SliTaz in VirtualBox

This guide runs SliTaz 5.1 as a guest in VirtualBox. The host can be Windows, macOS or GNU/Linux. Nothing is written to your real disks.

Download an image from the Get SliTaz page and check it, see Handbook: Get SliTaz.

• x86_64 for a 64-bit host and guest (SliTaz Firefox, 155 MB, or SliTaz Core, 65 MB).
• i486 for a 32-bit guest (SliTaz Core, 47 MB).

In VirtualBox click New and set:

• Type: Linux. Version: Other Linux (64-bit) for x86_64, Other Linux (32-bit) for i486.
• Memory: the live system runs in RAM and takes about 45 MB (Base), 150 to 200 MB (Core) or 450 to 530 MB (Firefox), plus your programs. Give 1024 MB or more to the Firefox image, 512 MB to Core.
• Hard disk: create a virtual disk of 8 GB or more if you want to install. The installed system takes less than 1 GB; the rest is room for packages.
• Settings > Storage: attach the ISO to the optical drive.
• Settings > System > Enable EFI: optional. The x86_64 images boot on BIOS and on UEFI; the i486 images boot on BIOS only. Leave EFI off for i486 and for a first try. SliTaz has no signed boot loader, so Secure Boot must be off.

See Handbook: Live system for the boot menu, users and boot options.

Start the machine. SliTaz boots a complete live desktop, with the user tux (no password) and the root password root. You can stay in the live system, or install it on the virtual disk with Tazinst: click Install SliTaz in the welcome window and follow Handbook: Installation.

Tazinst does not create partitions: prepare the virtual disk first (GParted is on SliTaz Firefox). When the installation ends, remove the ISO from the virtual drive (Devices > Optical Drives) and reboot. Then update:

# spk-up

There is no VirtualBox guest additions package in the SliTaz 5.1 repositories, so shared folders, clipboard sharing and automatic screen resizing from the guest additions are not available as a package. The guest still works for everyday use. The old procedure on this wiki was written for SliTaz 5.0 and is not valid for 5.1.

To run VirtualBox on a SliTaz host, there is a package called get-virtualbox (category non-free, depends on wget and cacerts), described as a way to get a x86 virtualization software:

# spk-add get-virtualbox
# get-virtualbox

Its receipt does not tell more, so read the output of get-virtualbox before going on.