Overview of virtual machines. How to use virtual machines at home

Which one do you think is the best?

I will not invent a story and retell others. I’d rather suggest you read an article from Linux magazine Format. In which experts made a comparative review of five popular virtual machines in hopes of finding that very...best virtual machine. By the way, I highly recommend that those who renounced and were able to escape from the captivity of Windows subscribe to the magazine.

• What is a virtual machine
• Why do 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

If in simple language, without boring, then a virtual machine is an operating system within an operating system.

Why do I need a virtual machine

In our case, a virtual machine is primarily a platform for testing programs. Among which, as you understand, there may be . The virtual machine is also used by hackers to test their own and other people’s Trojans and other miracle files. No matter what group you belong to, you will still be interested in learning more about virtual machines and how they work.

How we tested virtual machines

First, we took a dual-core computer (due to budget restrictions) with fresh Arc Linux. In addition to proprietary VMware (version 7.1.0 of Layer and a 30-day trial of Workstation 11), we used the official Arch packages, which follow developer releases very closely. Each machine had 2 GB of system RAM and 128 MB of video memory (256 MB if required).

We tested each candidate on different guest OS: Mint 17.1 and Kubuntu 15.04 beta, as well as different versions non-Linux OS called Windows. To evaluate performance, we compiled the core Mint core, ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, and played various games from our Steam library. To test the real world, we ran it on an 8-core machine with 16GB of RAM and a 4GB Nvidia GTX, but then we were forced to return it.

Virtualization technology has fundamentally changed the computing landscape. We'd be embarrassed to say that this is a new invention (early mainframes used it as a means of provisioning), but decade-old CPU innovations mean that 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 case, and the work of data centers has become much more efficient. You can also imitate another architecture, say, ARM, which is convenient for embedded system developers.

This is also a benefit for ordinary users: getting to know a 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 in-kernel virtualization (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, VirtualBox from Sun (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 stuff. You will then receive an init script to load the specified modules, although this will be of no use to Systemd users. If this is your case, you might want to create own file init, instead of running this script as root all the time (or seeing the same error messages). At the time of writing, the 3.19 series kernels required patching up the VMware source code, but hopefully 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 can be launched, which a helpful message will notify you of, and if you're using a full-featured desktop environment, it will do this for you; All you have to do is enter the root password.

Both VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are quite simple, as long as you don't get distracted by each option. But in VMware Player there are not so many options, and you will get your machine up and running very quickly. But if you're determined to make the most of all these options, you'll have to install the Guest Additions.

The Linux Guest Additions for VirtualBox are much easier to install (the CD will run automatically) than the VMware add-ons, which require you to copy programs from an imaginary CD, change the permissions, and then run the script. Is it really 1999? But, having done all this, you will be rewarded with improved graphics and a number of additional functions, which we will discuss further.

The easiest to use of our selection is Boxes, even if this is due to providing only the bare minimum of Qemu / libvirt functions. VMware Player and VirtualBox come in second, followed by their paid rival (nominally more difficult, due to more options). Virt-Manager isn't particularly difficult to use, but it has just enough of Qemu's maze of settings to overwhelm a newbie. In addition, its mechanism for managing storage is quite 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 the necessary exotic modules will be provided by your own distribution, and in this case, why not take a risk.

Performance

Will they create a slow or agile VM for you?

Thanks to hardware enhancements and paravirtualization technologies, it is now possible to perform some tasks at speeds close to those of real hardware.

However, as it is, there is usually some performance hit. Almost every configuration on which we tested the guest desktop exhibited some kind of slowdown. But you get used to it, and you can turn off all the beauties or turn on the appropriate troubleshooting mode 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're unlikely to notice much difference between our candidates. Experiments with kernel compilation have shown that VirtualBox is significantly behind the competition. Comparison test JavaScript SunSpider confirmed this finding: both tasks completed 20% slower than the others. Disk input/output (I/O) (especially if you have an SSD) and network traffic were fast for all of our candidates. Ultimately, VMware gained the upper hand by supporting newer Intel processors.

Functionality

What does each candidate have to offer?

All of our candidates target different use cases and therefore each have their own, individual benefits. Of course, the presence of some standard features is certainly implied: these, for example, include 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, but some applications are capable of more heroic feats.

A disclaimer here is that Gnome Boxes and Virt-Manager are just interfaces to Qemu (via the libvirt abstraction layer). And Qemu is essentially a processor emulator that is capable of virtualization via KVM, but is still a world of its own.

So, let's look at our candidates individually.

Gnome Boxes ★★

When invoked from the command line, Qemu supports a ton of options, most of which are missing from 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 literally three clicks - just point it to the appropriate ISO. Boxes abstracts 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 virtual machine over the network, but it at least provides all the NAT wizardry you need to get your virtual machine talking to the world. The remaining candidates successfully configure 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 Qemu features (but again, not all). He seems to have gone overboard with his supported list operating systems x86, in particular from the Linux family.

Virt-Manager

Leaving this aside, Virt-Manager makes it relatively easy to configure a machine of any complexity - you can add any equipment, including several network interfaces. In addition to KVM VMs, Virt-Man-ager can enable Qemu/libvirt support for Xen guests and LXC containers. Optionally, it can also poll guest resources and thus provide very nice graphs (like the ones in the Performance section on page 25, which takes about 30 seconds after Windows startup 10). Additionally, Virt-Manager uses the recently added Qemu USB support 3.0.

Compatibility and snapshots

Is it possible to move virtual machines between real ones?

Sometimes you need 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 tarball of 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 you to store multiple snapshots of the system 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 only allows you to have one snapshot per machine in addition to its current state. So deep regression testing is excluded.

VirtualBox and VMware Workstation can also "clone" a VM, and this is an effective method of creating system snapshots: data is written to the corresponding clone only if its state is different from the state of the parent. VMware allows you to mount a VMDK guest image on the host, which can also be convenient, although the same trick can be done by converting to an image raw disk and using standard Linux tools and arithmetic to calculate the partition offset.

VirtualBox ★★★★

Originally a desktop virtualization client, VirtualBox is still probably the go-to tool for many. This program has a clear structure that simplifies setting up a virtual machine, and many useful options. In addition to limiting the number of CPU cores that the guest OS has access to, VirtualBox allows you to specify a limit on the guest's CPU usage as a percentage. VirtualBox also supports video recording, so you can record a Windows tutorial for your YouTube channel in an evening.

VirtualBox

It can import any virtual disks, but only offers USB 2.0 host controller support, and then only if you install Oracle's proprietary extension pack. Options for distributed clipboard access and drag-and-drop (in one or both directions, as you wish) are quite convenient. VirtualBox has convenient indicators for network and disk I/O and 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 ★★★

VMware's free offering 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 very convenient if you are testing the latest version of, say, a DDoS client or seeing how many malware you can hang Windows XP on your virtual machine until it bursts. VMware also supports USB devices 3.0, and installing guest tools will allow you to use brilliant graphics, a shared clipboard, and shared directories. Player is somewhat inferior when it comes to 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 Player Pro), but we decided that for of this Comparison It would be more appropriate to take a higher quality Workstation instead. The app has a lot of extra features for developers, including the ability to group virtual machines into a sort of virtual phalanx so you can have them all come online 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. However, Workstation is very much aimed at integrating with the rest of the (rather heavy) VMware suite, and therefore will look more at home in an enterprise environment.

Desktop integration

Will they clash with your color scheme?

Some users love the perfect harmony of the interfaces of virtual machines and their corresponding hypervisors with the host desktop, while others are just confused.

VirtualBox uses Qt4, which is especially infuriating 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, as you'd expect; Virt-Manager and VMware use GTK3 and also work 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 key combination.

Standout modes include Unity in VMware (no, this is not a way to make everything Ubuntu-like) and Seamless in Virtual-Box - both display application windows directly from the guest on the host desktop. This is very good for a Linux VM (eliminating the potential confusion between guest and host windows), however trying to run
the preview didn't go well; Windows 7 with Aero enabled was also not the most pleasant experience.

All our candidates support guest launch in full screen mode, and they can be configured to change resolution when the window size is changed. To exit of this scenario Suitable hotkeys are provided. The drag-and-drop feature on VMware machines is very convenient, 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 just wanted to install a virtual machine with no intention of doing anything graphics-intensive.

But if you need 3D acceleration, you need to use VMware or VirtualBox. Once you get past installing the Guest Additions (including the double-negative VirtualBox question that tries to steer you away from its experimental WDDM support needed for, say, the Windows 7 Aero interface), you'll be able to enjoy 3D acceleration in VirtualBox and in 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 the virtual video card, and VMware - up to 2 GB. Note that these gigabytes are not taken from your actual graphics card, so you often won't see much improvement above 256 MB. VirtualBox also provides 2D acceleration for Windows guests, which should help speed up video rendering, screen enlargement, and color correction, although a lot of this depends on the host configuration—on a fast machine this setting won't have much of an impact. A Windows VM probably won't run Battlefield 4 or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (we're lucky they're ported to Linux) when everything is cranked up to 11, but more older or less demanding games will work 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 this was due to a more advantageous configuration - on Arch Linux we used the latest proprietary Nvidia driver, which could lead to the superiority of one over the other.

Verdict

Virtualization is a long-standing and complex topic for comparisons. If you want to run 3D games, you won't even look at Gnome Boxes or Virt-Manager, and unless you get better results with VirtualBox than we do, you'll choose VMware as your hypervisor. But again, this technology is by no means as mature as DirectX 11 running in the native format. You may have even better luck with games in Wine [Ed.: - Or not.] with some experimental performance patches. We're generally not crazy about VMware licenses, especially ones that force you to pay after a 30-day trial, but for some, Workstation's enterprise-grade features will be a boon. Particularly if you use vCenter Converter from VMware, you virtualize a machine with one click - ideal if you want to test something new on your current system.

We haven't covered the ton of command line tools that come with all of our candidates, but they are there, along with more than copious documentation. You can use them in your scripts when you go all out on virtualization, pushing out a whole host of virtual machines from the safety of the command line environment. Perhaps hackers will prefer to work with Qemu directly, while those looking for a simple free solution with open source happiness will be Gnome Boxes.

The bubbles look good if you don't see the effort that went into rendering them.

But there is only one winner (a tie is a rare exception), and this time it is Virt-Manager - well, we couldn’t let VMware win. Virt-Manager allows you to harness most of the power of Qemu 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 support for graphics acceleration, but who knows, maybe it will appear. VMware Player and Gnome Boxes are tied for second place as they both score highly for their simplicity, and we love the Boxes icon, which features a tesseract (or a hypercube, or a cube within a cube - whatever 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 let me down.

VMware Workstation ★★
Fast and full-featured, but not free.

Boxes ★★★
The simplest way to install and configure a VM.

Do you need to run applications developed for Mac on Windows? I really want to be one of the first to try Windows work 10 TP, but it’s no longer possible to allocate a separate partition on your hard drive for it? Nothing is impossible; virtualization, the most complex and useful technology, will help you with all this.

There is no perfect operating system. No matter what operating system we install on our PC, be it Windows, Linux or Mac, we will all find something in it that 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 at the stage of mastering computer literacy, are intimidated by the task of installing several operating systems on one computer at once. Almost everything begins to confuse them: breakdown hard drive, solving boot problems, and what is also important, they know that to enter the second or 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 goal of virtualization is to ensure the existence and simultaneous operation of several operating systems on one computer.

Most often, virtualization is used to solve problems of the following type:

• Specialists of large companies use virtualization for the best and efficient distribution of large computing power servers;
• Home users use virtualization (virtual machines) to simultaneously run several applications from different operating systems. With the help of virtual machines, the user can run Windows XP and programs written for it in another operating system, say, running on the Linux kernel. Or create a virtual Windows 8 OS on an Apple Macintosh computer.

Virtual PC – virtual machine from Microsoft

Microsoft, the developer of the most popular operating system, has developed its own virtualization system, which is designed to work exclusively in the Windows environment - this 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 latest version the developers created virtualization programs Windows tool XP Mode, which is a virtual version of XP Professional. This tool allows you to run legacy applications and programs in the newer Windows 7 OS.

In Windows 8 and test Windows 10, Virtual PC was replaced by more new technology Hyper-V, borrowed from Windows Server. This technology has a lot of differences from conventional virtual machines, so we will devote a separate review to it.

Microsoft is not actually 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 based on the Linux kernel were used as guest operating systems. When Microsoft became the sole owner of this product, it was decided to refuse support Mac program OS. Thus, all the developers' efforts were focused on the further development of Virtual PC exclusively for Windows OS. As a result, today we have a free tool for creating virtual environment, which works fine on Windows as a host and guest OS. However, with all this, this tool is quite mediocre, due to the fact that it lacks various kinds of add-ons designed to interact with all other systems.

You can download it here: www. microsoft. com

VmWare virtual machine

VmWare is a leader recognized by the entire global IT community in the field of creating virtual solutions for specialists. However, the developer company has tools not only for specialists from large organizations, but also for home users - this is a free VMware Player application. Earlier, free program virtualization VMware Player could only launch previously created virtual machines (their images), but now it has also learned to create them. That is, the application has become a full-fledged virtualization tool. True, unlike its paid counterpart, called VMware Workstation, the functionality of the free application is somewhat limited, but we can safely say that the advanced functions paid version are not always needed by the 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 operating systems. For those who are the lucky owner Macintosh computer, the developer releases the VMware Fusion application, which in its capabilities is completely reminiscent of VMware Workstation.

One of the distinctive features this application is the Unity mode (by the way, the Parallels product also has it, which we will talk about below), which is designed to hide the virtual machine window from the user’s eyes. That is, the user sees, as it were, an OS within an OS. In this case, windows opened in the guest OS of applications are displayed on the main desktop.

You can download it here: www. vmware. com

Parallels Workstation – virtualization for the home user

One of the largest 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, so for machines with Windows and Linux the company has a virtualization program Parallels Workstation, and for Apple cars There is a similar solution in Parallels Desktop. Unlike other developers, this company does not offer free solutions, the user will have to pay to create and run 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 applications 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 mobile version Parallels Mobile applications for iOS. By using this version can be easily configured remote control running Parallels Desktop virtual machine on Mac OS.

You can buy it here: www. parallels.com.ru

VirtualBox – virtual machine from Oracle

One of the most common virtualization programs is VirtualBox. More than one group of developers, and not one well-known company in the IT environment, worked on the creation of this application. Currently, the product is fully owned by Oracle, which acquired it during the acquisition of 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 for installation on your computer assemblies for Windows platforms, Mac OS, Linux and Solaris. By the way, these same OS can be used in VirtualBox as guests.

Overall, VirtualBox is open source, making it completely free to use. However, to obtain more advanced functionality and capabilities, let's say to support 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 distributed free of charge, but are closed source.

You can download it here: www. virtualbox. org

From everything described above, we can draw a conclusion and focus, as it seems to us, on two virtualization programs - VirtualBox and VMware Player. These applications are enough to install additional operating systems.

Hello, dear readers of the site “Computer with Mind!”

Today I will tell you what a virtual machine is, what they are, what they are for, and what they are. Essentially, a virtual machine is a program that emulates another computer on your computer, with the parameters that you set for it. That is, it is a computer within a computer. What is this for? There may be several reasons for using a virtual machine on your computer:

1. Testing an additional operating system to see how it works, how convenient it is and what its features and capabilities are. But at the same time, you do not want to remove the operating system that is already on your computer. I faced such a task when I was deciding for myself several years ago whether it was worth switching from Windows XP to Window I installed it on a virtual Windows machine 7, looked at the then still crude version of this operating system, and at that time decided to leave it on my own Windows computer XP. I switched to Windows 7 only after significant improvements were made to it, vulnerabilities were tested and some errors were fixed. The same thing is now happening with Windows 8 - I have not yet completely switched to this system and use Windows 7, and Windows 8 lives in my virtual machine. Basically, thanks to a virtual machine, my computer can run multiple operating systems at the same time, and in my opinion, this is the most basic purpose of using different virtual machines.
2. Testing various programs that, for one reason or another, you do not want to immediately install on your computer. Or you want to choose from several programs that have the same functionality (for example, audio or video players), the one that you like best, but at the same time you will not clutter your computer with unnecessary programs, but will just test them on a virtual machine.
3. Launching potentially dangerous programs. For example, when downloading a program, your antivirus suggested that it could be potentially malicious. You can run it first on a virtual machine to see how it works, and then, if it doesn’t raise any suspicions, you can install it directly on your computer.
4. Running programs that are incompatible with the operating system installed on your computer. For example, some program may not be supported by new versions of Windows, but you are already used to working in it and you really need it. Let's assume that the program is not supported by versions of Windows 7 and higher, but only works on Windows XP. You can, of course, in this case try to use the emulation mode of previous Windows versions, but this doesn't always work. Therefore, it is easier to install Windows XP on a virtual machine and use your program in it. Things are even more complicated if your program was created for Linux. In this case, having a virtual machine with the Linux operating system installed also helps.

In fact, virtual machines have many more useful functions than I described above, since I only mentioned the main ones.

In this article we will discuss three programs - virtual machines: VMware, VirtualBox And Microsoft Virtual PC. Let's look at them in order.

1. VMware- the most powerful and best virtual machine on this moment. And, unfortunately, the main full-featured version of this VMware Workstation program is paid. This program has a lot of settings that make the work of serious computer servers easier. This virtual machine works primarily with Windows and Linux operating systems, but does not support MacOs as the main operating system. VMware also has free app- VMware Player, which at the moment can also create virtual machines, but with very limited functionality, in contrast to the full version. Previously, VMware Player could only open previously created virtual machines.
2. VirtualBox– in my opinion, the best free virtual machine at the moment. It is inferior in functionality to the previous VMware, but the undoubted advantage of VirtualBox is that it is free. The undoubted advantage of this machine for Russian-speaking users is the presence of a version of this program in Russian. VirtualBox is very easy to configure and has an intuitive interface, so at the moment I use this particular virtual machine.
3. Microsoft Virtual PC- also a free virtual machine from the famous Microsoft company (although in fact the first versions of the Virtual PC program were created by another company, and only then Microsoft acquired all rights to this program and continued its development). Since Microsoft is currently the developer of this program, this virtual machine only supports operating systems Windows systems(previously there was support for MacOS). Overall, I liked this virtual machine, but due to the fact that it only supports different versions Windows, and also, in my subjective opinion, has a slightly less convenient interface than VirtualBox, I rarely use it.

To summarize this review, I would like to note that among the virtual machines described above, I gave my preference to VirtualBox, since in terms of price/quality ratio it seemed to me the most profitable, given that it is free. I plan to tell you where you can download it and how to install it, and also discuss its basic settings.

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Every PC user sometimes wants to try some other operating system, but does not dare install it on his work computer. Indeed, installing an unfamiliar OS is a very risky action. With one wrong command you can lose all the data on the disk. But today there is a way to try several operating systems on one computer at once, and, if desired, even simultaneously! This method is called a virtual machine or virtual computer. Let's consider three best programs, which allow you to use virtualization technology at home.

General information about virtual machines

Virtualization systems existing today have much in common. In particular, each virtual machine recognizes a CD drive as well as a floppy drive. In addition, it is possible to work with virtual drives and disk images. Very useful is the ability to manually set the quantity random access memory for each of the virtual machines, a list of connected devices, etc. Such flexible settings allow you to comfortably use the guest system. A very convenient feature is the ability to pause the virtual machine at any time. This frees up necessary hardware resources for the host system.

All the differences between existing virtual machines, in fact, come down only to the list of operating systems they support, as well as cost. Most common today VirtualBox systems, Windows Virtual PC and VMWare. How are they different?

ORACLE VirtualBox - a universal, free virtual machine

VirtualBox- a very simple, powerful and free virtualization tool, developed thanks to the support of the famous ORACLE corporation. Allows you to install almost any modern operating system as a “guest”, be it Windows, MacOS or any of the many representatives of the Linux family.

Creating virtual machines in VirtualBox is done using step-by-step wizard. Any more or less experienced PC user can understand how it works. The system supports working with networks, therefore, if desired, you can give the virtual machine access to the Internet.

VirtualBox allows you to create "snapshots" of the operating system. With their help, you can create “restore points” to which you can “roll back” the guest system at any time in case of errors or failures.

Windows Virtual PC - virtual machine from Microsoft

Screen Windows Virtual PCWindows Virtual PC is a virtual machine for working only and exclusively with Windows. Installing Linux, MacOS and other operating systems are not supported.

Virtual PC allows you to run several different copies of Windows on one computer. In this case, you can set their priority so that automatic mode allocate to the needs of a particular virtual machine large quantity resources, slowing down the work of others.

The monoplatform nature of the Virtual PC virtual machine is its main disadvantage. However, if you only need to test programs running on Windows, this is not relevant. Some disadvantages can be considered less functional and less convenient than in VirtualBox interface. Otherwise Virtual PC is quite reliable tool, which allows you to create virtual machines with operating systems Microsoft systems Windows.

VMware Workstation - for serious tasks

VMWare virtualization system screenVMware Workstation is a powerful, paid, highly reliable virtualization program that supports Windows and Linux. This machine is not intended for virtualization of MacOS.

Due to its high reliability and wide functionality, VMware Workstation is often used not only for testing, but also for permanent job virtual machines as servers, be it a firewall separating an organization’s network from the Internet or even a database server.

VMware Workstation is highly customizable, including many hardware options and options network connections for working with the Internet. We can reproduce this system better than others on virtual machines graphic applications, since it has a special virtual 3D accelerator for obtaining High Quality graphics.

The VMware Workstation interface is quite well organized, so getting used to all its rich functionality is quite easy. The program fully supports the Russian language.

It should be noted that VMware Workstation has a free “little brother” - VMWare Player. The player cannot create virtual machines, but allows you to run those previously created in VMware Workstation. This program will be useful in testing cases when, for example, a developer automated system They will submit it for review in the form of a virtual machine image. This practice is becoming increasingly widespread because it saves the user from having to deploy an unfamiliar program themselves.

Summary

If you want to just test it any program or new operating system, best choice there will be a free virtual machine - ORACLE Virtual Box. It supports any modern OS and is highly customizable.

VirtualBox is aimed at current versions operating systems, therefore, if you need to ensure the operation of any program written for one of old versions of Windows, perfect choice there will be Windows Virtual PC - it most reliably implements the intricacies of any version of Windows on the most modern hardware.

If you want to expand serious virtual solution , requiring stable, long-term operation, you should choose VMWare Workstation. Although this is a paid system, it guarantees reliable operation for critical tasks.

Virtual machine is a program that allows you to get a computer within a computer. That is, your real computer is capable of emulating another computer (with different hardware, operating system, BIOS and others).

The main purposeserver virtualization (invirtual machines) is the installation and testing of programs on different operating systems, which helps determine where the program runs faster, where the interface is more convenient, etc.

Advantages of modern virtual machines:

• You can install any OS without damaging or cluttering your own hard drive;
• You can test various applications, comparing their performance in different operating systems;
• You can check files for infection by running them in an artificial shell that you create in a virtual machine;
• You can create and administer networks in different operating systems, which will help you learn the architecture corporate networks more in depth;
• You may run programs that are not available on your operating system.

Today there are many options for emulators that can reproduce different operating systems: from popular ( Windows ) to little-known ( Calibri ), from the oldest versions to the newest. And now we will take a short excursion through the most famous virtual machines, having done detailed review on them.

Virtual Machines Overview

1 - VirtualBox . Perhaps the most famous emulator program among users, provided by the company Oracle . The program has a simple user interface and built-in Russification, which is already suitable for novice users.

Installation is also not difficult, because there is an installation wizard. You will immediately be prompted to create a virtual machine, select an OS, and give it a name. Then you must give the “new” computer a certain amount of RAM and internal memory(no more than half of real hardware). Then comes the selection of the disk type and further system configuration. By following the recommendations, you can keep two operating systems on your computer without causing damage to the main system.

VirtualBox program It has a simple and precise structure, as well as a number of interesting options. For example, you can record screen video to demonstrate software on another OS. Possible in this program you can import any virtual disks, you can monitor the indicators of I/O controllers, and there is also shared access to the clipboard, which is also very convenient.

2 - VirtManager . A program that is also easy to use, but still somewhat more complicated than the previous version. A newbie can easily get confused here, and just the list of all 86-bit operating systems can be overwhelming.

Here the installation is somewhat more complicated, because to create a virtual machine you need to create a storage pool, and for this you need to assign a specific directory. However, the complex installation is due to good opportunities of this virtual machine.

For example, you can add equipment and constantly monitor them, detailed statistics are displayed, the performance of the entire system, you can control the machine through command line and many more useful properties.

You just need to understand it a little, and then you can get a convenient tool for emulating the new OS.

3 - GnomeBoxes . If the previous program required users to have certain knowledge and time to study, and it was more suitable for system administrators, then the utility Gnome Boxes much simpler and more suitable to the average user for reference.

In a couple of clicks you can set up a full-fledged virtual machine, and the program has a simple, colorful interface. Yes, the program's capabilities are greatly reduced compared to the previous alternative, but it provides the main base of capabilities.

An excellent option for a novice user, which will show what virtual machines are capable of.

4 - VMware Player. Don’t be confused by the word “Player”, because today it is no longer a player, but a program for creating a full-fledged virtual machine, and of fairly high quality.

If you are not developing your own software, then VMware Player perfect for you, otherwise It’s better to choose another emulator, because it doesn’t even have a complete setup of network adapters.

For most users, this is an excellent program in which you can configure and network configurations, and monitor the number of malware, and install Windows XP , which will literally be “rubber”, i.e. quite powerful.

5 - WMwareWorkstation . But here the emulator, on the contrary, is perfect for developers software products. What is the cost of one possibility of grouping virtual machines? Those. you can simultaneously run the program on all operating systems and conduct thorough analytics.

It has become possible to create machines with a central processor and a memory size of up to 16 GB, which allows you to test quite powerful software tools on other operating systems. However, it is much more convenient to purchase the entire package W Mware and use this package to its full potential.