Installing EOS (Part 1) — Setting up Ubuntu on VirtualBox

I have just successfully implemented EOSIO 1.5.2 on both Ubuntu 16.04 and 18.04 on a Windows 10 computer. I am being very specific because technology is changing so quickly that what works today may be slightly different tomorrow. I started with Ubuntu 16.04 as that is what nsjames was working on. I then tried Ubuntu 18.04 as the latest stable version. I have not tried it but I would guess that Ubuntu 17 would also work.

What I am sharing here is from several days of reading, trial and error as well as frustration. I did learn a lot from several sources, especially the following videos from Filip Martinsson and nsjames:

Setting up a Virtual Machine and EOSIO for smart contracts

This video is great but a little outdated. Up until the creation of the genesis node it is spot on but thereafter it does not apply to the newer versions of EOSIO.

EOS V1 Setup

This video gets you through the creation of the genesis node. This is the piece that was missing in nsjames’ video.

A good Medium article that covers a lot of relevant steps for implementing EOS is included below from coinmonks:

EOSIO Single Node Testnet Setup

The reason I am writing this setup guide is that while each of these videos and articles was helpful, there was no one source to pull it all together. Also, there are a couple of additional but critical steps not mentioned in any of these sources that I had to figure out and pull together.

I am breaking this article into two parts in order to reduce the size and increase the usefulness and relevance of the overall article. Part 1 covers setting up Virtual Box and Ubuntu while part 2 gets into actually installing EOS.

Setting up VirtualBox

The first thing you need to do is to get Oracle VirtualBox if you do not already have it. You can find it here:

Oracle VM VirtualBox

Installing VirtualBox is very straightforward so I will not address it further. Once that is done, you need to download the ISO files for the Ubuntu installation you would like to use. You can download them here:

Download Ubuntu Desktop | Download | Ubuntu

Creating the Virtual Machine

Now open up VirtualBox and click on New or type Ctrl+N. In the following screen, enter a name and select the correct operating system. I am going to setup a new Ubuntu 18.04 machine.

Now one of the two most important configuration setting is that you must select at least 8GB of RAM:

If you do not have 16GB of RAM, you cannot setup EOS this way. Theoretically it might work with 4GB but you have to change some settings in the configuration.ini file later. However, I would not recommend it and you can expect the Virtual Machine to run very slowly. I started with 8GB of RAM but after realizing that it was enough to install an EOS Virtual Machine, I bought an additional 8GB of Crucial DDR4 SODIMM RAM for my Dell Inspiron 5770 for €60, so it is not a huge investment but very much worth it.

Then create a virtual disk of at least 40GB with the following settings:

Select VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image):

On the next screen, select Dynamically Allocated:

Then enter a name for the Virtual Drive and select a size of 40GB (20GB would probably work too but I would recommend leaving some extra space):

Now your new Virtual Machine is ready for installation and you should be able to see it in the list of available Virtual Machines.

Now go into settings and select Network/Adapter 1. Then change Attached to: to Bridged Adapter. This allows communication between the host and the guest machine.

Then select Shared Folders and add a shared folder so you can transfer files between the Virtual Machine and your Desktop:

Be sure to click the Auto-mount box and then OK. Now power up your Virtual Machine by double clicking on it in the main window.

The first thing you need to do is to select the correct ISO file for the startup installation process, in this case I have selected Ubuntu Version 18.04:

Now select your language and click on Install Ubuntu:

Then select your keyboard layout.

Now select Normal installation and be sure to check the two boxes Download updates while installing Ubuntu and Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats. These will help handle behind the scenes house-keeping.

Finally, select Erase disk and install Ubuntu and then click on Install Now. Do not worry, this only refers to the newly created Virtual Disk.

You then get a rather scary popup warning. Do not worry, this is fine. Click on Continue.

Now select your location from the following page.

In this next screen you need to enter in your name, your computer name and your username. These can all be different but I keep it simple and make my name and user name the same. I do select a different computer name to easily identify whether we are talking about the computer or the user but this is not required.

I would recommend selecting Log in automatically as this will save time later. Then click on Continue and the installation will start.

This will take a few minutes to run. When the installation is complete, you will be asked to restart your computer. Click on Restart Now to finish the installation.

You will be asked to remove the installation medium. Just ignore this message and press enter. Finally, you may be asked if you want to update Ubuntu to the latest version, go ahead and click on Install Now. You will be prompted to enter your password and the update will then run.

The whole process should take approximately 30 minutes. That concludes Part 1 of this Installation Guide setting up Ubuntu 18.04 on Oracle VirtualBox 6.0.

Part 2 will take you through the actual installation of EOSIO 1.5.2. You can go directly there using the link here:

Installing EOS (Part 2) — Installing EOSIO

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