I configured Virtualbox guest machine to run Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) but performance is just not acceptable. It probably has to do with my host machine not having a good enough graphics hardware. Anyway, to make it bearable, I have gone Gnome Fallback mode. Anyway, below is my clean configuration from scratch to have a better performance running under VirtualBox. Initial clean-up and pre-requisites, open terminal ( Ctrl+Alt+T ): $: sudo apt-get update $: sudo apt-get upgrade $: sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback Log out from session $: gnome-session-quit From the GDM, select Gnome Fallback(No effects), see below for screen capture. Log back in to Ubuntu. To make it even better, install VirtualBox guest additions. But first let us install the pre-requisites and some clean-up. $: apt-get purge xserver-xorg-video-vmware libxatracker1 $: apt-get install dkms build-essential From VirtualBox Guest main UI, select Devices | Install Guest Additions... .H