How to Host MikroTik CHR on Windows Using VirtualBox (Step-by-Step Guide)

Are you looking to set up a powerful virtual router on your Windows machine for a low-cost home lab, RouterOS feature testing, exam preparation, or even to demonstrate a proposed network solution?

Hosting MikroTik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) on Windows using VirtualBox is a simple, reliable, and cost-effective way to do exactly that — without requiring dedicated hardware.

In this two-part series, we will:

1. Host MikroTik CHR on Windows using VirtualBox
2. Perform initial configuration and security hardening using CLI, WebFig, and WinBox

This first part focuses on getting CHR up and running.

 About MikroTik CHR

MikroTik Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) is a virtualized version of RouterOS — a Linux-based operating system — designed to run on standard x86-64 hypervisors such as VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V, and others. It provides the full capabilities of a physical MikroTik router, including routing, firewalling, VPNs, and bandwidth management. However, since CHR runs as a virtual machine, wireless interfaces are not supported, and wireless-specific features may not be available.

CHR Licensing

MikroTik CHR can be downloaded and used for free. While all RouterOS features are available at every license level, the maximum bandwidth throughput is limited based on the license type. The following is a brief summary; full details are available in the official MikroTik documentation.

Paid Licenses

• p1 (perpetual-1): Allows CHR to run indefinitely, limited to 1 Gbps throughput per interface.
• p10 (perpetual-10): Allows CHR to run indefinitely, limited to 10 Gbps throughput per interface.
• p-unlimited (perpetual-unlimited): Highest-tier license with no enforced throughput limits.

Perpetual is a lifetime license (buy once, use forever) and it is possible to transfer a perpetual license to another CHR instance.

Free Licenses

• free: Allows CHR to run indefinitely but it is limited to 1Mbps upload per interface.
• 60-day trial: Allows you to test the increased speed of P1/P10/PU licenses with a 60 days trial.

Note: The free license is suitable for labs and learning, but not for production use due to the throughput limitation.

Licensing details are accurate at the time of writing and may change in future RouterOS or MikroTik licensing updates.

Prerequisites

Before getting started, ensure you have:

• Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit)
• Oracle VirtualBox (latest version)
• MikroTik CHR OVA image

During testing with CHR versions 6.49.x through 7.20.x on Windows hosts, running CHR on VMware Workstation occasionally resulted in long delays at the “Loading System” stage. Some commonly suggested workarounds include disabling Core Isolation, Hyper-V, or WSL, which may not be practical or desirable for many users. To avoid these limitations, this guide uses VirtualBox, which works reliably on Windows without requiring changes to core OS security or virtualization features.

The OVA format allows quick deployment of a preconfigured virtual machine. CPU, memory, and network settings can still be adjusted after import as needed. If you prefer to create the virtual machine from scratch, you can use a VMDK image and attach it to the VM manually. However, this guide uses VirtualBox and the CHR OVA image for simplicity and reliability.

Now let's get started!

Step 01: Downloading the MikroTik CHR OVA

For this guide, using the Long-term release is recommended because it prioritizes stability and receives only critical bug and security fixes. This makes it a better choice for lab environments where consistent behavior is more important than access to the newest features. However, if you prefer to test new RouterOS features, you may choose the Stable release instead, as the installation and configuration steps remain the same.

Visit the official MikroTik download page and navigate to the CHR section. From there, download the OVA file for the latest version under the Long-term release channel.

Step 02: Importing CHR into VirtualBox

Open Virtualbox, click on the "Import" button to open the "Import Virtual Appliance" window.

In the "Source" section, select the "Local File System" as the source, and click on the small folder icon on the right to navigate and select the previously downloaded CHR OVA file.

Now in the "Settings" section, make sure your VM has enough resources (CPU & RAM) allocated, and specify a directory to save the VM. According to the Mikrotik documentation minimum required RAM depends on the number of interfaces on the router and the CPU count (check the following formula).

• RouterOS v6 - RAM = 128 + [ 8 × (CPU_COUNT) × (INTERFACE_COUNT - 1) ]
• RouterOS v7 - RAM = 256 + [ 8 × (CPU_COUNT) × (INTERFACE_COUNT - 1) ]

Note: Mikrotik recommends allocating at least 1024MiB of RAM for CHR instances.

Keep the default values for the rest settings for now, and click "Finish".

Virtualbox will create the VM for you using the selected OVA and the configured settings.

Step 03: Add & Modify Network Interfaces

After creating the VM it is required to add at least one additional interface so that we can emulate WAN & LAN networks connected to the router. Click on the "Network" section in VM details shown to access the interface settings directly.

In the "Adapter 1" section, check the options available in the "Attached to" dropdown. This defines how the VM is connected to a network and determines whether it can communicate with other devices or access the internet.

• NAT – The VM can access the internet through the host, but other devices cannot access the VM.
• Bridged Adapter – The VM appears as a separate device on your physical network.
• Internal Network – The VM can communicate only with other VMs on the same internal network.
• Host-only Adapter – The VM can communicate only with the host machine.
• Generic Driver – Uses special or experimental networking backends for advanced setups.
• NAT Network – Multiple VMs can talk to each other and access the internet through NAT.
• Cloud Network (EXPERIMENTAL) – Experimental cloud-based networking provided by VirtualBox.
• Not Attached – The VM has no network connectivity.

As this interface will be used as the WAN port connecting to the internet, choose "Bridged Adapter".

Now select "Adapter 2", enable "Enable Network Adapter", and from the "Attached to" dropdown, choose "Internal Network". This is the interface we will use as the LAN Port of the router.

Click "Ok" to save the modifications to the settings.

Now start the VM by clicking on "Start" button.

Wait until VM starts and displays the login prompt.

Enter the default credentials — Username: admin and Password: (leave it empty and press Enter) — to access the router.

Press "y" or "Enter" to read the software license or "n" to skip it. In this case I will type "n" for now.

This will take you to a prompt asking you to configure a password for the user "admin". Enter a password and press enter. Then repeat the entered password again to confirm it.

Congratulations! You have successfully hosted your MikroTik CHR on Windows using VirtualBox. The next step is to perform initial configuration and security hardening using CLI, WebFig, or WinBox.

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