Can we install a 32-bit operating system in VirtualBox?

Some of you may think that in order to try different operating systems on your PC, you should uninstall the current one and install the new one to boot into it. However, today we can make use of much more comfortable solutions such as using virtual machines through programs of the type VirtualBox.

This type of application focuses precisely on all this that we are telling you about, loading operating systems virtually so that we can try them first-hand. For example, in the event that we need to opt for a Linux distribution among the many available, this makes it easier for us. Even if we have a Windows computer, which is the most common, thanks to VirtualBox we will have the possibility to try most of the current distros.

For all this, in the first place, we only need to download and install this virtual machine program. We will also have to do with the corresponding system ISO image operative that we want to load here. Next, we have no choice but to run that virtual machine to put it into operation and use that system as if we had installed it on the PC. In addition, all this offers us some interesting advantages. In the event that for whatever reason we damage the virtual machine, this does not affect the original operating system of the computer at all.

That is precisely why many users use this method to carry out extreme tests on operating systems, load strange configurations or even test viruses. There is no doubt that the possibilities here are almost endless, and all without risk to the original operating system. Furthermore, at this point many wonder if they can test 32 bit systems.

Load a 32-bit virtual machine in VirtualBox

The truth is that in most cases our teams have 64-bit operating systems. The most common option here is to use a Windows 10 with this architecture in which we install the aforementioned program to later load virtual machines. For various reasons, it may be the case that we need to test a 32-bit system through VirtualBox.

Perhaps many of you have already seen first-hand that working with both architectures mixed together is not a great decision. In certain circumstances we can find some operating problems in the indicated software. That is why in some cases we could ask ourselves about the possibility to run a 32-bit VM via VirtualBox in a base system of 64. Well, at this point we will tell you that we will not have any compatibility problem in this way.

In fact, the operating mode in these cases would be the same as if we were using an ISO image of a 64-bit system. And it is necessary to take into consideration that what we are really doing here is virtualizing the operation of this software. Therefore, whatever the architecture of the selected operating system, we will be able to load it without any problem in the aforementioned program. Of course this is something that is also extended to the different Linux distributions and other systems that we can also load in VirtualBox.