Run a Local LLM in a VirtualBox VM using LM Studio (Ubuntu Guest, Windows Host)

README.md

🧠 Run a Local LLM in a VirtualBox VM using LM Studio (Ubuntu Guest, Windows Host)

This guide walks you through setting up an air-gapped LLM environment using LM Studio inside a VirtualBox VM running Ubuntu, from scratch.

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📦 Prerequisites

On your Windows Host:

• VirtualBox
• Ubuntu ISO (22.04 LTS recommended)
• LM Studio AppImage
• A GGUF model from Hugging Face (e.g. Mistral 7B Instruct)

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🧰 Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create the Virtual Machine

• Open VirtualBox → New
• OS Type: Linux, Version: Ubuntu (64-bit)
• Memory: 8GB+ (recommended)
• Disk: 30GB+ dynamically allocated
• Before booting, go to Settings → Network and disable all network adapters (to air-gap it)

2. Install Ubuntu

• Boot the VM with the Ubuntu ISO mounted
• Install Ubuntu Desktop normally

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📁 3. Transfer Files into the VM

On the host:

1. Download:

   • LM Studio.AppImage
   • A .gguf model (e.g. TheBloke/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.1-GGUF/q4_K_M.gguf)

2. In VirtualBox VM Settings:

   • Devices → Drag and Drop → Bidirectional
   • Drag the .AppImage and .gguf into the Ubuntu VM’s Desktop

💡 Tip: Alternatively, use a VirtualBox shared folder (disable afterward for strict isolation).

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🚀 4. Run LM Studio in Ubuntu VM

Inside the VM:

chmod +x LM\ Studio.AppImage
./LM\ Studio.AppImage