If you want to run live CD or USB in virtual machine ( VirtualBox or VMware Player) you can do it very easily by:

Example for VirtualBox

  • Download
  • Open VirtualBox
  • Select your virtual machine
  • Go to Settings
  • Storage
  • Press button Add optical drive
  • Select ISO file downloadded in previous step
  • Run the Virtual machine which will boot the linux

once you finish your work in linux you can remove the CD from the optical drive.

Running live linux in your virtual machine with Windows can be required by many different reasons:

  • deleting locked file
  • copying system file which is locked by the system
  • fixing corrupted files
  • cleaning your windows