Even though the usb sticks they are used more and more often to install operating systems, neither VMware nor VirtualBox have yet implemented a function that allows us to boot a virtual machine from a USB. It is not known why. And, if they have not implemented it at the moment, it is likely that they will not do so in the future as it is an option that very few users may need, something quite common in the computer industry, hence, to perform certain tasks, always we are forced to resort to little-known applications.
Although surely we can download the ISO again to be able to boot the virtual machine, that takes time that we don’t have to invest in this redundant work. Also, mounting the USB in the virtual machine is the only way we have on the PC to test if a flash drive (for example, with a Live system or with several operating systems) has been created correctly and everything works. If this is not the case, we are not going to waste time testing its operation over and over again, we download it again and that’s it.
This is really the only real utility you can have to install an operating system from a USB, since not only is the process much slower, since USB read speeds are much slower than any SSD, but also, In addition, it is necessary that we have an ISO already downloaded on our computer or that it is available on the USB, since, otherwise, proceeding with the installation from the computer itself is a much faster and easier process without having to resort to the application that we are talking about below.
Pros and cons
When we are going to install a virtual machine, we almost always do it from an ISO image that we have previously downloaded. For that, hypervisors (VirtualBox and VMware) are prepared and it is the fastest and easiest way to carry out this work. However, there may be several cases in which we are better interested in doing it from a flash drive. For example:
- We have several systems prepared to install on the USB.
- We have a Live system already recorded on the USB.
- We want to test that the USB we have created works correctly.
We must know that this is possible, although the process is somewhat complicated, since, for example, we will need a boot manager that allows the hypervisor to boot from the flash drive, something that is not allowed by default. Also, keep in mind that USB read speeds are much slower than what we get when we have the ISO image on the same hard drive as the main system.
In the event that we are determined to install a virtual machine on our computer, it will be necessary to resort to a tool that is in charge of allowing us to boot from the USB memory. and this tool is Plop Boot Manager.
Download Plop Boot Manager
Plop Boot Manager is basically a bootloader that we can use both on any computer and in a virtual machine. This boot manager is characterized, among many other things, by allowing us to boot from a USB memory without the need for BIOS support. It also has support for all types of boot drives, and additional tools such as a partition manager or MBR repair software, among others.
The function that interests us to be able to start the virtual machine is that of USB support. The rest, at first, we don’t care. To do this, the first thing we will have to do is download this tool from . The latest version of the bootloader dates from 2013, however, despite not being supported for a long time, it still works without any problem in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, so we can use it without any problems.
Once the bootloader is downloaded, we unzip it. We will find several files and directories when doing this, but the one we are interested in is plpbt.iso. We memorize where we save it, or we move it to another path that we have more at hand, since it is the file that we are going to need in the steps that we show you below.
Boot VMware from USB
The first thing we have to do is create a virtual machine new, or select one that we have already created previously and that we want to start. The important thing is that this machine has at least a virtual CD reader (where we will mount the ISO) and a USB controller.
The next step will be to mount the ISO plpbt.iso in the virtual machine. To do this, we will open the properties of the VM and in the CD section we will choose to mount said virtual image.
We already have the unit ready. Now we connect the USB to our computer physical (if possible, to a USB 2.0 port to avoid problems) and start the virtual machine. As we will see, the VM will boot from the ISO image into a kind of bootloader.
The next step will be to mount the USB on our PC. To do this, what we will do is click on the unit icon at the bottom right of the VMware window, and we will choose the option to mount the unit.
Once the unit is mounted, in the boot manager we will choose the USB option to boot said memory.
After a few seconds we will be able to see how our virtual machine is starting from the USB memory that we have mounted in the previous step. We can now continue using the VM normally until, for example, we finish installing the desired operating system.
Depending on how our bootable USB is created, we will have to configure VMware so that it can work in BIOS mode or in UEFI mode. To do this, what we must do is enter the advanced options, within the virtual machine configuration, to change the type of firmware that we want to use.
We can switch as we want between BIOS and UEFI. It is advisable to create the USB memory with UEFI and Secure Boot compatibility, since it is the most recent and, therefore, recommended. But if our USB is in BIOS mode then we will have to select this option or else the machine will not detect it or boot from it.
Install an operating system in VirtualBox from USB
In the case of using VirtualBox, the open source alternative to Oracle, the process and the steps that we must carry out are very similar. First of all, we must create a new virtual machine on our computer with, at least, a CD drive and a USB controller. The next step will be to mount the plpbt.iso image in the program.
Before leaving the configuration, in VirtualBox we can save ourselves the step of mounting the drive once the virtual machine has been started from the list of USB drives. We click on this option and add the memory from which we want to boot to the list of mounted drives. If we don’t do this, we can mount it later just like in VMware.
We already have everything ready. Now we will only have to boot the virtual machine and we will be able to see how this new boot manager appears to us. From it we will select the option to boot from the USB and that’s it. Our virtual machine will begin to load from that drive. Unlike VMware, VirtualBox does not allow us between BIOS and UEFI, although, as we have commented, it is a minor problem that the application will take care of solving without problems.
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