We present a simple and quick installation of the Raspberry Pi ( Raspbian ) operating system in VirtualBox.
This tutorial provides knowledge to test applications before putting them into production on the Raspberry Pi.
Raspbian is a lightweight operating system and can be used on older machines.
Thus, we present how to download the Raspbian ISO image and the steps to install Raspbian on VirtualBox.
Donwload Raspberry Pi
To download access the page: https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/ then select Raspberry Pi Desktop.

Installing the virtualizing Raspberry Pi – Raspbian
After downloading the image, let’s open the virtualbox and select new, add a name for the VM. Also, select Linux and 64bit.


Right after that, let’s select the amount of memory = 1024.

So let’s create the disc.

It will be of the VDI type.

Then the disk will be dynamically allocated, saving space.
This configuration provides the virtualizing of the Raspberry Pi – Raspbian without taking up unnecessary space.


So let’s start the machine.

So let’s select the image we downloaded.




Now let’s start the installation.

Let’s select Graphical Install.

We will use the Guided installation with the entire disc.

Selecting the virtual disk.

We will use all files on the same partition.



After that, select YES to install the GRUB manager.

So let’s choose the virtual disk.


Now, the first screen to register username and password and updates.

So finally the Raspbian screen. That way, we can now test the applications.

More tutorials:
Turn the raspberry pi into a WIFI router
Installing OpenWRT in VirtualBox.
How to install OpenWrt on Raspberry Pi
How to install Zabbix on Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi: installation and configuration

Juliana Mascarenhas
Data Scientist and Master in Computer Modeling by LNCC.
Computer Engineer