Features

Select the option for A new virtual hard disk, then click Next. In the Virtual hard disk size box, enter an appropriate size in megabytes. We recommend 4GB (4,096MB), but 3GB (3,072MB) is fine. Once you have done this, click Next and then Finish.

Putting the boot in

You will now see the Virtual PC Console with the name of your new virtual machine in the main window. Click on your new virtual machine and click the Start button. A window will launch that looks like a PC's start-up screen, complete with memory and hard disk tests. If you press Delete you can even enter the virtual machine's BIOS and choose boot preferences.

The virtual machine will look for an operating system, but there isn't one yet. From the top of the console window, select Capture ISO Image from the CD menu. Navigate to the Ubuntu ISO file you've already downloaded, select it and click Open. From the Action menu click Reset, and then click the Reset button from the dialog box that appears. After a few seconds you'll see the Ubuntu start menu.

At the Ubuntu menu, press the down cursor on your keyboard. This will highlight the option to Start Ubuntu in safe graphics mode. By default, Ubuntu's graphics mode is 24-bit colour, which Virtual PC can't handle. Booting up in this safe mode knocks the graphics down to 16-bit colour. Ubuntu defaults to running at 640x480, which is annoying as the dialog boxes drop off the bottom of the screen, making it impossible to install. To fix this, press F4, select 1,024x768x32 using the cursor keys and press Enter. Finally, press F6 and type i8042.noloop - the

At first, the mouse works only in Windows, and not in the virtual machine. To use it in Ubuntu, simply click anywhere on the Linux desktop. To return mouse control to Windows, press the Alt Gr key (which should be on the right of the space bar). If you ever want to run the virtual machine in full-screen (so that it looks as if Windows isn't even running), press Alt Gr and Enter at the same time. Repeat this to return to Windows.

The Full Monty

At this stage Ubuntu is running in Live mode and hasn't installed anything on your virtual hard disk. Although this enables you to launch applications and run the operating system as if it were installed, every time you reboot you'll have to alter the boot menu settings. Performing an installation fixes this, as the system saves any changes you make.

The setup process is painless. Double-click the Install icon on the desktop. The first few steps are self-explanatory and simply require you to select your language, time zone and keyboard layout. When you get to the Prepare disk space dialog box, leave the 'Guided - use entire disk' option selected and click Forward. This automatically configures your virtual hard disk, partitioning it in the way that Linux needs with a dedicated partition for the swap file, which is the same as Windows' page file.

In the final stage of the setup, you need to decide on a username, password and computer name. After that, you'll see a summary of your choices, and then you simply click the Install button. This should take around 20 minutes to complete on most PCs.

When it's finished, a dialog box will give you the option to restart. Click the option to Continue using Live CD instead. Then click the red on/off button at the top right of the screen and select Shut Down. Select your virtual machine from the main menu and click Settings. Select Networking and change Adapter 1: to the network adaptor that you use to connect to the internet. Click OK to apply the settings and restart your virtual machine.