VirtualBox not finding Ubuntu .iso
Matthew Barrera 
I've installed Ubuntu 20.04 from their website and extracted the .zip file to a folder on my Desktop. When I go to VirtualBox to create a VM, it can't find the .iso. There are no error messages, meaning everything installed as it should have.
Here's a screenshot of the folder:
Screenshot of the extracted .iso
Clearly, I'm missing something, I just don't understand what it is that I'm missing. Can you explain?
Thanks, Rohail.
43 Answers
there's no .iso, that's my issue
Before you start, run a full scan with Windows 10 Defender and ensure Smart Screen is enabled.
Yes, there is an ISO file. Go to Ubuntu.com and to Desktop Downloads.
That page has a description and link to Download. Click on the green button and download the actual ISO file. It is easy but will take some time depending on your internet speed.
Once you have downloaded and save the ISO.
(ubuntu-20.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso)
Open Virtual Box, make a new machine, machine type = Ubuntu or Linux,and point the setup dialogue to the ISO you saved.
VBOX will start installing the virtual Ubuntu machine.
(NOTE: Make sure before you start that Hardware Virtualization is enabled in BIOS on your physical machine).
You may wish to follow the WIKI step by step article for installing Ubuntu in VBOX.
I went through the same head scratching activity.
It turned out because I had run virtualbox as another admin user, all of the menus were defaulting to the admin user's downloads folder (which was empty). The .iso that I downloaded was of course in my user's download folder.
Hope this might help someone else!
VirtualBox can use ISO files from any location:
When you click the CD button on the storage window for the new VM, a Virtual Box Question popup asks whether to choose a disk. When you do, then VirtualBox Medium window opens.
You need to press the "Add" button top left in the VirtualBox Medium window to open a file chooser dialog where you can go to any directory including your desktop.
