How to install, back-up and sync your Linux VMs on Windows.
Most software reverse-engineers use Linux. Here is a quickstart guide to building your reverse-engineering rig on your PC. Keeping them in sync and up-to-date from any location is equally important — we will introduce you to the concept of incremental/differential backup and free cloud storage to protect your VM files from data loss.
Downloading and setting up VirtualBox
Majority of new PC come shipped with Windows. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use Linux on your PC. This guide assumes that you have a PC running Windows 7, 8, 10 or 11 and do not wish to install Linux. There are downloads for users of other operating systems like Mac but the setup is likely similar. If you already have a PC running Linux or are familiar with VirtualBox, you may skip this and proceed to the next step.
1.Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/
2. Download any version of Virtual Box download comes in an .exe file you can run as a set-up by double clicking on it. Let the set up run and finish installing
3. Download the Ubuntu Linux disk image from here. WARNING — it’s a 20.5 GB file. Downloads may take time, if you are on a slower connection. You may want to wait download is completed before proceeding with the next steps.
4. Launch VirtualBox by clicking on its link or finding it under “Oracle VirtualBox” in the Start menu
5. Now click on the Import Icon
6. Locate the OVA file you downloaded in Step 3.
7. Click Open
8. Then click Next
A virtual machine is like an actual PC. You can specify the memory, disk drives, USB (you will need this interface to connect to an actual iOS/Android device often when doing dynamic analysis) and network connections (for Internet access) and other settings. Make sure these setting are correct and the same on your host (original OS) machine
The Machine Base Folder is the directory where the actual files will be after its set up on your system.
9. Now, click Import to start the process
This should take a few minutes to complete.
10. All done. You have just set up Linux virtual machine on your Windows PC. Now press Start Icon to boot up your Linux PC
11. You will come to a login screen once Linux has booted up. Enter “mobile” as the password (case-sensitive)
Good job! You have booted up into Ubuntu Linux and what you are seeing here is the Desktop. We can run our commands to install and run software by launching the console application (circled).
Shutting down your VM
When you are done for the day, you would want to shut down the VM. While VirtualBox has a function to power off the VM, its always good practice to shutdown the VM from the OS running inside, that is Linux. This allows it to reset its processes and ensure data isn’t corrupted. To shutdown your VM (in Ubuntu.
Folder containing your VM
Earlier on, I mentioned the folder path for a Machine Base Folder. This is where the files of your VM is stored. Inside this folder, some of the files you will find are
- Your virtual disk image (.vdi)
- VirtualBox VM logs (Log folder)
- VirtualBox Machine Definition (.vbox)
- VirtualBox previous configuration (.vbox-prev)
In the next section, we’ll focus on backing up this folder
Backing up with VirtualBox Snapshots
The simplest way to back up your guest OS is using VirtualBox’s inbuilt backup software. Here’s how
Installing backup software
A VM actually represents another computer running on your PC with all the files stored within. Therefore its understandably huge in size and backing up every bit of it presents a challenge. But thankfully we have backup software to rescue us.
There are dozens of modern backup tools to choose from for Windows. However we have chosen AOMEI Backupper Standard because the FREE version come with pretty decent basic backup features and all the features we will need to keep our VMs safe. All without paying a single cent. Pretty hard to find such good freeware these days!
DISCLAIMER: I bear no affiliation to AOMEI.
So lets run the setup software by downloading and double clicking on the setup file
As we can see the essential features are included in the free version, so we shall click Skip to install the Standard Edition without further delay.
Ensure you accept the usage actual agreement then press Install Now button. This should take a few minutes
Performing a Full Backup
Now that we’ve just set up our VM and its running successfully, its good practice to perform our very first backup. This will be called a Full Backup
Now, click on New Backup.
Then, click File Backup. This backs up files and folders
Now click Add Folder. Here we are adding the VirtualBox VM folder where our Linux VirtualBox is stored.
Select the folder to save the backup to
Enter backup task name I call it “VMBackupDemo”
Now click Start Backup.
Wait for backup to complete.
Making changes to Linux Virtual Machine
We are going to install our favorite software and reverse engineering tools. You may install your own tools or follow the following existing guides I have created previously. Suggested tools are
- Ghidra — Installing Ghidra on Linux
- dexcalibur — Installing dexcalibur on Linux
Perform differential and incremental backup
Now that we have performed an initial backup, we are going to back up the changes that arise from installing software or using our Linux VM. Launch AOMEI Backupper Standard and we can find our last backed up VMBackupDemo. Incremental or differential backup builds on the previous backups we made.
Move your mouse over the VMBackupDemo we created, then click on the triple bar then over Backup menu option, then click on Incremental Backup
You will be prompted to create an incremental backup based on the first backup created. It would be helpful to enter some comments indicating what has changed. Then click OK
Wait for the process to complete.
Once the process is completed, you can verify the Incremental Backup by clicking the three bars, then Properties. Click the Versions tab to see all the backup trail.
Do always remember that incremental or differential backups are based on a previous backup! You won’t be able to restore an incremental backup without the original backup which the incremental back up was based upon.
In conclusion, the process of creating a backup of a VM is easy and automatic if you have set up correctly.
Syncing into the cloud
We will be using Google Drive to
