OSBoxes
OSBoxes is a website that provides free and legal downloads of various operating system platforms in VirtualBox or VMware images. It allows users to easily test out operating systems without having to go through the installation process.
virtualization
operating-systems
testing
OSBoxes: Free OS Downloads
Get free and legal downloads of various operating system platforms in VirtualBox or VMware images, test out OS without installation
What is OSBoxes?
OSBoxes is a website that provides pre-configured and ready-to-use Virtual Machine images for various operating systems. The Virtual Machines made available on OSBoxes come with the operating system already installed and configured, allowing users to instantly start experimenting with the OS without having to go through tedious installation processes.
Some of the key highlights of OSBoxes are:
- Legally distributes free OS boxes for VirtualBox and VMware
- Features a wide range of operating systems including Linux, Windows, BSD, etc.
- The VM images come preloaded with tools, compilers, SDKs based on the OS
- Allows testing different operating systems without tampering the host machine
- Suitable for developers, testers, IT professionals, and enthusiasts to quickly evaluate operating systems
- The VM images work out-of-the-box without requiring additional configuration
- Focused on providing an easy way to evaluate niche operating systems which have complex installation procedures
The pre-configured VM images eliminate the OS installation time and allow instantly checking out the look, feel, and capabilities offered by the operating system. Overall, OSBoxes simplifies the process of testing and trying out different operating systems virtually using hypervisors like VirtualBox and VMware.
OSBoxes Features
Features
- Provides pre-built virtual machine images for various operating systems
- Images available for VirtualBox and VMware
- Allows testing operating systems without installation
- Includes desktop and server editions for operating systems
- Images updated regularly with latest releases
- Community forum for help and discussions
Pricing
- Free
- Open Source
Pros
Easy way to evaluate operating systems
Saves time compared to manual installation
Works with popular virtualization platforms
Free to download and use
Large collection of operating systems available
Cons
Requires existing VirtualBox or VMware installation
Images may not be as customized for specific uses
Limited configuration options compared to manual install
Requires decent hardware resources to run VMs
Not all niche operating systems available
Official Links
The Best OSBoxes Alternatives
Top Os & Utilities and Virtualization and other similar apps like OSBoxes
Windows Subsystem for Linux
The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is a compatibility layer developed by Microsoft that allows you to run Linux binaries natively on Windows 10 and Windows 11. WSL provides a Linux-compatible kernel interface developed by Microsoft which allows you to run GNU/Linux programs without having to dual boot or spin...
Turnkey Linux
Turnkey Linux is an Debian-based Linux distribution that provides pre-configured system images designed for easy deployment of virtual machines and cloud servers. It aims to provide simple solutions for common IT applications like web hosting, VPNs, VoIP servers, databases, mail servers, file servers, and more.The key benefit of Turnkey Linux...
VirtualBoxImages
VirtualBoxImages is an open source platform that provides pre-built virtual machine images for Oracle's VirtualBox virtualization software. It offers a library of ready-to-use operating system environments that can be easily imported into VirtualBox for testing, development, experimentation, and more.The project aims to save users time by providing fully configured VM...
BitNami Application Stacks
BitNami Application Stacks are pre-configured, ready-to-run application packages that include the server software like Apache or Nginx and other required dependencies needed to run popular web applications like WordPress, Drupal, or web databases like MongoDB or MySQL. The key benefit of BitNami Stacks is that they greatly simplify the installation...
Virtual Machines
A virtual machine (VM) is an emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized hardware, software, or a combination.VMs provide numerous benefits:Flexibility - VMs can be quickly provisioned, copied, migrated, snapshotted, backed up, and...
