Great amount programs appearing every day make downloading and installing unknown software on a computer more and more dangerous for the system and important files on the computer. In addition, many programs that have the features necessary for the work of programmers, artists and other PC users are available only for a small number of operating systems. If before you had to take a big risk downloading from the Internet suspicious file, or reinstall the system just for one desired program, then now there is such an OS as a virtual machine for this.
What is a virtual machine
Virtual machine- a special program that is installed on the user's native operating system and, when launched, begins to emulate, that is, reproduce, the functions of any other operating system specified in the settings. The main convenience of such programs is the absence of the need to switch between operating systems and access to all functions of the reproducible system. In addition, all actions performed inside the virtual machine will not affect the operation of the main system, which prevents possible computer failures.
On the this moment developers virtual machines have created programs that allow you to emulate any operating system, from early versions of Windows to Ubuntu, OS X and lesser known axes, also work with already ready servers, for example, Bitrix virtual machine.
There is another, narrower, understanding of the term "virtual machine", which is common among musicians - virtual drum machine, which plays the sounds of a drum kit. Such a program allows you to record parts of percussion instruments without using a live setup, but in special recording programs, or “revitalizing” a pre-recorded midi track, putting recorded samples of each beat under the electronic sound.
What is a virtual machine for?
The range of actions that can be performed using a virtual machine is actually very large.
The simplest thing you can do with it is to use programs that are not available for the user's operating system or even for a PC in general. For example, an operating system emulator Android systems essentially also a virtual machine with which people run applications or games.
In addition, virtual machines are often used by programmers to test written programs. For example, to check how correctly the written algorithm works in different versions of Windows. The same applies to developers of applications for iOS and Android, who check the performance of developments inside emulators. For this, there is a virtual machine on a flash drive in order to always be able to check the functionality of the written code.
For such checks, machines are also used by less advanced users. The fact is that when emulating related operating systems, the machine can reproduce all the information that is contained on the computer. Therefore, if a user has to download a file from the Internet that may contain viruses, then you should first check it on a virtual machine. If it plays normally on it, then you can safely open it on your native OS.
In addition, they help in corporate work, say, Bitrix virtual machines.
If we talk about virtual drum machines, then they are used in order to record high-quality drum parts in conditions of lack of funds, for example, for renting a studio. Of all the instruments, it is the drums that are the most sensitive to recording, and it is on them that the most time is spent. In addition, the drummer may not have enough skill to play them smoothly, which greatly increases the amount of money for rent. In such a situation, the best way out is to record the part in the program and then play it back.
What are virtual machines
Virtual Machine for Windows 10
Especially for advanced users familiar with the concept of "virtual machine", Microsoft made a built-in emulation of other operating systems - . Initially, its functionality is blocked, but its components are easily enabled through the Control Panel.
Go to the Control Panel and go to the " Programs and Features". There in the window Turning components on and off» Check the Hyper-V service name. After that, the virtual machine will be installed on the PC, and in the future it will be possible to launch it through the menu " Start».
Key Benefits of Hyper-V:
- built into the system, no need to download or search for anything;
- has full functionality for emulating different versions of Windows, for example, 98 and other operating systems;
- supports Windows versions different digits;
- simple and clear interface.
In general, thanks to the presence of Hyper-V on Windows 10, users no longer need other similar programs. Although the utility does not require special skills in setting up, you can read more about it in an adjacent article.
Virtual Machine for Windows 7
The most popular virtual machine for Windows users 7 is Windows Virtual PC. Initially, its main functionality was intended to emulate Windows XP, so that developers could comfortably transfer programs developed for this OS to the new seven, which was just coming out at that time. In the future, its capabilities have expanded, and now Virtual PC is a separate platform that can play almost all existing operating systems.
Like Hyper-V, this service is built into the system from the very beginning. In order to install it, you need to go to " Start» and submenu « Programs". There you need to find a line with the name of the program, click on it. A window will open in which you can freely create, delete and perform other manipulations with the operating system emulator.
Virtual machines for Mac and other operating systems
Beyond the built-in seventh and tenth Windows virtual machines, third-party developers have created many other, independent utilities that have roughly the same capabilities, but differ in details. The most popular of them is Oracle Virtual Box, about which and will be discussed in this part of the article.
This virtual machine can emulate all currently existing operating systems, and is also available for the most popular operating systems at the moment - Windows, OS X, Linux and Solaris. You can download it from the developer's website, after selecting which system you need it for.
This Oracle program differs from its other analogues in its wide functionality, which includes USB support-ports and launch them from the emulated machine, the ability to save the state of the system for its instant rollback in case critical error. In fact, from the huge list of all supported features, we can conclude that by downloading Oracle VirtualBox, you can comfortably work on any operating system without any restrictions at all.
For most users, the VirtualBox utility is a very good choice due to its practicality, reliability, and functionality.
Once the distribution kit with the application is on your computer, double-click on it. This will launch the installer. It will need to choose which functions, in addition to the most Oracle machines are installed with it. The list includes: the possibility of internal programming in Python, configured support for the Internet, as well as the integration of USB ports. After that, just follow the instructions. setup file until the Oracle VirtualBox installation is complete.
Virtual drum machines
Virtual drum machines are present in the form of additional plug-ins that are installed and launched through a program for recording or writing music - FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase and others. The most popular drum machine emulators - EZ Drummer And Addictive Drums. In free access to them are large libraries of samples for every taste, recorded by famous drummers.
Create your own virtual machine
In addition, there is also a company VMWare, which also offers users programs to create their own virtual machines. The most famous of them is called workstation and distributed free of charge. However, there are many resources that offer free use this virtual machine for both Windows and Mac and Ubuntu. It should be noted that the company offers a lot additional utilities, which extend the capabilities of the base program by adding desktop management, translation, and more. Consider why this virtual machine is needed.
Workstation allows you to create virtual machines that will be managed from single center. For the most part, this tool is of interest to large companies that need to set up the same functionality of devices on in large numbers computers.
One of the most important features that the VMWare virtual machine has, the so-called vSphere, which allows not only to create and configure a virtual machine, but also to implement an entire infrastructure of such devices interconnected. And if you have to choose, then such functionality is very useful for large companies whose employees need to exchange data and information with each other.
All functionality of the developed VMWare programs relies not on the single use of a virtual machine, but on the formation of a grid of them and a single place from where this network is controlled.
1C-Bitrix virtualization
Another program designed for comfortable work with 1C-Bitrix products - Bitrix virtual machine, this time from domestic developers, which can also work with any PHP applications. In fact, this program is an emulation of the site server, which contains all settings for comfortable work. finished machine can be opened in VMWare Player or other applications of this developer (there are also versions for VirtualBox and HyperV).
The program allows you to save time and start working immediately after the main platform is ready for use. At the same time, the Bitrix virtual machine is installed directly into the main emulation system, integrating into its functionality and operation, which allows you to start interacting with 1C projects immediately after installation and launch.
Which virtual machine to choose
There is no clear comparison here. It all depends on the user and his needs. To emulate games and check third-party software, the usual Hyper-V services and the like, built into the operating system itself, will be enough. A well-tested, reliable and free option is virtual box. For organizations, the best virtual machines are definitely VMWare products or the Bitrix virtual machine, as they simplify business and interaction with employees.
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Do you need to run applications developed for Mac in a Windows environment? I really want to be one of the first to try Windows 10 TP, but you can’t allocate a separate partition on your hard drive for it? Nothing is impossible, virtualization, the most complex and useful technology, will help you with everything.
There is no perfect operating system. Whatever operating system we install on our PC, be it Windows, Linux or Mac, we will all exactly find in it what does not suit us. The imperfection of the system becomes especially noticeable when, in addition to working with documents, we have to solve more advanced tasks on a PC. If we are compulsive, then due to dissatisfaction with one already installed OS, we can easily initiate the installation of another, despite the fact that this is not the easiest and fastest procedure.
Most users, especially those who are still in the development phase computer literacy, get scared at the task of installing several operating systems at once on one computer. Almost everything begins to confuse them: a breakdown hard drive, solving problems with loading, and not least, they know that in order to enter the second, third installed OS, they will have to constantly restart the computer. But not everything is as bad as it seems at first glance. Such an interesting, useful and at the same time extremely complex concept as virtualization technology comes to the rescue.
The task of virtualization is to ensure the existence and simultaneous work on one computer at once several operating systems.
Most often, virtualization is used to solve problems of the following type:
- Specialists of large companies use virtualization for the best and most efficient distribution of large computing power of servers;
- Home users use virtualization (virtual machines) to run multiple applications at the same time from different operating systems. With the help of virtual machines, the user can run Windows XP and programs written for it on another operating system, say, running on Linux kernel. Or create a virtual Windows 8 OS on Apple computer Macintosh.
Virtual PC - a virtual machine from Microsoft
Microsoft, the developer of the world's most popular operating system, has developed own system virtualization, which is designed to work exclusively in Windows environment is Virtual PC 2007 for Windows XP and Vista, as well as the relatively new Virtual PC virtual machine for Windows 7. In addition to the latest version of the virtualization program, the developers have created the Windows XP Mode tool, which is virtual version XP Professional. This tool allows you to run legacy applications and programs on the newer Windows 7 operating system.
On Windows 8 and test Windows 10, Virtual PC has been replaced by the newer Hyper-V technology, borrowed from Windows Server. This technology has a lot of differences from ordinary virtual machines, so we will devote a separate review to it.
In fact, Microsoft is not the developer of Virtual PC. Initially, this program was created by another company, and was designed to work on Windows and Mac OS. At that time, OS/2, DOS and OS on the Linux kernel were used as guest operating systems. When Microsoft became the sole owner of this product, it was decided to withdraw support Mac program OS. Thus, all the efforts of the developers were focused on further development Virtual PC exclusively for Windows OS. As a result, today we have free tool for creating virtual environment, which works fine on Windows as a host and guest OS. However, with all this, this tool is rather mediocre, due to the fact that it lacks different kind add-ons designed to interact with all other systems.
You can download it here: www. microsoft. com
vmware virtual machine
VmWare is recognized by the entire global IT community as a leader in creating virtual solutions for professionals. However, the developer company has tools not only for specialists from large organizations, but also for the home user - this is a free VMware Player application. Before, free program VMware virtualization Player could only launch previously created virtual machines (their images), but now she has also learned how to create them. That is, the application has become a full-fledged virtualization tool. True, unlike its paid counterpart, referred to as VMware Workstation, the functionality of the free application is somewhat limited, but we can safely say that advanced functions paid version not always needed by a home user.
VMware Player uses Linux and Windows as the main operating system, and DOS, Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD and others can be used as guest OS. For those who are happy owners Macintosh computer, the developer releases the VMware Fusion application, which in its capabilities is completely reminiscent of VMware Workstation.
One of the distinguishing features this application is the Unity mode (by the way, the Parallels product also has it, which we will discuss below), which is designed to hide the virtual machine window from the user's eyes. That is, the user sees how the OS is in the OS. In this case, the windows of applications opened in the guest OS are displayed on the main desktop.
You can download it here: www. vmware. com
Parallels Workstation - Virtualization for the Home User
One of the most major players in the global virtualization market is Parallels. Its main virtualization tools are intended primarily for large service provider companies. But, the developer does not disdain the home user either, so for Windows and Linux machines the company has a Parallels Workstation virtualization program, and for Apple machines there is a similar Parallels Desktop solution. Unlike other developers, this company does not offer free solutions; the user will have to pay for the creation and launch of a virtual machine.
The functionality and capabilities of Parallels Workstation or Parallels Desktop fully justify the price of the application. For example, using them, you can easily import virtual machines, even those that were created in other virtualization programs, in addition, the capabilities of these paid apps allow you to create, and subsequently run on other machines, images of the main virtual systems.
It is also worth noting that the company has a mobile version of the Parallels Mobile app for iOS. Via this version can be easily configured remote control running Parallels Desktop virtual machine on Mac OS.
You can buy here: www. parallels.com.ru
VirtualBox - a virtual machine from Oracle
One of the most popular virtualization software is VirtualBox. More than one group of developers worked on the creation of this application, and far from one eminent company in the IT environment. The product is currently wholly owned by Oracle, which acquired it through a takeover by the previous owner (Sun Microsystems) back in 2010. As a result of all the movements of the VirtualBox program from one owner to another, today we have a virtualization program with a large number of supported operating systems. On the official website of the program, you can download assemblies for Windows, Mac OS, Linux and Solaris platforms to install on your computer. By the way, these operating systems can also be used in VirtualBox as guest operating systems.
In general, VirtualBox is distributed open source. source code which makes it completely free to use. However, to get more advanced functionality and capabilities, say, to support the RDP protocol or the USB 3.0 standard for the guest OS, the user will need to install additional plugins, which, by the way, are also free, but have a closed source code.
You can download it here: www. virtualbox. org
From all of the above, we can conclude and stop, as it seems to us, on two virtualization programs - this is VirtualBox and VMware Player. These applications are enough to install additional operating systems.
One operating system - virtual - inside another operating system, but already real - this is an ideal find for those who like to test third-party software as well as different versions and builds of operating systems.
It is safe, it is interesting, moreover, it is even useful for development. The VirtualBox program is perhaps the only well-known software representative that provides the mentioned features.
It is free, simple and easy to use even for novice users. As with using VirtualBox install a virtual Windows operating system? This question will be considered below.
Step 1. Create a virtual computer
with download and installing VirtualBox hardly any problems, it can be freely downloaded from official website of the developer, and it is installed by default.
The launched program will open with a welcome window, where you need to click the command - "Create".
The window that appears will give you a choice of operating systems supported by the program. Select the required, its version, set the name of the virtual computer. Click "Forward". 
Specify which system we are creating: 
Correct operation of Windows XP will be provided with a volume of 512 MB random access memory, but for Windows 7 it is better to allocate 800-900 MB.
It is impossible to enter the red section of the scale, thereby giving the virtual computer more than half of the hardware potential of the physical computer. Click "Forward".
In the next window hard choice disk select the option to create new hard disk.
In the next window, it is better for beginners to choose a storage format - a fixed disk, since it works a little faster than a dynamic one. Click "Forward".
This figure will also be taken from the memory of the physical hard drive, so it is necessary to choose the optimal amount that is enough for the purposes of the virtual computer, and this will not be at the expense of physical memory.
For Windows XP, you can allocate 5 GB, and for Windows 7 - about 15 GB. Here, using the browse button, visible at the end of the first line, select the directory of the physical computer where it will be placed HDD virtual.
To choose better place on a non-system drive. The "Create" command will start the process creating a hard disk of the virtual computer, after which you can admire the parameters of the newly created virtual computer.
Step 2. Install the operating system on a virtual computer
The virtual machine has been created and the operating system can be installed on it. Click on the "Start" command.
We select either the boot disk of the operating system located in the physical drive, or a disk image. You can set the path to the disk image using the browse button at the end of the line. Click "Continue".
IN separate window VirtualBox will open a familiar menu Windows installation. Next steps are no different than installing Windows on a physical computer.
The concept of a virtual machine (from the English. Virtual Machine) is understood as a software or hardware system that emulates Hardware a certain platform (guest platform) that executes programs for the guest platform using the host platform.
Also, a virtual machine can virtualize a certain platform, creating on it independent, isolated environments for the operation of operating systems and programs.
Virtual machine for Windows 7 - we offer you an overview of popular programs.
In simple terms, a virtual machine provides the ability on one real, physical computer to create several virtual computers, install on them various operating systems, programs, etc.
This technology came to the masses from the world of server infrastructure, where virtual machines are used to create maximum load server and reduce equipment downtime.
Virtual machines are used to solve a range of tasks such as:
- Optimizing the use of server resources.
- Information protection, as well as limiting the capabilities of some programs, the so-called sandbox idea.
- Research into new computer architecture or software.
- Emulation of various computer architectures (for example, to emulate a game PlayStation consoles from Sony).
- Creation of malicious code.
For example, the SubVirt rootkit created in 2006 by Microsoft Research (MSR), created a virtual working environment in which the user's operating system was placed along with antivirus, firewall and other software designed to protect the PC.
At the same time, the rootkit itself remained outside and therefore did not fall into the scope of antiviruses, providing remote control over the virtual machine to the attacker. - Modeling computer networks.
- Software testing and debugging.
We bring to your attention a brief overview of the most popular virtualization programs.
Virtual Machine for Windows 7: Virtual Box
Oracle virtualization software for operating systems Linux, Mac OS X, MS Windows, etc.
The program is quite popular and below we will not consider everything, but only its key advantages:
Free.
Cross-platform.
Support for 64-bit guest systems on 32-bit host platforms. To do this, the host platform must support virtualization technology at the processor level.
Support for audio devices and various types of networking.
The ability to create a chain of backup states (backups), to which you can return in case of problems with the guest system.
Russian-language interface.
Important! The disadvantages of the program are not significant, but for the sake of objectivity of the assessment, they should also be mentioned - VirtualBox is poorly compatible with Win 95/98 (slow system operation is noted) and Mac OS X (problems with sound).
As you can see, the shortcomings of the program are not significant and rather nominal.
Virtual Machine for Windows 7: Xen
Virtual machine monitor (hypervisor), developed at the University of Cambridge and distributed under open source (GPL license).
Using paravirtualization technology (PV mode), Xen allows you to achieve very high performance by emulating real hardware platforms.
A feature of the PV mode is the absence of the initial moment of booting the computer (imitation of the BIOS code, bootloader) and the guest OS kernel starts immediately in the desired mode, like ordinary programs.
It is worth noting that Xen can be compared to software corporate level due to its rich functionality.
Advantages:
Free.
Cross-platform.
High performance of running virtual machines, which is very close to the performance of real systems.
Ability to migrate running virtual machines between physical hosts.
High degree of support for emulated hardware.
Perhaps the only drawback of the program is its relative complexity compared to similar software from other companies.
Virtual Machine for Windows 7: Virtual PC
Initially, this program was developed by Connetix for Mac OS, back in 1997. After 4 years, a version for Windows was released.
Later, in 2003, the rights to the program were acquired by Microsoft Corporation, and in 2006 the program became free.
In the future, Virtual PC has not received development and currently contains the functionality of 2007.
Advantages:
Free.
Simple, user-friendly interface.
Disadvantages:
The program works only in the Windows OS environment, but is not compatible with Windows 8 and above.
The program, unlike Virtual Box, not compatible with AMD processors.
Virtual Machine for Windows 7: VMware Player
A product from the largest American developer of virtualization software Vmware.
Vmware products are primarily aimed at the corporate segment of the market, therefore full version programs - VMware Workstation - paid.
The license price is about $250. For non-commercial use, the manufacturer offers a program with limited functionality VMware Player.
It should be noted that the restrictions generally apply to software developers and IT specialists; the program is quite functional to perform the tasks of an ordinary user.
Advantages:
Free.
Fast.
Simple, user-friendly interface.
ThinPrint technology allows you to print any document opened in the guest OS without installing additional drivers.
Working with multiple monitors in the guest OS.
File exchange between guest systems using Drag & Drop technology (drag and drop).
Disadvantages:
Limited functionality of the free version.
Installing Windows 7 x64 on VirtualBox (virtual machine)
Virtual machine for Windows 7: multiple operating systems on one machine
What do you think is the most best virtual machine?
I will not invent a bicycle and retell others. I'd rather suggest you read an article from the Linux Format magazine. In which the experts did a comparative review of five popular virtual machines in the hope of finding the one .., the best virtual machine. By the way, for those who renounced and were able to escape from the captivity of Windows, I highly recommend .
- What is a virtual machine
- Why you need a virtual machine
- How We Tested Virtual Machines
- Performance
- Functionality
- Compatibility and snapshots
- Desktop integration
- Graphics Acceleration
- Verdict
What is a virtual machine
In simple terms, without tediousness, then a virtual machine is an operating system in an operating system.
Why do I need a virtual machine
In our case, a virtual machine is primarily a platform for checking programs. Among which, as you understand, there may be. Another virtual machine is used by hackers to test their own and other people's Trojans, and other miracle files. No matter which group you belong to, you will still be interested in learning more about virtual machines and their work.
How we tested virtual machines
First, we took a dual-core computer (due to budget constraints) with fresh Arc Linux. In addition to the proprietary VMware (version 7.1.0 Player and 30-day trial period of Workstation 11), we used the official Arch packages, which very closely follow the releases of the developers. Each machine had 2 GB of system RAM and 128 MB of video memory (256 MB if needed).
We tested each candidate on different guest OSes: Mint 17.1 and Kubuntu 15.04 beta, as well as different versions of non-Linux OS called Windows. To evaluate performance, we compiled the main Mint kernel, ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, and played a variety of games from our Steam library. To test real options, we ran them on an 8-core machine with 16 GB of RAM and a 4 GB Nvidia GTX, but then we were forced to return it.
Virtualization technology has fundamentally changed the computing landscape. We'd be embarrassed to say this is a new invention (early mainframes used it as a means of providing resources), but decade-old CPU innovations mean you'll only get near-native performance with x86 code. And now we manage to cram dozens of machines (easily copied and restored) into one building, and the work of data centers has become much more efficient. It is also possible to imitate another architecture, say, ARM, which is convenient for embedded system developers.
This is also good for ordinary users: familiarity with the new OS no longer has to be such a time-consuming exercise in constant fear of ruining your system. Even if you just want to test new program, it's much safer to do this in a virtual machine instead of risking your current setup. Support for virtualization within the kernel (via KVM) and the Qemu emulator means that Linux users there is no longer any need to resort to proprietary tools.
In the old days, Sun's VirtualBox (once owned by Innotek, now Oracle) was the only real option. But times have changed, so let's look at other virtualization applications.
Both VMware and VirtualBox use kernel dependent modules that are loaded to work their magic. VMware will need to compile them, which will require installing the kernel header packages and all the compiler stuffing. You will then get an init script to load the specified modules, although it will be useless for Systemd users. If this is your case, you may want to create your own init file instead of running this script as root all the time (or seeing the same error messages). At the time of writing, the 3.19 kernels required patching up the VMware sources, but I hope this will be fixed by the time the magazine is published. VirtualBox packages are available in most distributions, and if you have a standard kernel, you don't have to worry about anything.
Virt-Manager requires the libvirtd service to be running on your system before it starts, which you will be kindly notified, and if you are using a full desktop environment, it will do this for you; you will only have to enter the root password.
Both VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are pretty straightforward, unless you want to get distracted by every option. VMware Player, on the other hand, doesn't have too many options, and you'll get your machine up and running in no time. But if you are determined to use all these options to the maximum, you will have to install guest additions.
Guest Linux add-ons VirtualBox is much easier to install (the CD will start automatically) than the extra "tools" for VMware that require you to copy programs from an imaginary CD, change permissions, and then run a script. Is it really 1999? But by doing all this, you will be rewarded with improved graphics and a number of additional features, which we will discuss next.
The easiest to use of our selection is Boxes, even though it only provides the bare minimum of Qemu/libvirt features. VMware Player and VirtualBox are second, followed by their paid rival (nominally they are harder, due to more options). Virt-Manager isn't particularly difficult to use, but it has just enough of Qemu's labyrinth of settings to overwhelm a beginner. In addition, the mechanism for managing storage is rather confusing, especially if you are going to store your virtual disk in a non-standard location: then you first need to add the required directory as a "storage pool". However, all necessary exotic modules will be provided by your own distribution, and in this case, why not take a chance.
Performance
Will they create a slow or agile VM for you?
Thanks to hardware enhancements and paravirtualization technologies, it has become possible to perform some tasks at a speed close to the speed of real hardware.
However, the way it is, there is usually some performance hit. Pretty much every configuration we tested the guest desktop on showed some sort of stuttering. But you get used to it, and you can turn off all sorts of prettiness or turn on the appropriate mode of neutralization of faults, if it bothers you.
We're not taking 3D performance into account here - that wouldn't be entirely fair, and it has its own category across the page. However, for everyday tasks using Terminal, you are unlikely to notice much difference between our candidates. Kernel compilation experiments have shown that VirtualBox is well behind in the competition. Comparison test JavaScript SunSpider confirmed this conclusion: both tasks completed 20% slower than the others. Disk input / output (I / O) (especially if you have an SSD drive) and network traffic were fast for all of our candidates. Ultimately, VMware secured the upper hand with support for newer Intel processors.
Functionality
What can each candidate offer?
All of our candidates are designed for different use cases and therefore each has its own individual benefits. Of course, the presence of some standard features is certainly implied: these include, for example, the ability to create snapshots, support for Intel VT-x and AMD-V processor extensions, and flexible configuration of virtual hardware. All this is offered by everyone, however, some applications are capable of more heroic deeds.
A caveat here is that Gnome Boxes and Virt-Manager are just interfaces to Qemu (via the libvirt abstraction layer). And Qemu is essentially a CPU emulator that is capable of virtualization via KVM, but is a whole world nonetheless.
So let's take a look at our candidates one by one.
Gnome Boxes ★★
When called from the command line, Qemu supports a lot of options, most of which are not in Gnome Boxes: its goal (implemented) is simplicity and clarity appearance and work. Through its user-friendly wizard interface, you can set up a virtual machine in just three clicks - just point it to the appropriate ISO. Boxes abstracts away the difference between a virtual machine and a remote machine, and you can connect to both via VNC, SPICE (which allows audio to work over a network), or OVirt.
Gnome Boxes
Boxes doesn't offer much in the way of managing your VM over the network, but at least it provides all the NAT magic you need to get your VM to communicate with the world. The rest of the candidates successfully set up NAT, network bridges or host-only networks, and all this can be very convenient in certain circumstances.
Virt Manager ★★★★
Virt-Manager (aka Virtual Machine Manager) offers significantly more features Qemu (but again, not all). It seems to have overdone it with its list of supported x86 operating systems, in particular from Linux families.
Virt Manager Leaving that aside, Virt-Manager makes it relatively easy to set up a machine of any complexity - you can add any equipment, including several network interfaces. In addition to KVM VMs, Virt-Manager can use Qemu/libvirt support for Xen guests and LXC containers. Optionally, it can also poll guest resources and thus provide very nice graphs (like those in the Performance section on page 25, which takes about 30 seconds after Windows startup 10). In addition, Virt-Manager uses Qemu's recently added USB 3.0 support.
Compatibility and snapshots
Is it possible to move virtual machines between real ones?
Sometimes it may be necessary to move a VM between hypervisors. All of our programs can import machines stored in the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) format, which is simply a tar archive with a VMDK (VMware) disk image, and virtual hardware data. VirtualBox allows export to this format, but also has its own - Virtual Disk Image (VDI), and also copes with all the others.
The qemu-img command can be used to convert formats. Of particular note is his favorite QCOW2 format, which allows multiple system snapshots to be stored internally using the excellent Copy On Write (COW) technique.
Boxes, Virt-Manager, VirtualBox, and VMware Workstation support system snapshots, saving different states of their VM. VMware Player allows you to have only one snapshot per machine in addition to its current state. So deep regression testing is excluded.
VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are also able to "clone" a VM, and this is an efficient method of creating system snapshots: data is written to the corresponding clone only if its state differs from the state of the parent. VMware allows you to mount a guest VMDK image on the host, which is also handy, although the same trick can be done by converting to a raw disk image and using standard Linux tools and arithmetic to calculate partition offset.
VirtualBox ★★★★
Originally a desktop virtualization client, VirtualBox is still probably the go-to tool for many. This program has a clear structure, which makes it easy to set up a virtual machine, and many useful options. In addition to limiting the number of CPU cores that a guest OS has access to, VirtualBox allows you to set a limit on guest CPU usage as a percentage. VirtualBox also supports video recording, so you can record a Windows manual for your computer in an evening. YouTube channel.
virtual box It can import any virtual disks, but only offers USB 2.0 host controller support, and even then only if you install Oracle's proprietary extension pack. The shared clipboard and drag-and-drop options (in one or both directions, as you wish) are quite handy. VirtualBox has handy indicators for network and disk I/O and for CPU usage.
By the way, in the article "" we talked in detail about how to install and properly configure the VirtualBox virtual machine.
VMware Player ★★★
The free offering from VMware has come a long way since its introduction in 2008. The most remarkable thing is that this is no longer a player: it is more than capable of creating a high-quality virtual machine for you.
VMware Player In addition to supporting a number of network configurations (NAT, bridged, host-only, etc.), it offers very nice network traffic shaping options, which is quite handy if you are testing the latest version of, say, a DDoS client or seeing how much malware can be hang on your Windows XP virtual machine until it bursts. VMware also supports USB 3.0 devices, and installing guest tools allows for brilliant graphics, shared clipboard, and shared directories. Player is somewhat inferior when we are talking about snapshots (it only allows you to take one), but we criticized it in the previous section.
VMware Workstation ★★★★★
There is a non-free version of VMware Player (VMware PlayerPro), but we decided that for this Comparison it would be more appropriate to take a higher-quality Workstation instead. This application has many additional features for developers, including the ability to group virtual machines into a kind of virtual phalanx so that you can make them all go into action at the same time with a single click.
VMware Workstation also offers support for new commands modern processors Intel, and also allows you to configure machines with virtual CPUs, up to 16 and 64 GB of RAM. but Workstation software is heavily aimed at integrating with the rest of the (rather hefty) VMware suite, and therefore will look more appropriate than others in an enterprise environment.
Desktop integration
Will they conflict with your color scheme?
Some users love the perfect harmony of virtual machine interfaces and their corresponding hypervisors with the host desktop, while others are confusing.
VirtualBox uses Qt4, which is especially annoying on the Qt-based Arch Linux desktop, which uses Qt5 everywhere, but it's just something of a niche flaw. Boxes fits perfectly with Gnome 3, which is to be expected; Virt-Manager and VMware use GTK3 and also pair perfectly with it.
All of our candidates allow us to switch the virtual machine to full screen mode, and fortunately they all allowed us to switch back using the appropriate keyboard shortcut.
The highlights are Unity in VMware (no, that's not the way to make everything ubuntu-like) and Seamless in Virtual-Box - both display application windows directly from the guest on the host's desktop. This is very good for a Linux VM (avoiding potential confusion between guest and host windows), but trying to run
the preview was not very successful; Windows 7 with Aero turned on wasn't the most pleasant experience either.
All of our candidates support running the guest in full screen mode and can be configured to change resolution when the window is resized. Appropriate hotkeys are provided to exit this scenario. The drag-and-drop capability on VMware machines is very handy, which is why VMware wins in this category.
Graphics Acceleration
Is it possible to avoid software rendering problems?
Any of our candidates would serve you well if you wanted to just set up a virtual machine with no intention of doing anything graphics intensive.
But if you need 3D acceleration, you need to take VMware or VirtualBox. Once you get past the installation of the Guest Additions (including VirtualBox's misleading double-negative question that tries to turn you away from its experimental WDDM support, needed for e.g. Windows interface 7 Aero), you will be able to enjoy 3D acceleration in VirtualBox and two VMware clients.
Boom boom, Maxwell's silver hammer landed on the, uh, beehive. He died shortly after this screenshot was taken in Don't Starve. VirtualBox allows you to allocate up to 256 MB of system RAM to a virtual graphics card, while VMware allows up to 2 GB. Note that these gigabytes are not taken from your actual graphics card, so you often won't see much improvement beyond 256MB. VirtualBox also provides 2D acceleration for guest windows, which should help speed up video rendering, screen enlargement and color correction, although this largely depends on the host configuration - this setting will not really affect a fast machine. A Windows VM probably won't run Battlefield 4 or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (so we're pretty lucky they're ported to Linux) when everything is up to 11 but over older or less demanding games will do just fine: we spent a good hour playing the popular indie game Don't Starve, completely forgetting about our Comparison.
Everything worked better on VMware than on VirtualBox, but perhaps it was a more advantageous configuration - on Arch Linux we used the latest proprietary nvidia driver, which could lead to a preponderance of one over the other.
Verdict
Virtualization is a topic for Comparisons that is old and complex. If you want to run 3D games, you won't even look at Gnome Boxes or Virt-Manager, and unless you get VirtualBox Best results than us, you choose your VMware hypervisor. But then again, this technology is by no means as mature as native DirectX 11. You might even have better luck playing games in Wine [Ed.: - Or not.] with some experimental performance patches. We don't really like VMware licenses, especially one that makes you pay after 30 days. trial period, however, for some, the enterprise-level features in Workstation will be a boon. In particular, if you use VMware's vCenter Converter to virtualize a machine with a single click - perfect if you want to test something new on your current system.
We haven't covered the masses of command line tools that come with all of our candidates, but they are, along with more than ample documentation. You can use them in your scripts when you go into all the heavy virtualization, pushing a whole host of virtual machines from safe environment command line. Perhaps hackers will prefer to work with Qemu directly, and those looking for a simple free solution from open source happiness will be Gnome Boxes.
Bubbles look good, if you don't see the effort that went into rendering them. But only one wins (a draw is a rare exception), and this time it's Virt-Manager - well, we couldn't let VMware win. Virt-Manager allows you to bridle most of Qemu's power without resorting to lengthy command-line spells. Virtual machines can be paused, reconfigured, moved, and cloned, all without much hassle. The only thing it lacks is graphics acceleration support, but who knows, maybe it will appear. VMware Player and Gnome Boxes are tied for second place as they both score high for their simplicity, and we love the Boxes icon that features a tesseract (or a hypercube or a cube within a cube, whichever you prefer).
Virt Manager ★★★★
All managers should do such a good job.
VirtualBox ★★
Once the only solution, now on the sidelines.
VMware Player ★★★
Fast and convenient, but the license failed.
VMware Workstation ★★
Fast and full featured, but not free.
Boxes ★★★
The simplest way install and configure VM.
