Well... First I spent 100 pesos (=$6.67 USD at current exchange rate) to buy a pirated copy of Windows 7. Yeah, I know I shouldn't do that... but in all likelihood I will only use it one time, to load my architectural CAD program and generate some pictures. Then the virtual machine will be deleted along with the pirated OS.

Next I installed the VirtualBox software so I could create a virtual machine.

Next I found that my pirated OS was an installation disk only, and was not bootable. This caused considerable angst on my part.

Next I got a lot of help from people on this bbs, to point me in the right direction.

Next, a bit of irony: I spent $30 on software (the latest "Nero Burning ROM") so I could make my $6.67 OS bootable. I think there is shareware out there that would do the same thing, but I have had good luck with Nero in the past and am comfortable with their UI concepts.

Next I found out how complicated it was to actually create the bootable DVD, since the Install.wim file was 3.46 GB, and the maximum size for a single file allowable on a boot DVD is 2.0 GB. (The workaround required some sleight of hand during the OS installation, swapping the two disks back and forth each time the system rebooted.)

Next I had to dig into the "Help" files for VirtualBox to find out how to change the default Host key so I could release the mouse. The default is the right CTRL key. My keyboard is more than 20 years old, and it doesn't have a right CTRL!

Next I found out that for whatever reason, dynamic space allocation didn't work, probably because of the missing Install.wim file on the bootable disk. The install crashed due to lack of disk space, so I deleted the Virtual Machine, and created a new one with fixed storage (25 GB) and began the installation again.

And... this time it worked! See the attached picture. It is an actual photograph of my computer screen because VirtualBox doesn't do screen shots.

I haven't tried my software yet, that will have to wait until Wednesday before I have time to do it. But hopefully...

tanstaafl.