1 First steps
Welcome to Oracle VM VirtualBox!
欢迎来到Oracle VM VirtualBox！
VirtualBox is a cross-platform virtualization application. What does that mean? For one thing,it installs on your existing Intel or AMD-based computers, whether they are running Windows,Mac, Linux or Solaris operating systems. Secondly, it extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that it can run multiple operating systems (inside multiple virtual machines) at the same time. So, for example, you can run Windows and Linux on your Mac, run Windows Server2008 on your Linux server, run Linux on your Windows PC, and so on, all alongside your existing applications. You can install and run as many virtual machines as you like – the only practical limits are disk space and memory.
VirtualBox是一个跨平台的虚拟化应用程序。这是什么意思呢？首先，它可以安装在您现有的基于Intel或AMD处理器的电脑上面，不管它们是运行着Windows，Mac，Linux或Solaris操作系统。其次，它扩展了您现有的计算机，它可以同时运行多个操作系统（内含多个虚拟机）。因此，您可以在您的Mac电脑运行Windows和Linux操作系统，在您的Linux服务器上面运行Windows Server2008服务器，在您的Windows PC上面运行Linux，等等，将您所有的应用程序合并在一起。您可以任意的安装和运行多个虚拟机-唯一的实际限制是您的磁盘空间和内存。
VirtualBox is deceptively simple yet also very powerful. It can run everywhere from small embedded systems or desktop class machines all the way up to datacenter deployments and even Cloud environments.
VirtualBox看似非常简单但也非常强大。它可以在任意的地方运行，从小型的嵌入式操作系统或桌面级的机器到数据中心的部署甚至是云计算环境。
The following screen shot shows you how VirtualBox, installed on a Mac computer, is running Windows 7 in a virtual machine window:
下面的屏幕截图向你展示了VirtualBox被安装在Mac电脑上面，在虚拟机窗口里面显示了正在运行的Windows 7操作系统。
In this User Manual, we’ll begin simply with a quick introduction to virtualization and how to get your first virtual machine running with the easy-to-use VirtualBox graphical user interface.Subsequent chapters will go into much more detail covering more powerful tools and features,but fortunately, it is not necessary to read the entire User Manual before you can use VirtualBox.
在这本“用户手册”中，我们将简单而且快速的介绍虚拟化和如何让你的第一个虚拟机运行，
让虚拟机以易于使用的VirtualBox图形用户界面运行。接下来的章节将会进入到更详细更强大的工具和功能，但幸运的是，在你使用VirtualBox之前是没有必要去阅读完整的用户手册。
You can find a summary of VirtualBox’s capabilities in chapter 1.3, Features overview, page 12.For existing VirtualBox users who just want to see what’s new in this release, there is a detailed list in chapter 15, Change log, page 199.
你可以在第1.3章，功能概览，第12页找到一个关于VirtualBox性能的汇总。对于想看看这个版本中有什么新功能的现有的VirtualBox用户，可以到第15章，第199页看看，里面有详细的更改日志的列表。
