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Can you run a machine emulator (Bochs) inside a virtual machine?

Fresh7 days ago
Mar 15, 2026124350 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

Is it possible to, say, run VirtualBox on Windows 7 with a Linux guest, and inside that Linux machine run Bochs? The reason is that I'm interested in starting OS development, and I've found that all the tutorials and stuff are much easier to follow on *nix machines. I tried using Cygwin, but I think it's adding another layer of complexity and not necessarily making things easier.

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Fix for: Can you run a machine emulator (Bochs) inside a virtual machine?

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Long story short: yes. Each virtual machine is technically "independent" of one another, and with VirtualBox, you could easily do this, since it is supported on both Windows and Linux host operating systems (emulated or not). You could simply use Windows as your "base-host" OS, run Linux in a VM, and then use that operating system as the new base-host for Bochs. Do note that your only limitation here is your hardware. Depending on the requirements of your development, you may require more memor…

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