I created a Windows 11 virtual machine to test DeepSeek safely – here’s how you can do it for free

1. Download and install VirtualBox

The first thing you’ll need to do is download and install the VirtualBox software. From the download page we’ve linked here, select the version under ‘VirtualBox Platform Packages’ for the operating system you use. For this guide, I selected Windows hosts.

Once VirtualBox has downloaded, double click the downloaded program file to run the installation process and follow the instructions to install it on your PC.

2. Download the Windows 11 ISO

You also need an ISO file of an operating system. ISO files are a type of file that used to be known as disc images, and while we don’t usually use CDs or DVDs with our PCs these days, ISO images are still widely used – kind of like a virtual CD that your PC can run even without an optical disc drive.

You can use ISO files of Linux distros or other operating systems, but for this walkthrough, we’ll use Windows 11, as Microsoft has made it easy and safe to download the ISO image for.

Go to Microsoft’s official Download Windows 11 page and scroll down to where it says Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices then click the drop-down box and select Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices), then click Download Now and save the file to a location on your hard drive.

The file is just under 6GB, so make sure you have enough room.

3. Create the new virtual machine

Open up VirtualBox and select New (with a blue icon). When the Create Virtual Machine window appears, enter in the name of the virtual machine you want to create (this can be anything, but it’s best to give it a descriptive name such as ‘Windows 11 test’).

The Folder text box shows you where the virtual machine is going to be saved, you can leave this as default unless you want it created somewhere else. In the ISO Image box, press the down arrow, then select Other…

Browse to the location where you downloaded the Windows 11 ISO and select the file. VirtualBox should detect that it’s a Windows 11 install and fill in the rest of the boxes. Once done, click Next.

4. Hardware configuration

In the next window you can configure the Windows 11 installation. You don’t need to change anything here, though I recommend you choose a new username and password, which will be used to log in to Windows 11.

Once done, click Next. You’ll then need to allocate the hardware for the virtual computer. This is an important balance to get right, as it dedicates parts of your physical PC’s hardware for use by the virtual machine.

First is a slider for the memory. On the far-right side is the amount of RAM your physical PC has (in our case 16GB). By default, VirtualBox will give your virtual machine 4GB. This is the minimum amount you need to run Windows 11.

You can change the amount of RAM allocated to the virtual machine by sliding the bar from left (less) to right (more). The more RAM you allocate to the virtual machine, the faster it’ll perform – but bear in mind that allocating too much RAM will leave your main PC with less RAM to use while the virtual machine is running. So, you want to strike a balance between giving the virtual machine enough memory to perform well, without impacting the performance of your entire PC.

Underneath, you’ll see ‘Processors’ and here you can allocate processor cores to the virtual machine. Again, this should be a careful balance as allocating too many could make your PC run slower. By default, it will allocate two cores, and I’ve found that to be perfectly fine for using DeepSeek in Windows 11. If you’re worried about this step, just leave the settings at their default and click Next.

5. Set up a virtual hard drive

Like in the previous step, you’ll need to allocate a virtual hard drive from your physical hard drive for the virtual machine to use. This is especially important when running software in a sandbox, as it ensures that anything that happens in the virtual machine is kept within the virtual drive, rather than impacting your files and folders on your PC’s hard drive.

The default option is 80GB which should be more than enough for installing Windows 11. It’s important to note that while 80GB sounds like a scary amount of disk space to allocate, VirtualBox doesn’t partition off that amount right away (unless you check the box saying ‘Pre-allocate Full Size’). Instead, the virtual hard drive will grow in size as you use it, with the size you select here being the maximum size the virtual hard drive can grow to.

It’s important that you don’t select a size that is close to the total capacity of your PC’s hard drive, as you don’t want that filling up! Of course, if you need more space on your PC in the future, and don’t need to use the virtual machine any more, you can easily delete the virtual drive.

Click Next to continue, then Finish.

6. Install Windows 11

Your virtual machine will now boot. You might see a message saying ‘Press any key to continue’ – click the VirtualBox window then press any key on your keyboard to continue.

VirtualBox will cleverly identify when your mouse is over the window, and will automatically switch so your mouse controls the cursor in the virtual machine. Clicking somewhere in the virtual machine where you can type will automatically switch your keyboard to work in the virtual machine. Clicking outside of the VirtualBox window will return your mouse and keyboard to control your physical PC.

The Windows 11 Setup window should appear asking for a product key. As we are just using this for a temporary test virtual machine, don’t put any key in here – just click I don’t have a product key.

Windows 11 will then be installed on the virtual machine.

7. Start up Windows 11 and sign in to DeepSeek

Windows 11 should now boot, and you’ll be able to use your virtual machine just like a normal PC – but within a window!

Now we can safely use DeepSeek (and other applications) in a sandbox. Open up the Edge web browser and head to the DeepSeek website. You can then create an account or log in using your Google account.

Due to the privacy concerns currently surrounding DeepSeek, I strongly recommend that you don’t use your Google account to log in. Instead, click Sign up and then enter your email address (this can be your Gmail), create a password (and confirm it), tick the box to confirm you agree to the terms of use, then press Send code. When you get the code, enter it in the text box.

You’ll then be signed up to DeepSeek and will be able to use it as you would normally.

8. Turning off your virtual machine

When you’ve finished using your virtual machine, you can turn it off the usual way by opening the Windows 11 start menu and pressing the power icon and choosing Shut down.

You can also click File > Close in the VirtualBox menu bar at the top of the window. This displays the Close Virtual Machine window. By selecting Save the machine state and then clicking OK, VirtualBox will essentially pause the virtual machine where you are. When you load up the virtual machine in the future, you’ll be able to continue where you left off.