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Installing & setting up a MincTools virtual machine on Windows

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etiaum edited this page Jun 26, 2025 · 4 revisions

By Etienne Aumont
Thanks to Lydia Trudel for the test run

MincTools works on Bash, which is used by MacOS and the Linux OS. For Windows users, we need to run another OS to use MincTools. This can get complex very quickly. Fortunately, fellow McGill researchers have published a pre-built virtual machine (VM) with MincTools and many other useful associated programs installed. There is a short installation guide, but I'll try and give more detailed information here.

Installation

Step 1: Installing VirtualBox
A VM works by emulating another computer inside your Windows session. For this, you need a VM manager. Our specific VM works with VirtualBox.

  • This VM was last updated in July 2020, so there might come a time when it won't work anymore.
  • In my experience, the VM works using VirtualBox 7.0.14. I recommend first installing this specific version.
  • If the VM crashes or malfunctions, you might need to uninstall VirtualBox and install a newer version. You won't have to start over setting up your VM.

To install VirtualBox, download the appropriate version on their website and launch the file.
Default setup is perfectly okay.

Step 2: Mount the VM
To mount the VM, download the most recent file here
Download

Double-click on the file you've just downloaded, this should open a VirtualBox VM setup window.

Here, you should allocate more resources to your VM such as 4 CPUs instead of 1, and at least 3072 Mb of RAM instead of the default 2048 Mb.

  • If you have at least 12 Gb, I recommend increasing RAM to at least 4 Gb.
  • If you plan on running non-linear registrations, increase that up to 6-7 Gb.
  • You may want to edit the path to where the VM will be stored
    Continue with the default for the rest of the options.

This will create a new VM on your VirtualBox
VM

Step 3: adjusting the settings
There are a couple of things you might want to adjust in your VM settings. First, click on "Settings":

  1. In General -> Advanced tab -> Shared clipboard: Change to Bidirectional to allow copy/paste between the VM and your Windows.

  2. In Display -> Video Memory: slide up to 256Mb and disable 3D acceleration

  3. In Shared Folders -> Add new shared folder (the folder with a green "+" on it) 3.1 Choose where you want to have a shared folder (that is visible in both the VM and on your Windows) in your Windows environment 3.2 Select the same other options as in the screenshot below. Don't put spaces in folder names!!!
    SharedFolder

  4. Create a VM shortcut: Exit the settings and right click on the "packer-mincvm... below "tools". You can create a shortcut on the desktop to launch the VM without going through VirtualBox.

  5. Expand disk space: The default VM has only 16Gb of disk space. You can expand it by pressing CTRL + D while in the VirtualBox main menu. Right click on the .vdi file and select properties. Slide the "Size" bar up to the desired allocated space. Click "apply".

Launching the VM

To Launch the VM, simply click on the start button or launch it from your new shortcut

This should take ~30 secs. If you see Lubuntu with the dots, it's a good sign. Your VM is inside the Window, but you have menus on the top part of the window that are part of the Windows environment.

Extra settings & tips

  1. Best display settings: in the top menu, click on view -> Adjust Window size. This way, your VM's resolution will be equivalent to the size it occupies in your screen. Fullscreen looks much better with it.
    1.1 Sometimes, it disables on its own when launching the VM. Just click on it to deactivate it and reactivate it again to get it back.
  2. Never accept system updates!!!
  3. Click on the start menu (lower left corner) -> System Tools -> right-click on LXTerminal -> Add to desktop to have a quick access to the terminal. Launch it.
  4. In the terminal, paste sudo apt-get install gparted and press enter
    4.1 Launch gparted
    4.2 Right-click on /dev/sda1 -> Resize -> slide the right end of the blue-gray box to the end and click "Resize"
    4.3 Click on the grey checkmark to enable changes. This will allow the VM to fully use the extra space you've allocated it before.
    Note that the VM's disk will start small and get larger as you add stuff in it. However, it will not shrink as you delete stuff, so be careful with how you use it!
  5. The password for the VM (for when you get logged out) is "minc"

DiskResize

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