Browser Appliance

Overview

The Browser Appliance is a ready-to-use VirtualBox/VMware* virtual machine, which allows to:

browse the World Wild Web without ever worrying of being 0wned by a malicious web page,
start experimenting with an Enterprise-class Linux distribution without rebooting or installing anything else than the vmplayer.

The Operating System and Browser are encapsulated in a disposable virtual machine.
If anything goes wrong, delete and start over again; your underlying Operating System will not be modified.

* As of 2023, VMware is no longer supported.

Download

Build Date	Browser Version	Linux Distribution	Kernel Version	Guest Additions	VM Tools	7-Zip	Size	MD5sum
Aug 7, 2023	Firefox ESR 115.1	Rocky Linux 9.2	5.14.0-284.25.1.el9_2	6.1.46_158378		Download	679 MB	6f9d9bf50396255d2d9d82a3512216bc
Aug 10, 2023	Firefox ESR 102.14	Rocky Linux 8.8	4.18.0-477.21.1.el8_8	6.1.46_158378		Download	761 MB	d8edf438cf9da84a27fc8887b9689bfb
Aug 11, 2020 (Revised Nov 22, 2020)	Firefox ESR 68.11	CentOS 8.2	4.18.0-193.14.2.el8_2	5.2.44_139111	10.3.21-14772444	Download	870 MB	a92eff5bcc7840d5bfa5f8306b2ecdd7
May 10, 2018 (Revised Aug 10, 2020)	Firefox ESR 52.8	CentOS 7.5	3.10.0-862.2.3.el7	5.2.12_122591	10.1.10-3.el7	Download	790 MB	865fdc0fbbcebaa9ab4a9f0123bed080
Jul 31, 2016	Firefox ESR 45.2	CentOS 7.1	3.10.0-229.14.1.el7	4.3.30_101610	9.4.0-6.el7	Download	672 MB	97e204fc2a47792213bb64ccd05a3229
Mar 19, 2020	Firefox ESR 45.9	CentOS 6.10 (32 bit)	2.6.32-754.28.1.el6	5.0.16_105871	8.3.19-1310361	Download	417 MB	d2ba4df5b853c1b04ab89da32088d3a8
Sep 20, 2013	Firefox ESR 24.0	CentOS 6.4 (32 bit)	2.6.32-358.18.1.el6	4.2.18_88780	8.3.19-1185545	Download	327 MB	1cf331117d7c274950d90e2d7d10541c
Feb 8, 2012	Firefox 10.0	Scientific Linux 6.0 (32 bit)	2.6.32-220.4.1.el6	4.1.8_75467	8.3.12-559003	Download	317 MB	3e7a8cf2eb34e20bea1b4e8d28d01fc8
Jan 21, 2011	Firefox 4 beta 9	CentOS 5.5 (32 bit)	2.6.18-194.32.1.el5		8.4.5-324285	Download	280 MB	b1f10865d5b3ef005c6003b441840cca
Jul 22, 2010	Firefox 3.6.7	CentOS 5.5 (32 bit)	2.6.18-194.8.1.el5		8.4.2-261024	Download	281 MB	f552b378ddc75f2fbd5736184df1b683

The archives are compressed with 7-Zip.

VirtualBox Configuration

Using the Browser Appliance:
You can download the Browser Appliance from the Download section above. You also need to download and install VirtualBox from https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads, a free application that you can use to run the Browser Appliance.

To run the Browser Appliance, simply uncompress the download file to your local hard drive (using 7-Zip). Then:

Launch VirtualBox
From the "Machine" menu, choose "Add..." and browse to the directory where you installed the Browser Appliance, select the file Browser-Appliance.vbox, and click Open, then click on the green "Start" arrow.

The Browser Appliance powers on automatically, and the Linux operating system, provided with the Browser Appliance, boots up. This may take several minutes. Then the Mozilla Firefox browser starts automatically. Enter a URL in the location field at the top of the browser and click Go.

Changing the Browser Appliance password:
The Browser Appliance has password protection for administrative functions. The Browser Appliance user and password are both initially set to vmware (vm in the latest version). To change the Browser Appliance password:

From the "Activities" view, click the Terminal icon in the Dock (top center)
At the prompt, enter passwd
Enter your current password (vm or vmware by default) and new password.

To obtain root privileges in the Browser Appliance:

From the "Activities" view, click the Terminal icon in the Dock (top center)
At the prompt, enter sudo su

VMware Configuration (deprecated)

Power Users may wish to review and adjust several parameters in the Browser-Appliance.vmx configuration file using a text editor. For security reasons, Shared Folders are disabled by default.

Using the Browser Appliance:
You can download the Browser Appliance from the Download section above. From the VMware website, you can also download VMware Player, a free application that you can use to run the Browser Appliance.

To run the Browser Appliance, simply uncompress the download file to your local hard drive (using 7-Zip). Then:

Launch VMware Player
In the dialog box, select "Open a Virtual Machine" and, browse to the directory where you installed the Browser Appliance, select the file Browser-Appliance.vmx, and click Open, then "Play Virtual Machine".

The Browser Appliance powers on automatically, and the Linux operating system, provided with the Browser Appliance, boots up. This may take several minutes. Then the Mozilla Firefox browser starts automatically. Enter a URL in the location field at the top of the browser and click Go.

Installing the Adobe Flash Player plugin:
Firefox is the default browser for this Browser Appliance. To install the Adobe Flash Player plugin for Firefox:

Close Firefox
Double-click the "Install Flash Player" icon on the Desktop.
Wait until installation is complete
Start Firefox from the Desktop icon

Changing the Browser Appliance password:
The Browser Appliance has password protection for administrative functions. The Browser Appliance user and password are both initially set to vmware. To change the Browser Appliance password:

Double-click the Terminal icon on the Desktop
At the prompt, enter passwd
Enter your current password (vmware by default) and new password.

To obtain root privileges in the Browser Appliance:

Double-click the Terminal icon on the Desktop
At the prompt, enter sudo su

Set up "autoRevert on shutdown":
By default, the Browser Appliance is set to save your changes (such as proxy settings, passwords, bookmarks) when you shut down. If you want the Browser Appliance to revert to its original state on shutdown, you can edit the Browser Appliance configuration (.vmx) file so that the appliance reverts on shutdown:

In a text editor, go to the folder containing your Browser Appliance files, and open the Browser Appliance configuration file: Browser-Appliance.vmx.
To have the Browser Appliance revert on shutdown, add the following lines to the configuration file:
- ide0:0.mode = "independent-nonpersistent"
- snapshot.action = "autoRevert"
- snapshot.disabled = "TRUE"

This protects your computer from any spyware or other malware that is transferred to the Browser Appliance while you are browsing. However, setting the Browser Appliance to revert on shutdown will cause the Browser Appliance to discard changes you have made in the current session.

To close the Browser Appliance:

From the System menu in the virtual machine, select Shut Down
Click Shut down.

To remove the Browser Appliance, simply delete the directory containing your Browser Appliance files. There is no uninstallation procedure to perform.