Comparison of virtual machines. Overview of virtual machines. Best virtual machine

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 on 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 various operating systems, which will help you study the architecture of corporate networks in more 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 tour of the most famous virtual machines, making a detailed review of 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 supply of RAM and internal memory (no more than half of the 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. You can import any virtual disks into this program, you can monitor the indicators of the I/O controllers, and there is also a 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 the good capabilities 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 via the 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 suitable for the average user to familiarize themselves with.

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 is perfect for you, otherwise it’s better to choose another emulator, because it doesn’t even have a full setup of network adapters.

For most users, this is an excellent program in which you can configure network configurations, monitor the number of malicious programs, 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 software developers. 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.

The rapid development of virtualization technologies has had a significant impact not only on the development of the IT infrastructure of large enterprises. The power of desktop personal computers has reached a level where one physical machine can support several simultaneously running operating systems in virtual machines. Just a few years ago, virtual machines were something exotic for end users, who installed them mostly for evaluation purposes. Nowadays, multi-core processors and large amounts of RAM are not uncommon on a home or office computer, and this allows us to come up with new options for using them in the context of virtualization technologies.

Many users are finding a variety of uses for desktop virtualization platforms, both at home and at work. After all, a virtual machine, compared to a physical one, has significantly greater flexibility in terms of portability to another physical platform. In addition, over the past couple of years, the quality of desktop virtualization platforms has increased significantly in terms of functionality, ease of use and performance. The relatively recent introduction of support for hardware virtualization on desktop systems means that leading processor manufacturers such as Intel and AMD believe in the future of virtualization technologies on personal computers.

Of course, such bulky and hardware-intensive operating systems as Windows Vista are capable of absorbing the power of user desktops, no matter how high they are, but progress does not stand still, and further development of desktop hardware platforms will soon make it possible to support several such systems simultaneously , satisfying the performance requirements. However, many users believe that the use of virtualization technologies at home is not necessary and consider virtualization as another specific technology that will not have much impact on them. Mostly, this is due to the fact that they do not see worthy ways to use virtual machines.

In business, virtualization technologies are implemented mainly to maintain the virtual infrastructure of the company's servers and have very little impact on end users. In this article we will show that almost any personal computer user can use virtualization technologies to increase the efficiency of their work on a personal computer at home, as well as for everyday tasks in the workplace.

How to use virtual machines at home

Most personal computer users often encounter the problem of using potentially dangerous or unstable applications that can either damage the operating system or affect the operation of other programs. Often, a home computer, on which work documents are also located, is used by several people, among whom not everyone understands how to handle it correctly so as not to damage important data or the operating system. Creating user accounts does not solve this problem, since many applications require administrative rights to install, and using the computer in this mode significantly limits its use. Of course, many also face the problem of transferring the operating system and installed applications to another computer when purchasing it. The category of users who actively use laptops is faced with the problem of synchronizing data between it and a desktop computer. After all, not only is file synchronization necessary, but you also need to use the same applications at work and at home. For many people, it is also important to be able to learn how to work with various operating systems, which in this case do not require high performance. In this case, for example, when working in Linux, the user needs to access Windows applications, and to do this he has to restart the computer. And the main problem during training is the impossibility of simulating a real network between several computers if only one is available. All these and many other problems can be solved by using virtual machines in desktop virtualization systems.

The main options for home use of virtual machines are the following:

Creating a personal virtual environment isolated from the host system, which allows you to use several copies of working environments on one computer, completely isolated from each other. Unfortunately, this model excludes the option of using virtual environments for 3D games, since virtualization platform manufacturers have not yet learned to fully support the emulation of all functions of video adapters. VMware is currently ahead of everyone in this regard; in the latest versions of its desktop platform VMware Workstation, it has included features for experimental support for Direct-3D and shaders. However, recently PCI-SIG, the company developing the PCI Express standard, published new specifications for the PCI Express 2.0 standard, which claim support for I/O virtualization functions that significantly simplify guest systems' access to physical hardware. Undoubtedly, the time is not far off when we will play games on virtual machines.
Create portable virtual machines that are ready for use on any other architecture-compatible platform. If you need to demonstrate the operation of a program, and it or the operating system environment must be configured in a certain way - virtual machines are the best option in this case. Do all the necessary things in the virtual machine, burn it to a DVD and where you need to show how everything works, install the virtualization platform and start the virtual machine.
Obtaining secure user environments for the Internet. When working on the Internet, which, as everyone knows, is fairly filled with viruses and Trojan horses, running an Internet browser in user-mode is not an acceptable solution for many from a security point of view. After all, there are many vulnerabilities in software, including operating systems, through which malware can damage important data. A virtual machine in this case is a more advantageous option, since a malware, after gaining control of the operating system in a virtual machine, can only cause harm inside it, without affecting the host OS. By the way, recently viruses have begun to appear that detect their presence in a virtual machine and do not reveal themselves in this case, however, so far there are only a few such malicious programs, and in any case, no harm will be done to important data until the infected objects are transferred to the host OS . Therefore, the use of virtual machines in this case does not at all exclude the use of anti-virus software.
Creating environments for experimenting with potentially dangerous software. In a virtual machine, you can safely try out a new registry cleaner or disk utility. You can also safely install application software that could, under certain conditions, damage your system or your data. In this case, the virtual machine acts as a sandbox in which your programs are played. You can safely observe and study their work without worrying about the safety of your data.
Convenient and simple backup of user environments. Ultimately, a virtual machine is just a folder of files on your computer that can be copied to backup media and then easily restored. In this case, there is no need to create hard disk images to back up your system.
Possibility of training to work with operating systems other than your host one. Of course, you can install a second OS in parallel with your main system, but in this case, if you need any application from the main system, you will have to reboot. In this case, a virtual machine is an ideal option: you run the OS you need in parallel with the host OS and switch between them if necessary. In many systems, file transfer between the guest and host systems is organized simply by dragging files and folders with the mouse pointer.

We have listed only the main options for using virtual machines at home; of course, there are other, more specific areas of their application. But the real prospects for using desktop virtualization systems open up in business, where, above all, accessibility and saving time and costs on purchasing additional equipment are important.

Desktop virtualization platforms in business

For most companies, when it comes to virtualization, this primarily means virtualizing the enterprise server infrastructure. However, there are many VM-based solutions for end users that can significantly improve the productivity of a company's employees. Let's consider the main areas of application of virtual machines in business on virtualization platforms for desktop users:

Creation of repositories of typical templates for user work environments. Depending on the specifics of the organization’s work, its employees need to use a certain set of software. When a new employee joins an organization, he needs to install an operating system, configure it in a certain way, in accordance with the requirements of the organization and security policies, and also install all the necessary application software. When using virtual machine templates, this problem is solved very simply: an employee is installed with a desktop virtualization platform, and a virtual machine from a set of organization templates is launched in it, in which all the necessary software is installed and the appropriate operating system settings are made. This model will significantly reduce deployment time, as well as provide high flexibility when transferring an employee’s virtual desktop to another physical machine. Of course, this use case may require increased hardware resources, but this will more than pay off if an employee has to operate with large volumes of heterogeneous data, the backup of which will require significant time. For example, marketing employees, who install many of the programs they need, try things out every day and work with different documents. In this case, they can copy the folder with files of their working virtual machine at the end of the working day, without fear that tomorrow when installing the next program everything will “break”.
Creation of a virtual desktop infrastructure that allows for centralized storage of user environments on secure company servers. The end users themselves use remote desktop access tools for their environments (for example, Terminal Services) stored in the corporate data center. This option for using virtual machines requires significant costs for its implementation, since in this case it requires support for server virtualization platforms of the company’s data center. However, this provides the best level of security and availability. Since all work environments are stored and maintained centrally in a secure data center, the likelihood of confidential information leakage is significantly reduced. At the same time, the degree of accessibility of such environments increases significantly, because access to them can be provided from anywhere with a high-speed connection. Strictly speaking, this solution does not apply to desktop virtualization platforms, but it does affect end users. An example of such a solution is VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, based on the virtual infrastructure of an organization’s servers in a corporate data center. The structure of such a model is shown in the figure:
Use of virtual machines protected by security policies. IT professionals who need to ensure the confidentiality of their personal data, as well as frequently demonstrate various software to customers, are ideal for solutions for creating secure virtual machines that provide a means of restricting access to various functions for working with a virtual machine. You can also set the validity period of the virtual machine and thus distribute the software so that a certain circle of people cannot use the virtual machine for more than the permitted time. An example of such a solution is VMware's ACE Manager product.
Simplify user training by creating classrooms with virtual machines running various operating systems and application software. If a group of employees in an organization needs to be trained to use a certain product or program, you can create one virtual machine template and install the virtualization platform on each of the computers in the classroom. Next, the virtual machine can be copied to all computers and launched with all the required number of programs. If you need training on another product, you can create a new virtual machine template and also deploy it to all computers in your classroom.
Development and testing of software in the company. A virtual machine, being an isolated environment, is ideal for software development. Developers and testers can create the operating system configurations and user environments they need to simulate program behavior on various platforms. As part of this use case, it is also possible to model working pairs of virtual machines on the same physical platform that interact with each other through networking. In addition, some platforms, such as VMware Workstation, allow you to create virtual machine state trees, each of which stores a specific user configuration. Each of these states can be rolled back with one click. An example of such a tree:

Comparative review of desktop virtualization platforms

Leading companies in the field of desktop virtualization platforms have done a lot over the past two years to make them as easy to use as possible and accessible to even the most inexperienced user. The leaders in the production of virtualization systems for end users at the moment are the following companies: VMware with the products VMware Workstation, VMware ACE and VMware Fusion, Microsoft with the Virtual PC product, Parallels, which is promoting its virtualization platform for Mac OS with the Parallels Desktop for Mac product, and the company InnoTek with the free and open source VirtualBox platform. Let's take a quick look at the capabilities of some of these products.

VMware Workstation

VMware is today the undisputed leader in the field of desktop virtualization systems. Its products are easy to use, feature rich functionality and are fast. Almost all manufacturers of desktop virtualization platforms are focused on the product. The process of creating a virtual machine and installing a guest operating system is not particularly difficult: during creation, you must specify the amount of RAM allocated for the guest system, the type and size of the virtual disk, the folder where the virtual machine files will be located and the type of guest OS to be installed. A bootable CD or DVD or ISO image can be used as the guest system installation distribution. After installing the operating system in a virtual machine, you must install VMware Tools and disable all unnecessary emulated devices in the settings in order to optimize performance. You can also create a snapshot of the “clean” state of the guest system, in which all data on the virtual disks at that moment will be saved, and you can return to their saved state at any time. Key features of VMware Workstation include:

Support for various types of virtual disks (controllers for both IDE and SCSI disks are emulated):
- fixed size (Preallocated) or growing as they are filled (Growing), while the former are optimized for performance, and the latter are convenient because they do not take up much space before they are filled
- Independent disks that are not affected by operating system snapshots. Such disks are convenient for organizing file storage, the changes of which are not required when working with snapshots of the state of the guest system
- support for disks whose state is not saved when the virtual machine is turned off
- possibility of direct recording to a physical disk
Support for various types of network interaction between virtual machines, including combining virtual machines into “teams” (Teams), which allows you to create virtual subnets consisting of virtual machines with a different number of virtual network adapters (up to three). The virtual network interface can operate in three different modes:
- Bridged Networking- the virtual machine shares the resources of the network card with the host operating system and works with the network external to it as an independent machine.
- Host-only Networking- the virtual machine receives an IP address in its own host subnet from the VMware DHCP server. Accordingly, you can only work on the network with other virtual machines on this host and with the OS of the host itself.
- NAT- the virtual machine also operates on the host’s own subnet (but different), however, through the VMware NAT server, it can initiate connections to an external network. It is impossible to initiate a connection to such a virtual machine from an external network. Within the host, network communication is ensured.
- Disks can also be mounted on the host system using the utility vmware-mount and expand using the utility vmware-vdiskmanager(this utility also serves to perform a number of other actions on virtual disks).
The ability to easily exchange files using the Drag&Drop interface, as well as by creating Shared Folders between the host and guest OS.
Support for a large list of guest and host operating systems.

The latest version of VMware Workstation 6 also includes the following useful features:

Full support for USB 2.0 interface
ability to record virtual machine activity
integrated product VMware Converter (for Windows hosts) for importing virtual machines from other manufacturers
running a virtual machine as a service

It is also worth noting that the VMware Workstation product is currently the only virtualization platform that experimentally supports Direct-3D in guest operating systems. The main and perhaps the only drawback of this platform is the fact that it is not free.

Microsoft Virtual PC

Having appeared as a competitor to VMware Workstation, the Connectix product, which was later purchased by Microsoft Corporation along with the company, did not receive worthy development in its hands. As a result, at the moment, in almost all respects it is inferior to the VMware Workstation platform and can only be launched on the Windows host operating system. However, a fair number of users use it as a desktop virtualization platform because Virtual PC is free and covers basic needs for using virtual machines. The guest installation process is also very simple and intuitive. After the operating system is installed, you need to install Virtual Machine Additions (analogous to VMware Tools in VMware Workstation), which significantly increase the performance of the guest OS by improving virtualization technology. VM Additions can also be installed on Linux guest operating systems.

The main advantages of the Microsoft Virtual PC product include the following features:

Full support for Windows Vista as both a host and guest operating system. In terms of performance, Virtual PC 2007 has taken a significant step forward compared to the previous version, and now the performance of Windows Vista in a virtual machine is quite acceptable.
Support for 64-bit Windows host systems.
Improved performance by taking advantage of improvements introduced in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2.
Availability of different types of virtual disks:
- Dynamically expanding (similar to Growing in VMware Workstation)
- Fixed Size (analogous to Preallocated in VMware Workstation)
- Differencing - a disk that stores changes from the current state of the virtual disk
- Linked to a hard disk (analogous to direct writing to disk in VMware Workstation)
The presence of various types of network communication between virtual machines and the host:
- analogue of Bridged Networking in VMware Workstation
- Local only (analogous to Host-only in VMware Workstation)
- Shared Networking (similar to NAT in VMware Workstation)

It should be noted that the Virtual PC product is aimed more at home users rather than IT professionals and software developers, while VMware Workstation, with much greater functionality, is able to cover the needs of the latter. At the same time, Virtual PC is free and is intended mainly to simplify migration to new Microsoft operating systems and support their legacy versions. And, of course, the popularity of the Virtual PC platform is influenced by its free nature, creating a specific niche for the use of this product.

Parallels Workstation and Parallels Desktop for Mac

The product is intended for use on Windows and Linux platforms as a desktop virtualization system. Due to the fact that the Parallels company (actually owned by the Russian company SWSoft) is now focused mainly on the product, the development of this product has now somewhat stalled and in terms of functionality it is inferior to the two leading desktop platforms from VMware and Microsoft. Therefore, we will talk about the Parallels Desktop for Mac platform, which is now the main platform for Apple computers. In addition, at the moment the development of this platform is very dynamic, which is due, first of all, to the fact that VMware seriously intends to invade the virtualization market for Macs with its VMware Fusion product, which is almost ready for final release. Key features of the Parallels Desktop for Mac platform:

Easily create virtual machines in three steps using Parallels Installation Assistant. To create a virtual machine and install a guest operating system in it, no extra effort is required.
The presence of the Parallels Transporter utility, which allows you to migrate from a physical machine to a virtual one.
Full support for Windows Vista guest OS. This ensures simple file exchange between the guest and host operating systems
USB 2.0 interface support
Mac OS X "Leopard" support

Like most products for the Mac OS X platform, Parallels Desktop provides the user with a simple and user-friendly interface. It's no secret that many Mac users often feel the need to use Windows products, and Parallels Desktop provides them with this opportunity, allowing them to feel “in two worlds.”

You can also mention Parallels products such as Parallels Compressor Workstation and Parallels Compressor Server, which allow you to compress disks not only of Parallels virtual machines, but also of VMware, which is a solution to one of the problems that users often encounter.

VirtualBox

InnoTek recently entered the desktop virtualization market with an unexpected free and open source solution. At a time when it would seem that a new virtualization platform is difficult to bring to a decent level, InnoTek has achieved unexpectedly rapid success and popular recognition.

Many bloggers loyal to VMware, however, said that on their desktops, virtual machines on the platform run noticeably faster than virtual machines on VMware Workstation. In addition, until recently the VirtualBox platform was available only for Linux and Windows hosts, and at the end of April the first build for Mac OS X appeared, where the platform is planned to compete with such “monsters” of virtualization systems as Parallels and VMware. And, of course, she has every chance of winning. Considering the complete openness of the platform and its free nature, many enthusiasts are ready to take on improving the platform and increasing its functionality, hopefully without compromising its performance. At the moment, VirtualBox does not have such wide functionality as leading platforms; it does not support 64-bit systems and network interaction with Windows Vista, but on the website you can get up-to-date information on what system functions are being worked on. At the moment, the platform has the following main features:

Quite a large list of supported host and guest operating systems.
Support for multiple snapshots of the current state of the guest system (snapshots).
Dynamically expanding and fixed-size disks.
Ability to install Guest Additions (analogous to VMware Tools) to increase the degree of integration with the host OS

Of course, in terms of functionality, VirtualBox is a very immature product, but its performance indicators indicate that the platform has a future, and the Open Source community will make every effort to improve and develop it.

What to choose as a desktop virtualization system?

To summarize, we can say that each of the platforms described above currently occupies its own niche in the application of virtualization technologies on desktop computers. Each virtualization system has advantages and disadvantages. Over time, of course, many of them will acquire the necessary functionality that satisfies most user needs. It is also hoped that tools will be provided to convert virtual machine formats between platforms.

Undoubtedly, when it comes to using a desktop virtualization system at home on Windows hosts, you should choose between the Microsoft Virtual PC or VirtualBox platforms, since they are free and have the necessary functionality to support virtual machines at home. However, when it comes to the use of virtual machines in business, in a corporate enterprise environment, where the deployment of desktop virtualization systems places high demands on functionality and reliability, you cannot do without VMware Workstation, which is significantly superior to other described platforms. The VirtualBox product can also find its place here, as it is the most optimized for performance.

Virtual PC should be used when providing support for older versions of Windows and running Windows Vista as a guest OS. And users of the Mac platform cannot do without the Parallels Desktop product: this is evidenced by the fact that the result of more than 100,000 copies of the product sold was recorded back in 2006. Mac users should also pay attention to the VMware Fusion platform, which in the future claims to be the leader in the field of desktop virtualization platforms.

Virtualization technologies for personal computers are becoming closer to the end user and can now be used both in the daily work of employees of organizations and on home computers to create protected or isolated personal environments. In addition, the use of virtual machines on desktops is not limited to the described options. For example, in a VMware virtual machine, in the windowed mode of the guest operating system console, you can set a resolution higher than that supported by the monitor, and scroll bars will appear in the guest system window. This will allow you to test a website or application at high resolutions if you do not have an appropriate monitor. This example shows that the options for using virtual machines on desktop computers depend on your imagination. And rapidly evolving custom virtualization platforms can help you meet your needs.

What is a virtual machine and what is it for?

A virtual machine is a program that allows you to emulate a real computer with all its components (BIOS, hard drive, drive, etc.). You can install any operating system, as well as programs and drivers, on this virtual PC. You can seamlessly exchange data between your real system and the virtual one.

I won’t say that absolutely every user needs a virtual machine, but an advanced user often needs one. A virtual machine is used for various purposes and tasks:

To install another or second same OS;
For testing various software;
To emulate a computer network;
To run applications that cannot be launched from your OS.

To give a specific example, for example, Windows XP is installed on your PC, and you can install Windows 7, Windows 8 or Linux on a virtual PC.

In this article I will talk about three popular emulators, their main features and the advantages of each of them. As a bonus, I will present an Android emulator for Windows and give an example of creating a virtual machine using one of the emulators as an example.

VMware is one of the most famous and widespread virtual machines. It is usually used by large corporations. VMware is presented in two forms: Player and Workstation, the first of which is free, and the second is paid.

VMware also supports 32-bit and 64-bit systems, as well as USB 3.0 and various operating systems.

Key Features:

VMware allows you to connect USB devices, CD/DVD drives, network interfaces, and others to virtual machines;
Supports moving and copying files using drag and drop;
You can connect new virtual machines using a step-by-step wizard;
You can create a virtual machine using the installation disk or from a ready-made disk image;
VMware Player supports virtual machines that were created on paid VMware.

Microsoft Virtual PC

Microsoft Virtual PC is a free virtual machine with a user-friendly interface and great functionality. The only small drawback is that only Windows operating systems are supported.

Main features:

It is possible to select the equipment that is needed on the virtual machine;
You can add or remove hardware on a virtual computer;
You can copy virtual machines;
It is possible to quickly switch between virtual PCs using bookmarks;
It is possible to drag and drop files from the main PC to the virtual one and vice versa;
You can connect virtual and real computers over a network.

VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a free emulator on which you can install the most popular operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS. Both 32 and 64 bit versions of operating systems are supported. VirtualBox can also work with virtual computers that were created in the paid VMware Workstation program.

Main features of the program:

VirtualBox can be controlled either through a graphical interface or through the command line;
VirtualBox makes it possible to connect USB devices to virtual computers and allow them to work with them directly;
All parameters of the virtual machine are described in XML format and therefore do not depend in any way on the physical PC on which the system is running;
VirtualBox supports remote control;
There is a special SDK package to expand the program's functions.

After analyzing the reviews of all three emulators, we can come to the conclusion that VirtualBox is the most suitable program for creating and managing virtual machines. Therefore, we will look at installing a virtual machine using VirtualBox as an example.

Installing a VirtualBox virtual machine

Let's look at how to install VirtualBox, and in the next chapter we'll see how to configure it.
Download the latest version of the program from the official website or from our Download program
We launch the installation and see the first welcome window. Click “Next” and move on to the next stage.

At the second installation stage, we see the program components that will be installed and the directory into which the program will be installed. The installation directory can be changed, but it is recommended to install all components. Even if not all components are needed right now, but they will be needed in the future, you will need to reinstall the virtual machine.

At the next stage, a warning appears about the computer being temporarily disconnected from the network during installation.

A window will then appear informing you that you can begin installation. Click the “Install” button and wait for the installation to complete.

During the installation process, pop-ups may appear with the message “Install software for this device?” Click the “Install” button.
When the installation is complete, click the “Finish” button. The virtual machine will automatically start after installation is complete.

Creating a VirtualBox virtual machine

In order to create a virtual machine, in the VirtualBox program window, click on the “Create” button in the upper left corner.

At the first stage, enter the name of the machine to be created and select the type of operating system. For example, let's create a virtual machine with the Windows 7 operating system. Let's move on.

At the second stage, we set the amount of RAM that is needed for the virtual machine. We install based on the needs of the selected operating system. The system requirements for Windows 7 indicate that it requires at least 1 GB of RAM. Let's indicate, for example, 1.5 GB. Here you need to take into account that you cannot install more than half of the RAM of a physical computer in a virtual machine.

Now you can connect a virtual hard disk to the created virtual machine. First we create it. Select “Create a new virtual hard disk” and click on the “Create” button.

Specify the type of hard drive. If you are not familiar with the formats described there, you can leave it as is and click “Next”.

Now you need to specify the format for storing data on the virtual hard disk. A dynamic virtual hard disk can expand, while a fixed one has a strictly defined size. Choose what you like best.

Specify the name of the virtual hard disk and its size. Click “Create”.

Setting up a VirtualBox virtual machine

Let's see what settings the virtual machine has. Click the “Configure” button in the upper left corner of the program.
The settings window appears. Here you can change various parameters of the virtual machine (for example, the amount of allocated RAM, enabling 2D acceleration, device boot order, etc.)
All settings are divided into categories.

If you make a mistake in the settings, the program will inform you about this by appearing at the bottom of the settings window the inscription “Incorrect settings detected.”

Usually the first 3 categories of settings are enough for the user. If the virtual machine is running slowly, you can increase the amount of RAM or use more processor power.

Having completed the settings, click the “OK” button. To start (enable) the created virtual machine, click on the “Launch” button. Now we insert the installation disk with the operating system into the drive, install and configure the operating system and your virtual computer is ready for use.

That's all, we looked at 3 popular emulators, identified all their strengths, chose the most suitable one for us, installed and configured the VirtualBox virtual machine, and now the promised Bonus.

BlueStacks - Android emulator for Windows

BlueStacks Player is a program that allows you to run Android applications on a computer running Windows or MacOS. BlueStacks allows you not only to get acquainted with the capabilities of Android, but also to fully test applications created for this operating system. Using the BlueStacks emulator, users can install and run on their PC any of the numerous programs available on Google Play, GetJar, Amazon Appstore, 1Mobile and other online catalogs of Android applications. The best part is, BlueStacks is completely free.

Key features of BlueStacks

The most important feature of the BlueStacks emulator is its support for LayerCake technology, which simulates an ARM processor. This technology allows Android applications to run on x86 processors. The ARM graphics subsystem is also simulated, which makes it possible to run the most modern games written for Android tablets on BlueStacks. The actions of moving pages with your fingers, which tablet users are used to, are performed on BlueStacks with the mouse.

Unlike other virtual machines, BlueStacks does not need to install the operating system manually - all Android functions are available immediately after launch. One tweak you need to make is to change the interface language. Russian language is fully supported.
BlueStacks works on Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP.

This concludes our review for today. Good luck with the emulation.

The concept of a virtual machine (from the English Virtual Machine) is understood as a software or hardware system that emulates the hardware of a certain platform (guest platform), executing programs for the guest platform using the host platform.

Also, a virtual machine can virtualize a certain platform, creating independent, isolated environments for operating operating systems and programs on it.

Virtual machine for Windows 7 - we offer you an overview of popular programs.

To put it simply, a virtual machine provides the ability to create several virtual computers on one real, physical computer, install various operating systems, programs, etc. on them.

This technology came to the general public from the world of server infrastructure, where virtual machines are used to create maximum server load and reduce equipment downtime.

Virtual machines are used to solve a range of tasks such as:

Optimizing the use of server resources.
Information protection, as well as limiting the capabilities of some programs, the so-called sandbox idea.
Research into new computer architecture or software.
Emulation of various computer architectures (for example, to emulate the PlayStation game console from Sony).
Creation of malicious code.
For example, the SubVirt rootkit, created in 2006 by Microsoft Research (MSR), created a virtual work environment in which the user's operating system was placed along with an antivirus, firewall and other software designed to protect the PC.
At the same time, the rootkit itself remained external and therefore did not fall within the scope of antivirus software, providing remote control over the virtual machine to the attacker.
Simulation of computer networks.
Software testing and debugging.

We bring to your attention a brief overview of the most popular virtualization programs.

Virtual machine for Windows 7: Virtual Box

Virtualization program from Oracle, for operating systems Linux, Mac OS X, MS Windows, etc.

The program is quite popular and below we will consider not everything, but only its key advantages:

Free.

Cross-platform.

Support for 64-bit guests on 32-bit host platforms. To do this, the host platform must support virtualization technology at the processor level.

Supports audio devices and various types of network communication.

The ability to create a chain of backup states that you can return to in case of problems with the guest system.

Russian-language interface.

Important! The program's shortcomings are not significant, but for the sake of objectivity in the assessment, they should also be mentioned - VirtualBox is poorly compatible with Win 95/98 (slow system operation) and Mac OS X (sound problems).

As you can see, the program's shortcomings are not significant and are rather nominal.

Virtual machine for Windows 7: Xen

Virtual machine monitor (hypervisor), developed at the University of Cambridge and distributed under open source (GPL license).

Using paravirtualization technology (PV mode), Xen allows you to achieve very high performance by emulating real hardware platforms.

A feature of the PV mode is that there is no initial moment when the computer boots (imitation of BIOS code, boot loader) and the guest OS kernel starts immediately in the desired mode, like regular programs.

It is worth noting that Xen can be compared to enterprise-grade software due to its rich functionality.

Advantages:

Free.

Cross-platform.

High performance of running virtual machines, which is very close to the performance of real systems.

Ability to migrate running virtual machines between physical hosts.

High degree of support for emulated hardware.

There is perhaps only one drawback of the program - its relative complexity, compared to similar software from other companies.

Virtual machine for Windows 7: Virtual PC

This program was originally developed by Connetix for Mac OS back in 1997. 4 years later, a version for Windows OS was released.

Later, in 2003, the rights to the program were acquired by Microsoft Corporation, and in 2006 the program became free.

Subsequently, Virtual PC was not developed and currently contains functionality from 2007.

Advantages:

Free.

Simple, user-friendly interface.

Flaws:

The program only works in Windows OS, but is not compatible with Windows 8 and higher.

The program, unlike Virtual Box, is not compatible with AMD processors.

Virtual machine for Windows 7: VMware Player

A product from the largest American virtualization software developer Vmware.

Vmware products are primarily aimed at the corporate segment of the market, so the full version of the program - VMware Workstation - is paid.

The license price is about $250. For non-commercial use, the manufacturer offers a program with limited functionality VMware Player.

It is worth noting that the restrictions generally apply to software developers and IT specialists; the program is quite functional for performing the tasks of the average user.

Advantages:

Free.

Fast.

Simple, user-friendly interface.

ThinPrint technology allows you to print any document opened in the guest OS without installing additional drivers.

Working with multiple monitors in a guest OS.

Exchange files between guest systems using Drag&Drop technology.

Flaws:

Limited functionality of the free version.

Installing Windows 7 x64 on VirtualBox (virtual machine)

Virtual machine for Windows 7: multiple operating systems on one machine

These days, virtualization is gaining more and more popularity. Very often virtualization is used in production, for example, on servers, VPS and so on, but also in home systems. Virtualization will be especially useful for Linux users who need, for example, to run multiple distributions for testing or Windows.

Now there are two most popular virtualization environments for Linux - the free VitrualBox and the proprietary Vmware. Each of the programs has its pros and cons; in this article we will try to figure out what is better than Virtualbox or Vmware, as well as how they differ. For convenience, we will compare different categories.

For many users, especially home computers, price is very important. This is where vmware workstation or virtualbox differs.

VirtualBox

The VirtualBox virtualization environment is open source. It is developed by a community of programmers around the world and is completely free to use.

VMware

Everything is a little more complicated here, the program is commercial, but has several editions. For corporate users, there is a version of VMWare Workstation Pro, which has many more features, for example, connecting to vSphere, ESXi servers, setting up networks, creating encrypted machines, and so on. The free version of VMware Player has limited functionality, it is intended only for home use and it must be said that its functions are quite sufficient. There are the same installation templates, detailed settings for virtual machines, network and much more.

2. System installation process

One way or another, after installing the program itself, you still need to configure everything and install the operating system in the virtual environment. Therefore this point is very important. The process of installing and configuring systems is similar, but there are differences.

VirtualBox

All configuration is done in the GUI, unlike console tools like qemu. When creating a machine, you will have to specify many settings, select the type and bitness of the operating system, select the amount of memory for it, create a hard drive, configure video memory. Installation can be carried out from an ISO image, USB flash drive or DVD. But you will have to go through the entire installation process manually, just like when installing on a regular computer.

VMware

The VMware virtual machine makes installation much easier, there are more settings for the virtual machine, but the main thing is not that, there are templates for various operating systems with which you can install them automatically. For example, you select a template for Ubuntu or Windows, set the initial parameters, specify the installation image and go about your business, and when you return, the system is ready. VMware also has tools to optimize the performance of a guest system in a virtual environment.

3. Opportunities

The biggest difference when comparing Virtualbox or VMware can be found in the capabilities of the virtual machines.

Virtualbox

Even though VirtualBox is a free solution, a virtual machine has its advantages. Let's look at the main features:

Command line support;
Screen integration, shared clipboard and file sharing between host and guest;
3D graphics support is limited, only OpenGL up to 3.0;
An unlimited number of operating system snapshots are supported;
Virtual machine disk encryption via VBoxExtensions is supported;
USB 2.0/3.0 supported;
Video recording from the car is supported.

One of the disadvantages is that you cannot allocate more than 256 megabytes of video memory to the machine, and for modern systems this is not very much. DirectX for 3D graphics is also not supported.

VMware

VMware has a little more features, but the free version doesn’t have everything, let’s look at the features of the free version:

Automatic installation of systems according to a template;
Detailed hardware configuration, including setting the processor ID, arbitrary amount of video memory and other parameters;
Simple setup of a virtual network between machines, it rises automatically, unlike VirtualBox;
Improved graphics support and DirectX 10, you can play games;
More complete implementation of BIOS and EFI support;

The disadvantages include the lack of video recording and lack of support for snapshots in the free version. Although cars can be cloned thus taking snapshots, native snapshot functionality would be much more convenient. If we take the professional version, then there are pictures and integration with the cloud, but we won’t talk about that.

4. Performance

Contrary to the beliefs of many users, virtual machines do not work much slower than the host, sometimes even at the same speed. This is achieved through support for hardware virtualization and virtual machine optimizations. As for the differences in performance between implementations, for example, VMware or VirtualBox, they are insignificant and almost invisible to the eye.

Many users claim that VMware performance is better. In addition, VMware works much better in terms of graphics.

conclusions

Our VitrualBox vs VMware comparison has come to an end. There are many factors to consider when choosing virtualization software. But the most important thing is your needs and personal preferences. If you want a stable virtual machine with good graphics performance that can install systems automatically, but you don't care about snapshots, you can choose VWware.

If you are a fan of free software and want snapshots, but hardware settings are not so important to you, then you can use VirtualBox. What virtual machine are you using? How would you answer the question which is better: VirtualBox or VMware? Why did you choose her? Write in the comments!