It’s more likely than you think. Starting today, the Vanilla build page will be building both VirtualBox and VMWare images every day along with the USB image. This means you can test out the latest changes without needing to burn a copy to a USB stick. Using these images is super easy, and isn’t reliant on your device being compatible! For the VirtualBox downloads, you get a VDI file, or a VirtualBox Disk Image. To use this, just create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox, and when it asks whether you want to create a new hard drive or use an existing one, point it to the VDI file you downloaded and extracted. When asked how much memory you’d like to assign, 2GB is ideal, but 1GB should work fine. Using the VMWare downloads is even easier! Simply download, install VMWare Player and then double click the VMX file in the archive you downloaded.

What could make this better? What if the images received automatic updates daily, without needing to download a whole new image? Turns out, they do! At long last, the Vanilla AU service has returned. This is still in a testing stage really and it might break at a moments notice, but if you’ve got any problems with AU, let me know via Twitter and I’ll try to fix any issues you can find. The AU service also works for USB images, too. Some users running recent Vanilla images might be offered an update automatically, but if you’re not, simply download today’s image (13th March 2011), and you’ll be ready to receive updates.

Want to grab an image right now? Click here! If you like what I’m doing, you can also fuel my work by sending me caffeinated beverages by clicking here.