How To Install Windows 8 on VirtualBox

If you’ve tried to install Windows 8 on VirtualBox, it’ll probably have failed, with horrid errors. It can be done, but you need to set a few specific settings to make it work.

Here’s how you do it.

The first thing you need to do is enable Virtualisation Technology in your BIOS (Intel VT or AMD-V), you won’t get anywhere without doing that.

Next, download one of the ISOs (not the Setup exe) from here. Also make a note of the product key for your version.

Now create a VM, use the wizard defaults for Windows 8.
Once that’s done, go to Settings > System
Motherboard Enable IO APIC = yes
Processor Enable PAE/NX = yes
Acceleration Enable VT-x/AMD-V = yes
Acceleration Enable Nested Paging = yes

Now mount the ISO to the CD/DVD drive and start the VM.

Follow the installation instructions. When asked, provided the product code from the iso download page.

That’s it!