Let's take a closer look at what virtual machines for Windows are and what they are for. Learn all about the best OS simulators and how to get started using them.

A virtual machine (VM) is a computer application that allows a user to create an imitation of an operating system. An OS image is installed in the machine for use internally the existing system... Very convenient, isn't it? But there are also pitfalls. Read what you will encounter during installation and which virtual machine to use. Windows versions 7,8 and 10 are better to choose.

Why do we need PC virtual machines?

In most cases, VMs are used for testing software in . To work with several operating systems, you need only one computer, which significantly speeds up the work.

Several virtual machines can run simultaneously on one computer. Their number depends on the available random access memory and space on the children's disk, since the virtual OS consumes exactly the same memory resource as a regular copy installed on the computer.

With the help of virtual machines, you can work with programs, functions that are not available in the main OS. Also, it is possible to create backup copies of VMs, with their subsequent movement and use on other computers.

Viruses, errors and other failures of the virtual OS do not affect the operation of the main system. After the machine is closed, the additional OS stops working and the RAM is freed.

During the operation of the VM, the device may slow down, because the increased consumption of storage resources leads to an increase in the processing time of requests.

Reasons for installing VM:

• You want to familiarize yourself with the work of other operating systems without fully installing them. If there is a need to replace an existing OS, first use the virtual simulator to test other software options. This will save you from possible bugs and incompatibility with the hardware;
• You are a developer and want to create a comprehensive testing system for your applications.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a virtual machine for Windows 7,8,10. The virtualization environment is distributed free of charge and can be installed both for working with operating systems and for deploying network infrastructure and hosting sites.

VirtualBox main window:

The main feature of this virtual machine is cross-platform. It works fine on all versions of Windows. Also, from the developer's site you can download installers for Mac OS, Debian. In the virtualization environment itself, you can install any desktop OS.

With the help of VirtualBox you can familiarize yourself with the functionality of the OS or in safe mode test the program without harming the main system. Users often prefer to install old games on virtual machines that are incompatible with modern operating systems.

After the simulator is finished, all data and changes will be saved. The next time you turn it on, you will be returned to your desktop and can continue to perform tasks.

Advantages and disadvantages

VirtualBox advantages:

• Free distribution. 90% of similar software is paid, while VirtualBox is completely free. The functions and capabilities of the program are not limited to the developer;
• The ability to create screenshots - screenshots of the virtual system. The resulting image will only display the secondary OS window. Taking screenshots with the main OS degrades the resolution and also hijacks your regular desktop;
• Creation of an exact copy of an existing virtual machine;
• Ability to drag folders, shortcuts and other objects inside the simulator;
• Unified file system - from a virtual machine, you can access directories that are stored on a PC, and vice versa;
• Simultaneous work with several machines.

Same, distinctive feature The new VirtualBox 4 is a user-friendly virtualization management system and an intuitive program workspace. Also, in the new assembly, the ability to capture video from the screen of an additional OS is available.

VirtualBox supports working with USB drives connected to the computer.

Disadvantages of the program:

• Slow down your computer. Even if your PC has good technical specifications, sufficient RAM and storage space, when using a virtual machine, you will experience slower performance of all functions. If in the process of creating a VM you have allocated too much memory, the computer will freeze or shut down;
• Insufficient video memory. If you need to achieve the best possible image quality, this will be difficult with VirtualBox. The program allows you to configure the settings for using the video card only at a basic level.

How to install

To install the VirtualBox program, download the installer from the official developer site - the Oracle company. The installation process is standard and does not require additional settings:

• Run the EXE file;
• Please select HDD, which will contain the root folder with the program;
• Wait for the installation to complete. If necessary, the user can view the statistics of hard disk usage during the installation process.

In the field "Custom Setup" there is an option to disable support for USB, network services. This helps to reduce the total size of the application.

Video tutorial on how to install two OSes using VirtualBox

After installing the program, you can start creating your first virtual machine. Click on the "Create" button in the upper left corner of the window. The VM settings tab will open:

In the setup wizard window, select the type of virtual OS (Windows, Linux, Debian, MacOS) and its version. Specify a name for the simulator to be created and click on the "Next" button.

Then, the program will provide you with the opportunity to independently specify the size of the RAM that will be allocated for the additional OS. For newbie users, we advise you to set the value that is indicated in the "Recommended size of main memory" field.

The size of the RAM for the VM should be determined depending on the specifications of your PC. If you have 4 GB of RAM available on your computer, 512 MB-1 GB will be enough for the simulator to work properly.

Next, the program will ask you to select an OS image in the file system (which corresponds to the previously specified family and version). After completing the configuration, a window will appear with a brief listing of all parameters. Click on Finish.

After the installation of virtual Windows is complete, an icon for starting the OS will appear in the main window of VirtualBox. Click on it and wait for the desktop to load. Install the drivers if necessary.

For automatic update drivers, click the Devices tab in the virtual machine toolbar. Then click on the desired media type and in the new window follow the instructions to get the new software.

Ready. You can now start working with the virtual operating system. To exit the program, first shut down the OS and then close VirtualBox.

VMware

VMWare Workstation is the best virtual machine for Windows 10. The developer positions the program as a convenient platform for creating. Compared to other popular counterparts, VMWare supports more functions for customizing the virtual machine and allows you to synchronize the simulator with software development tools.

This virtualization environment is popular among programmers, web designers and other professionals who often have to test the work of their projects for cross-platform.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the advantages of VMWare are:

• Convenient toolbar;
• Synchronization with development tools from Microsoft, in particular the .NET platform and the Visual Studio software environment;
• Safety system. Built-in VMWare tools provide high level protect your files in an additional OS. The simulator can detect attempts malicious activity eliminate them;
• Operation of encryption services for the created virtual machines.

Disadvantages of the application:

• Paid distribution. The user can download a free trial version of the utility, but to get full version applications with all available functions will need to pay for an annual or monthly subscription;
• Not suitable for beginners. If you have not used operating system simulators before, we recommend starting with more simple options... For example, VirtualBox and the standard Windows Hyper V. VMWare is suitable for advanced users who prefer to manually configure the system.

How to install

You can download a virtual machine for Windows from the official developer site VMWare.com.

During the installation process, it is recommended to disable Windows Defender or another working antivirus. This is only necessary for the correct installation of all files and encryption algorithms used by the program for virtual machines. No harm will be done to your main OS as the product is downloaded from an official source.

Functionality overview and first program setup

To create the first virtual machine in VMWare, you need to download the OS distribution kit that you want to use in the emulator on your computer. Then open the window of the installed application and click on the field "Create a new virtual machine"

Note! The user can create a group of virtual machines instead of several simulators. This allows you to reduce the resource of the consumed RAM and speed up the operation of the computer and the OS simulator.

In the VM Setup Wizard window, specify the path to the operating system image (this can be a file in the computer's memory or boot disk). Also, it is possible to configure a virtual machine without installing an OS (it can be installed later).

• In the window that appears, specify the OS name, username and password for accessing the account;
• Specify on which disk of your computer the virtual machine will be stored;
• Allocate the amount of RAM you need for the VM to work;
• Configure the hardware (automatically or manually).

After completing the configuration of the virtual machine, wait for the OS image to install and start working:

Microsoft Virtual PC

Microsoft Virtual PC is another popular virtual machine emulator. The program is well compatible with all versions of Windows OS. If you use a Microsoft product as your main OS, we recommend choosing Microsoft Virtual PC for emulation.

Advantages and disadvantages

Benefits of the emulator:

• Excellent compatibility with all versions of Windows OS. In most cases, the user does not need to install any additional drivers for the virtual OS. All of them are synchronized with the main system;
• File system sharing. Access files stored on your PC's hard drive through the VM window;
• Support for 64-bit Windows OS in the "Guest Host" and "Guest Environment" operating modes;
• Support for hardware virtualization.

Flaws:

• There are paid features. The program is distributed free of charge, but you will have to buy a subscription to support setting up a group of virtual operating systems;
• There is no support for Linux-like systems.

Functionality overview and first program setup

To install a virtual OS, first load its image into the computer memory, and then open the Microsoft Virtual PC application. Click on the "Create a virtual machine" button and configure the following parameters in a new window:

• Set the name of the new OS;
• Allocate space for her hard drive and the size of her RAM;
• Select which devices the VM will support (network environment, flash drives, etc.).

Outcome

We told you about the best virtual machines for Windows, but not all. If you think that these are not the best ones - write in the comments! Help novice readers decide which emulator to start with.

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. In fact, a virtual machine is a program that emulates another computer on your computer, with the parameters that you specify for it. That is, it is a computer in a computer What is it for? There may be several reasons for using a virtual machine on your computer:

1. Testing an additional operating system in order 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 delete the operating system that is already on your computer. I faced such a task when I was deciding for myself a few years ago whether to switch from Windows XP to Window. I installed Windows 7 on a virtual machine, looked at the then raw version of this operating system, and at that time decided to leave it Windows computer XP. I switched to Windows 7 only after significant improvements were made in it, vulnerabilities were tested and some bugs were fixed. The same thing is happening now with Windows 8 - I have not yet finally switched to this system and use Windows 7, and Windows 8 lives in my virtual machine. In fact, thanks to a virtual machine, several operating systems can be running on my computer 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 up your computer redundant programs, but just try them out in a virtual machine.
3. Launch of potentially dangerous programs. For example, while downloading a program, your antivirus suggested that it might be potentially malicious. You can run it first in a virtual machine to see how it works, and only then, if you don’t have any suspicions about it, you can install it directly on your computer.
4. Run programs 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. Suppose the program is not supported by versions of Windows 7 and higher, but only works in Windows XP. You can, of course, in this case try to use the emulation mode previous versions Windows, but it doesn't always work. Therefore, it is easier to install Windows XP in a virtual machine and use your program in it. The situation is even more complicated if your program is designed for Linux. In this case, the presence of a virtual machine with the installed Linux operating system also saves.

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

In this article, we will discuss three programs - virtual machines: VMware, VirtualBox and Microsoft Virtual PC. Let's sort them out 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 facilitate the work of serious computer servers. This virtual machine works mainly 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 is also able to create virtual machines, but with very limited functionality, in contrast to the full-fledged version. Previously, VMware Player was only able to 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 availability of a version of this program in Russian. VirtualBox is very easy to configure and has an intuitive interface, so at the moment I am using 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 the rights to this program and continued its development). Since it is Microsoft who is currently the developer of this program, this virtual machine only supports operating Windows systems(previously there was support for MacOS). In general, I liked this virtual machine, but due to the fact that it only supports various Windows versions, and also, in my subjective opinion, has a little less user-friendly interface than VirtualBox, I rarely use it.

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

Record navigation

Every PC user sometimes wants to try some other operating system, but hesitates to install it on his work computer. Indeed, installing an unfamiliar OS is a very risky act. One wrong command can lose all data on the disk. But today there is a way to test several operating systems on one computer at once, and, if desired, even simultaneously! This method is called a virtual machine or virtual computer. Consider three best programs that allow you to use virtualization technology at home.

Understanding virtual machines

Virtualization systems that exist today have a lot 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 amount of RAM for each of the virtual machines, the list of connected devices, etc. Such flexible settings allow you to comfortably use the guest system. Very convenient function is the ability to suspend a virtual machine at any time. This frees up the necessary hardware resources for the host system.

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

ORACLE VirtualBox - versatile, free virtual machine

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

Creating virtual machines in VirtualBox is done with a step-by-step wizard. Any more or less experienced PC user can understand its work. The system supports networking, therefore, if desired, you can give the virtual machine access to the Internet.

VirtualBox allows you to take "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 - a virtual machine from Microsoft

Windows Virtual PC Screen Windows 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. At the same time, you can set them a priority in order to automatically allocate more resources for the needs of a particular virtual machine, slowing down the work of the rest.

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

VMware Workstation - for serious tasks

VMWare virtualization screen VMware Workstation is a powerful, paid, highly reliable virtualization program that supports work with Windows and Linux. For virtualization MacOS, this machine is not intended.

Due to its high reliability and the broadest functionality, VMware Workstation is often used not only for testing, but also for the permanent operation of virtual machines as servers, whether it be a firewall that separates an organization's network from the Internet or even a server of a database.

VMware Workstation is highly configurable, including many hardware options and options network connections to work with the Internet. This system is better than others we can reproduce on virtual machines. graphics applications, since it has a special virtual 3D accelerator for obtaining High Quality graphics.

The interface of VMware Workstation is well organized, so it's pretty easy to get comfortable with all its rich functionality. The program fully supports the Russian language.

It should be noted that VMware Workstation has a free "little brother" - VMWare Player. The player does not know how to create virtual machines, but it allows you to run previously created in VMware Workstation. This program will be useful in cases of testing, when, for example, the developer of an automated system will send it for review in the form of a virtual machine image. This practice is becoming more widespread, since it relieves the user of the need to deploy an unfamiliar program on his own.

Summary

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

VirtualBox is focused on the current versions of operating systems, therefore, if you need to ensure the operation of any program written for one of older Windows versions, the ideal choice would be Windows Virtual PC - it most reliably implements the subtleties of the work of any version of Windows on the most modern hardware.

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

A huge number of programs that appear 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 functions necessary for the work of programmers, artists and other PC users are available only for a small number of operating systems. If earlier you had to take great risks downloading a suspicious file from the Internet, or reinstall the system just for the sake of one the desired program, now for this there is such an OS as a virtual machine.

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 that there is no need to switch between OS and access to all the functions of the reproduced system. In addition, all actions performed inside the virtual machine will not affect the operation of the main system, which prevents possible computer failures.

At the moment, the developers of virtual machines have created programs that allow you to emulate any operating system, starting with early versions Windows and ending with Ubuntu, OS X and lesser known axes, also work with ready-made servers, for example, Bitrix virtual machine.

There is one more, narrower, understanding of the term "virtual machine", which is widespread among musicians - virtual drum machine that plays the sounds of the 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 previously recorded midi-track, placing the 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 principle. For example, an operating room 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 a written algorithm works in different versions of Windows. The same applies to the developers of applications for iOS and Android, who check the functionality of the development exactly inside the emulators. For this, there is a virtual machine on a flash drive, so that you can always 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 he should first check it in 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 drum parts with high quality in conditions of a lack of funds, for example, for renting a studio. Of all the instruments, the drums 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 exactly, which significantly increases the amount of rent money. 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 who are familiar with the concept of "virtual machine", Microsoft made 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 subsection " Programs and Features". There in the window " Turning components on and off»Check the box next to 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 start 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 versions Windows of different bit depth;
• simple and intuitive interface.

In general, thanks to the presence of Hyper-V on Windows 10, users have no need for other similar programs. Although the utility does not require special configuration skills, you can read more about it in the related article.

Virtual Machine for Windows 7

The most popular virtual machine for Windows 7 users 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 reproduce almost all existing operating systems.

Like Hyper-V, this service is built into the system out of the box. In order to install it, you need to go to " Start"And the 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 emulator of operating systems.

Virtual machines for Mac and other operating systems

In addition to those built into the seventh and tenth Windows virtual machines, third-party developers have created many other, independent utilities that have approximately the same capabilities, but differ in details. The most popular one is Oracle VirtualBox about which and there will be a speech 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, having previously selected which system you need it for.

From the rest of their counterparts this program Oracle is distinguished by its wide functionality, which includes support for USB ports and their launch from an emulated machine, the ability to save the state of the system for instant rollback in case a critical error occurs. In fact, from the huge list of all supported features, we can conclude that by downloading Oracle VirtualBox, you can comfortably work with any operating system without any restrictions at all.

For most users, the VirtualBox utility is very good choice because of its practicality, reliability and functionality.

After the distribution kit with the application is on your computer, double-click on it. This will launch the installer. In it, you will need to choose which functions, in addition to the most Oracle machines are installed with it. The list includes: internal Python programming, customized Internet support, and USB port integration. After that, it is enough to follow the instructions. installation file until the installation of Oracle VirtualBox is complete.

Virtual drum machines

Virtual drum machines are present in the form of additional plug-ins that are installed and run through the program for recording or writing music - FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase and others. The most popular drum machine emulators are Ez drummer and Addictive drums... In free access to them there are large libraries of samples for every taste, recorded by famous drummers.

Creating 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 is distributed on a paid basis. However, there are tons of resources that offer free use of this virtual machine for both Windows, Mac and Ubuntu. It is worth noting that the company offers a lot of additional utilities that expand the capabilities basic program by adding features for desktop management, broadcasting, and more. Let's consider why this virtual machine is needed.

Workstation allows you to create virtual machines that will be managed from a single center. For the most part, this tool is of interest to large companies that need to configure the same functionality of devices on a large number of computers.

One of the most important features that virtual VMWare machine, so-called, vSphere, which allows not only to create and configure a virtual machine, but also to implement a whole infrastructure of such devices, interconnected. And if you have to choose, then such functionality will be very useful for large companies whose employees need to exchange data and information with each other.

All the functionality of the developed VMWare programs is based not on a single use of a virtual machine, but on the formation of a grid from them and a single place from where this network is controlled.

Virtualization 1C-Bitrix

Another program created for comfortable work with 1C-Bitrix products is 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... The finished machine can be opened at VMWare Player or other applications from this developer (there are also versions for VirtualBox and HyperV).

The program allows you to save time and get started 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, are quite enough. A well tested, reliable and free option is VirtualBox. For organizations, the best virtual machines are definitely VMWare products or Bitrix virtual machines, since they simplify business and employee interactions.

Related Videos

What do you think is the most?

I will not invent a bicycle and retell others. I'd rather suggest you read an article from the Linux Format magazine. In which experts made a comparative review of five popular virtual machines in the hope of finding the very ..., the best virtual machine. By the way, I highly recommend subscribing to the magazine for those who renounced and managed to escape from the captivity of Windows.

• 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

In simple terms, without tediousness, 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 others' Trojans, and other miracle files. Whichever 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 machine (due to budget constraints) with fresh Arc Linux. In addition to proprietary VMware (version 7.1.0 of Plauer and a 30-day trial period of Workstation 11), we used the official Arch packages, which closely follow the developers' releases. Each machine had 2 GB of system RAM and 128 MB of video memory (256 MB if necessary).

We tested each candidate on different guest OSs: Mint 17.1 and Kubuntu 15.04 beta, as well as different versions of non-Linux OS under Windows name... To measure performance, we compiled the main Mint core, ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, and played different games from our Steam library. To test the actual options, we ran them 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 providing resources), but ten years ago CPU innovations mean that you can only achieve 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. You can also simulate another architecture, say, ARM, which is convenient for embedded developers.

It's also a boon for ordinary users: getting to know a new OS doesn't have to be such a time-consuming exercise in constant fear of ditching your system. Even if you just want to test new program it's much safer to do it in a virtual machine instead of risking your current setup. Support for in-kernel virtualization (via KVM) and the Qemu emulator means Linux users no longer need to resort to proprietary tools.

In the olden days, Sun's VirtualBox (once owned by Innotek and now Oracle) was the only real option. But times have changed, so let's look at other virtualization applications as well.

Both VMware and VirtualBox use kernel-dependent modules that load to do their magic. VMware will need to compile them, which will require installing the kernel header packages and all the compiler hardware. Then you get init script to boot these modules though it will be useless for Systemd users. If that's the case, you might want to create your own init file instead of running this script as root all the time (or seeing all the same error messages). At the time of this writing, the 3.19 series kernels required patching 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 starting it, which will notify you with a kind message, and if you are using a fully functional desktop environment, it will do it for you; all you have to do is enter the root password.

Both VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are fairly straightforward, unless you want to be distracted by every option. However, VMware Player does not have that many options, and you will very quickly get your machine up and running. But if you're determined to make the most of these options, you'll need to install Guest Additions.

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

Boxes is the easiest to use in our collection, even if it only provides the bare minimum of Qemu / libvirt functions. VMware Player and VirtualBox come second, followed by their paid rival (nominally, they are more difficult due to more options). Virt-Manager isn't particularly difficult to use, but it has enough of Qemu's maze of settings to overwhelm a beginner. In addition, the mechanism for managing storage is rather convoluted, 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 that case, why not take the risk.

Performance

Will they create a slow or nimble VM for you?

Hardware enhancements and paravirtualization technologies have made it possible to perform some tasks at speeds close to those of real hardware.

However, as it is, there is usually a definite drop in performance. Almost every configuration we tested on the guest desktop showed some kind of lag. But you get used to it, and you can turn off all sorts of beautiful things or turn on the appropriate neutralization mode, if it worries you.

We're not taking 3D performance into account here - that wouldn't be entirely fair, and it has its own category through the page. However, for day-to-day tasks using Terminal, you are unlikely to notice much difference between our candidates. Experiments with kernel compilation have shown that VirtualBox lags far behind in the competition. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test confirmed this conclusion: both tasks completed 20% slower than the others. Disk I / O (especially if you have an SSD) and network traffic were fast for all of our candidates. Ultimately VMware secured the edge by supporting newer Intel processors.

Functionality

What does each candidate have to 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, for example, include the ability to create snapshots, support for Intel VT-x and AMD-V processor extensions, and flexible customization virtual hardware. All of this is offered by everyone, but some applications are capable of more heroic feats.

It should be noted here that Gnome Boxes and Virt-Manager are only interfaces to Qemu (via the libvirt abstraction layer). And Qemu is essentially a processor emulator that can provide virtualization over KVM, but it is a whole world nonetheless.

So, let's take a look at our candidates separately.

Gnome Boxes ★★

When called from 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 the network), or OVirt.

Gnome boxes

Boxes doesn't offer much control over your virtual machine over the network, but at least it does provide all the NAT wizardry you need to keep your virtual machine communicating with the world. Other 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 Qemu features (but again, not all). He seems to have gone overboard with his list of supported x86 operating systems, in particular from the Linux family.

Virt-Manager

Leaving that 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 is able to leverage 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). In addition, Virt-Manager leverages Qemu's recently added USB 3.0 support.

Compatibility and snapshots

Is it possible to move virtual machines between real ones?

Sometimes it is necessary to move VMs between hypervisors. All 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 it 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 beloved QCOW2 format, which allows multiple system snapshots to be stored internally using the excellent Copy On Write (COW) trick.

Boxes, Virt-Manager, VirtualBox, and VMware Workstation support system snapshots, keeping different states of their VMs. VMware Player allows you to have only one snapshot per machine in addition to its current state. So deep regression testing is ruled out.

VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are also capable of "cloning" VMs, and this is an effective method of creating system snapshots: data is written to the corresponding clone only if its state is different from that of the parent. VMware allows the VMDK guest image to be mounted to the host, which is also convenient, although the same trick can be done by converting to a raw disk image 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 makes it easy to set 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 maximum percentage of the guest's CPU utilization. VirtualBox also supports video recording, so you can record a Windows tutorial for your YouTube channel overnight.

VirtualBox

It can import any virtual disks, but only offers USB 2.0 host controller support, and then only if you install the proprietary Oracle Extension Pack. The distributed clipboard and drag-and-drop options (in one or both directions, as you wish) are quite handy. VirtualBox has convenient indicators for network and disk I / O and for CPU utilization.

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 options for shaping network traffic, which is very convenient if you are testing the latest version of, say, a DDoS client or looking at how many malware you can hang Windows XP on your virtual machine until it bursts. VMware also supports USB devices 3.0, and installing the guest tools will allow for shiny graphics, shared clipboard, and shared directories. Player is somewhat inferior when it comes 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 Player Pro), but we decided that for this Comparison it would be more appropriate to use a higher quality Workstation instead. This application provides many additional functions for developers, including the ability to group virtual machines into a kind of virtual phalanx so that you can make them go live at the same time with one click.

VMware Workstation also offers support for new instructions for modern Intel processors, and also allows you to configure machines with virtual CPUs up to 16 GB and 64 GB of RAM. However, Workstation is heavily focused on integrating with the rest of the (rather heavy) VMware suite, and will therefore look more appropriate 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 only confused.

VirtualBox uses Qt4, which is especially infuriating on the Qt-based Arch Linux desktop, where Qt5 is used all over the place, but this is just a bit of a niche flaw. Boxes pairs perfectly with Gnome 3, which is to be expected; Virt-Manager and VMware use GTK3 and are also perfectly compatible with it.

All of our candidates allow us to switch the virtual machine to full screen mode, and luckily they all allowed us to switch back with the appropriate keyboard shortcut.

The highlight modes are Unity in VMware (no, this is not a way to make everything ubuntu) 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 (excluding potential confusion between guest and host windows), however trying to run
the preview was not very successful; Windows 7 with the Aero interface turned on was also not a pleasant experience.

All our candidates support the launch of a guest in full screen mode, and they can be configured to change resolution when the window is resized. Suitable hotkeys are provided to exit this script. Drag-and-drop on VMware machines very convenient, which is why VMware wins this category.

Graphics acceleration

Can software rendering problems be avoided?

Any of our candidates would serve you great if you just wanted to set up a virtual machine without intending to do anything graphics-intensive.

But if you need 3D acceleration, you need to take VMware or VirtualBox. Once you get the hang of installing the Guest Additions (including the misleading question of VirtualBox, with double negation, which tries to turn you away from its experimental WDDM support, needed, for example, to Windows interface 7 Aero), you can enjoy 3D acceleration in VirtualBox and two VMware clients.

Boom boom, Maxwell's silver hammer hit the, uh, hive. 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 video card, and VMware up to 2 GB. Note that these gigabytes are not taken from your actual graphics card, so often you won't see much improvement over 256MB. VirtualBox also provides 2D acceleration for Windows guest, which should help speed up video rendering, screen enlargement and color correction, although this depends a lot on the host configuration - this setting will not have much effect on a fast machine. The Windows VM probably won't run Battlefield 4 or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (so we're very lucky to be ported to Linux) when it's all down to 11, but more older or less demanding games will do just fine: we spent a good hour playing the popular indie game Don't Starve, completely forgetting our Comparison.

Everything worked better on VMware than on VirtualBox, but perhaps it was a more advantageous configuration - on Arch Linux we used the most recent proprietary Nvidia driver, which could determine the preponderance of one over the other.

Verdict

Virtualization is a long 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 do better in VirtualBox than we do, you will choose VMware as your hypervisor. But then again, this technology is by no means as mature as the native DirectX 11 format. You might even have better luck with games in Wine [Ed .: - Or not.] With some experimental performance patches. We're not really crazy about VMware licenses, especially the one that makes you pay after 30 days. trial period however, for some, enterprise-level features in Workstation will be a real boon. In particular, when using vCenter Converter from VMware, you virtualize the 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, along with more than plentiful documentation. You can use them in your scripts when you go all the way into virtualization by pushing a host of virtual machines out of a secure command line environment. Perhaps hackers will prefer to work directly with Qemu, while those looking for a simple free open source solution will be happy with Gnome Boxes.

Bubbles look good if you don't see the effort involved in rendering them.

But there is only one winner (a draw is a rare exception), and this time it's Virt-Manager - well, we couldn't afford to win VMware. Virt-Manager lets you harness 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 support for graphics acceleration, but who knows, maybe it will appear. VMware Player and Gnome Boxes tied for second place as they both scored high for their simplicity, and we love the Boxes icon, which depicts a tesseract (or hypercube, or cube in a cube - whatever you like).

Virt-Manager ★★★★
All managers would do so well.

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 easiest way to install and configure a VM.