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argoz17
November 2nd, 2011, 05:11 AM
So, can virtual box os's get viruses...like say i was running an os in virtual box, downloaded a bad file...got a virus...does the whole computer get a virus or just virtual box and can i just remove the bad os

wolfen69
November 2nd, 2011, 05:16 AM
Just the guest OS would get a virus unless you had a shared folder or something network related. But in general, if you keep both OS's separated, it only affects the guest OS and can be deleted in a heartbeat.

argoz17
November 2nd, 2011, 05:22 AM
They share same internet..does that matter?

doorknob60
November 2nd, 2011, 06:07 AM
They share same internet..does that matter?
No, unless somehow your network is insecure and it finds a way to your other computers through it (Not gonna happen unless you purposefully try to make it do something like that realistically, so the answer is no, you're fine)

sffvba[e0rt
November 2nd, 2011, 09:51 AM
Also, if the guest is Windows and it gets infected it won't do much (anything actually) to a Linux host... (except mess up any shared files perhaps)...


404

haqking
November 2nd, 2011, 10:32 AM
as already mentioned. A virus can easily infect the guest OS just as usual, as to whether it can propogate or not depends on how things are setup as already mentioned shared folders, network traffic (email etc).

However there are no known linux Viruses in the wild so it is unlikely you will get one, if your VM is windows then as mentioned a virus is written for a given target OS and so a Windows virus will not necessarily infect the Linux host, though not impossible for it to be written to do so, similar to viruses in Wine.

Cheers

argoz17
November 2nd, 2011, 07:34 PM
My host is MAC OSX and my OS on VM is Ubuntu 10.10

jonkiribati
November 2nd, 2011, 10:09 PM
Only the guest machine gets virused. But that can depend on you're configuration if you're machines are sharing files, applications and other stuff they could be virused (espacially if they are Windows).

doorknob60
November 2nd, 2011, 11:03 PM
My host is MAC OSX and my OS on VM is Ubuntu 10.10
In that case you truly have nothing to worry about, since there is almost no malware for either of those OSes, particularly Ubuntu. Windows is maybe a different story, but don't worry about anything, just use common sense on the internet and you should be fine (on any OS).

Linuxratty
November 2nd, 2011, 11:19 PM
I always thought Windows was safe from infections if it was in a vb.Thanks for explaining.

wolfen69
November 3rd, 2011, 02:45 AM
I always thought Windows was safe from infections if it was in a vb.Thanks for explaining.

Well, for all practical purposes, it is a real install. And if you go online with it, sure, you can get viruses just like a stand alone install. Vbox is just a container of sorts for an OS.