Add new VM.[/caption]Give her a nice Name, adjust the Memory size over 2 GB, enable Create a virtual hard disk now and click Create (see figure 5).[caption id="attachment_78" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 5: Create VM.[/caption]The minimum File size should be over 25 GB, even if you don't plan to store much data. As Hard disk file type you can choose the Virtual Box native file format VDI and you probably want a Fixed size for your Storage on physical hard disk, because dynamically allocated storage could slow our guest machine down (see figure 6). Dont panic, if you reach your disk size later on, there are ways to expand it. Click Create. Depending on your hard disk, this could take a few minutes.[caption id="attachment_79" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 6: Create Virtual Hard Disk[/caption]You should automatically return back to the Virtual Box Manager Front Page. Let's tweek your VM a little bit (explanations here). Select your machine (Ubuntu_CC in my case) and click Settings (figure 7).[caption id="attachment_80" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 7: Click on Settings.[/caption]Go to System&#62;Processor and increas the number of Processors to two or more. Enable PAE/NX under Extended Features (see figure 8).[caption id="attachment_82" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 8: Increase number of processors and enable PAE/NX.[/caption]Switch to the tab Acceleration and check if both Enable VT-x/ AMD-V and Enable Nested Paging is selected under Hardware Virtualization (see figure 9).[caption id="attachment_83" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 9: Check if hardware virtualization is enabled.[/caption]Now change to tab Display&#62;Screen and increase your Video Memory to maximum, Enable 3D Acceleration and Enable 2D Acceleration (see figure 10).[caption id="attachment_158" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 10: Increase your video memory and enable 3D  and 2D acceleration.[/caption]To exchange data between guest and host, I recommend that you create a shared folder in the Shared Folders tab. Click on Adds new shared folder (see figure 11).[caption id="attachment_85" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 11: Add a new shared folder.[/caption]Enable Auto-mount and choose Folder Path&#62;Other , to add a shared folder (see figure 12).[caption id="attachment_88" align="aligncenter" width="294"] Figure 12: Choose Folder Path.[/caption]Mine's called "transit" and is located in the documents folder, but you may like to create a new one with a different name in a different place (see figure 13). Select it, and click OK to add your folder.[caption id="attachment_86" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 13: Select or create your shared folder[/caption]Go to the Strage tab, click on your Empty Controller: IDE, set a tick at Live CD/DVD and click on Choose a virtual optical disk ... and then Choose Virtual Optical Disk File.  Click OK. (see figure 14).[caption id="attachment_89" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 14: Choose virtual optical file.[/caption]Your machine settings should resemble those in  figure 15. Now you're ready to install Ubuntu. Click on Start.[caption id="attachment_90" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 15: Overview VM settings.[/caption]After a little while, you should see something similar to figure 16. Click Install Ubuntu.[caption id="attachment_91" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 16: Install Ubuntu.[/caption]Choose your keyboard layout and click Continue (see figure 17).[caption id="attachment_92" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 17: Choose kayboard layout.[/caption]Select Normal installation, Download updates while installing Ubuntu and Install third-party software. Click Continue (see figure 18).[caption id="attachment_93" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 18: Select the normal installation, enable to download updates  and install third-party software.[/caption]You can Erase disk and install Ubuntu - It's safe. Click Install Now (see figure 19).[caption id="attachment_94" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 19: Erase disk and install Ubuntu.[/caption]A wild confirmation pop up appears (see figure 20). Click Continue.[caption id="attachment_95" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 20: Confirm to write the changes to disk.[/caption]Choose your time zone (see figure 21). Click Continue.[caption id="attachment_96" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 21: Choose your time zone.[/caption]Finally, fill in the user data (see figure 22). Click Continue.[caption id="attachment_97" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 22: Fill in your user data.[/caption]Yeah, Ubuntu is getting installed on your virtual machine (see figure 23).[caption id="attachment_98" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 23: Finally, the Ubuntu installation screen.[/caption]After the installation is finished, you can restart your machine (see figure 24). Click Restart Now.[caption id="attachment_99" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 23: Installation complete.[/caption]Navigate to Devices&#62;Optical Drives&#62;Remove disk from virtual drive and remove the Ubuntu disk image (see figure 25). Press Enter.[caption id="attachment_100" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 25: Remove the Ubuntu Disk Image.[/caption]After the reboot, you should see your login screen. Click on your name an click Sign In (see figure 26).[caption id="attachment_101" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 26: Sign in with your credentials.[/caption]Click your way through the welcome screen (see figure 27).[caption id="attachment_102" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 27: Select or skip the options.[/caption]You are almost done. Now you should enable guest additions. You will need to install a few packages to do this. Open a terminal with ctrl + alt + t (see figure 28) and type:sudo apt-get update &#38;&#38; sudo apt-get upgradeConfirm with your password (the password entry is not displayed) and hit enter. You may be ask to install updates (see figure 29). Hit enter.[caption id="attachment_104" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 29: Update your repositories and packages.[/caption]Install packages to translate source code and compile kernel by typing:sudo apt install build-essential dkmsHit enter and confirm the installation of the depencies (see figure 30).[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 30: Install build-essential and dkms package[/caption]In the tab Devices click on Insert Guest Additions CD Image... (see figure 31).[caption id="attachment_106" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 31: Insert Guest Additions.[/caption]Run the automatical installation of guest additions (see figure 32).[caption id="attachment_107" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 32: Run guest additions installation.[/caption]Type your password and Authenticate (see figure 33).[caption id="attachment_108" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 33: Authenticate.[/caption]Wait until the installation process is finished, the press enter (see figure 34).[caption id="attachment_110" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 33: Wait, then close the window.[/caption]Eject Guest Additions virtual disk (see figure 35).[caption id="attachment_111" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 35: Eject Guest Additions.[/caption]Restart your machine. After reboot you should be able to see your shared folder on the desktop, use the shared clibboard and change the screen size dinamically (see figure 36). Avoid to use the shared drag and drop feature, it slows your machine down.[caption id="attachment_113" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Figure 36: Your VM with Guest Additions.[/caption]Congratulations, you've set up your virtual machine!