Run a Virtual Machine in Your Browser

#webassembly #virtualmachine #linux #react

We're going to run a complete virtual machine right here in your browser! And not just run the VM - we'll boot up both FreeDOS and Alpine Linux. "Wait, what? We already have VirtualBox, VMware, and DOSBox for that stuff!" Well, who needs VirtualBox when you have a web browser? (Just kidding! 😄)

But seriously, let's have some fun showcasing just how powerful modern browsers have become, especially now that they support WebAssembly (Wasm). Sure, traditional VM software is great, but being able to run an entire operating system in your browser? That's just cool! 🚀

If you prefer to jump to the finished product, you can find the completed code here https://github.com/nadchif/in-browser-virtual-machine

In this guide, we'll use React.js, but I'm keeping things generic so you can adapt everything to plain HTML or whatever framework makes you happy.

What You'll Need

Basic HTML, Javascript, and CSS knowledge
Web browser with WebAssembly support. Don't worry, the browser you're using right now will likely work 😊
Node.js installed. You can get a copy here and follow the installation steps.

Okay, Let's Build This Thing!

1. Setting Up Our Web App

If you're already a React pro, feel free to skip the setup and jump to the Components part!

First, let's create our app using Vite (it's super fast and modern):

npm create vite@latest

When it asks you:

Pick a project name (I'm going with "browser-vm")
Choose React as the framework.
Go with Javascript as the variant. (Keeping it generic as promised 😄 )
Then run:

cd browser-vm
npm install

Components

Now let's set up our VM display. Open App.jsx replace all the contents with just this:

function App(){
return (
 <div id="screen_container">
 <div id="screen" style={{overflow: 'hidden'}}>Initializing Emulator…</div>
 <canvas style={{display: 'none'}}></canvas>
 </div>
 );
}
export default App

Open index.css and replace the contents with:

#screen_container {
 white-space: pre;
 font-family: Courier, monospace;
 font-size: 14px;
 line-height: 14px;
 background-color: #000;
 color:#fff;
}

2. Getting Our Virtual Machine Ready

We're using this cool project called V86 that turns your browser into a proper computer emulator. It uses WebAssembly to translate computer instructions on the fly - pretty neat, right? More on that here

Grab these files from V86's GitHub releases:

Next, download the following BIOS files from the bios folder of the V86 repository:

Put them in your project like this:

public/
├── v86.wasm
├── libv86.js
└── bios/
    ├── seabios.bin
    └── vgabios.bin

3. Time to Make It Work!

Update your index.html to include our VM engine by adding <script src="libv86.js"></script>:

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/vite.svg" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
 <title>FreeDOS 1.2</title>
</head>
<body>
 <div id="root"></div>
+ <script src="libv86.js"></script>
 <script type="module" src="/src/main.jsx"></script>
</body>
</html>

Now for the fun part - let's configure our virtual machine! Update the contents of App.jsx to:

import { useEffect } from 'react';
function App() {

useEffect(function initializeEmulator(){
 // See https://github.com/copy/v86/blob/master/src/browser/starter.js for options 
 window.emulator = new window.V86({
   wasm_path: '/v86.wasm',
   screen_container: document.getElementById("screen_container"),
   bios: {
     url: "/bios/seabios.bin",
   },
   vga_bios: {
     url: "/bios/vgabios.bin",
   },
   hda: { // Hard Disk
    url:  "/images/fd12-base.img",
    async:  true,
    size:  419430400, // Recommended to add size of the image in URL. see https://github.com/copy/v86/blob/master/src/browser/starter.js 
   },
   autostart: true,
 });
}, []);

return (
     <div id="screen_container">
       <div id="screen" style={{overflow: 'hidden'}}>Initializing Emulator…</div>
       <canvas style={{display: 'none'}}></canvas>
     </div>
   );
}
export default App;

For more details on the available emulator options check out: https://github.com/copy/v86/blob/master/src/browser/starter.js

Let's Boot Some Operating Systems!

First Up: FreeDOS

Let's start with something fun - FreeDOS! It's perfect for running classic DOS games and software. Grab the pre-built version here, extract fd12-base.img, and drop it in your public/images folder.

Start the Web App by running:

npm run dev

And open http://localhost:5173/ in your browser

Want to Try Linux Instead?

Here's something even cooler - we can run Alpine Linux right in the browser! Download the latest Alpine virtual ISO and update your VM settings to:

window.emulator = new window.V86({
  wasm_path:  '/v86.wasm',
  screen_container:  document.getElementById("screen_container"),
  bios: {
    url:  "/bios/seabios.bin",
  },
  vga_bios: {
    url:  "/bios/vgabios.bin",
  },
  boot_order: '0x123', // Boot from CD-ROM first
  memory_size: 512 * 1024 * 1024, // 512MB RAM
  vga_memory_size: 64 * 1024 * 1024, // 64MB VGA RAM
  // See more: https://github.com/copy/v86/blob/master/docs/networking.md
  net_device: {
    type: 'virtio',
    relay_url: "wisps://wisp.mercurywork.shop",
  },
  cdrom: {
    // Source: https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.20/releases/x86/alpine-virt-3.20.3-x86.iso
    url: "/images/alpine-virt-3.20.3-x86.iso", 
  },
  autostart:  true,
});

Refresh the browser and wait for Linux to boot. It may take 3–5 min 😅. When prompted to login, enter: root

Make It Look Extra Cool 😎

Want that authentic retro computer feel? Let's add the perfect font:

Get the Modern DOS font
Drop the files in your project in assets/fonts/ModernDOS and update index.css to:

@font-face {
 font-family: 'ModernDOS';
 src: url('./assets/fonts/ModernDOS/ModernDOS8x16.ttf') format('truetype');
}
#screen_container {
 white-space: pre;
 font-family: 'ModernDOS', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
 font-size: 14px;
 line-height: 14px;
 background-color: #000;
 color:#fff;
}