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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.

Which one do you think is the best? best virtual machine?

I will not invent a story and retell others. I’d rather suggest you read an article from Linux Format magazine. In which experts made a comparative review of five popular virtual machines in the hope of finding the one... the best virtual machine. By the way, I highly recommend it to those who renounced and were able 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 getting bore, a virtual machine is an operating system within an operating system.

Why do I need a virtual machine

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

How we tested virtual machines

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

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

Virtualization technology has fundamentally changed the computing landscape. We'd be embarrassed to say that this is a new invention (early mainframes used it as a means of provisioning), but decade-old CPU innovations mean that you'll only get near-native performance with x86 code. And now we manage to cram dozens of machines (easily copied and restored) into one case, and the work of data centers has become much more efficient. You can also imitate another architecture, say, ARM, which is convenient for embedded system developers.

This is also a benefit for ordinary users: getting to know a new OS no longer has to be such a time-consuming exercise in constant fear of ruining your system. Even if you just want to test out a 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 old days, VirtualBox from Sun (once owned by Innotek, now Oracle) was the only real option. But times have changed, so let's look at other virtualization applications.

Both VMware and VirtualBox use kernel-dependent modules that are loaded to work their magic. VMware will need to compile them, which will require installing the kernel header packages and all the compiler stuff. You will then receive an init script to load the specified modules, although this will be of no use to Systemd users. If this is your case, you might want to create your own init file instead of running this script as root all the time (or seeing the same error messages). At the time of writing, the 3.19 series kernels required patching up the VMware source code, but hopefully this will be fixed by the time the magazine is published. VirtualBox packages are available in most distributions, and if you have a standard kernel, you don't have to worry about anything.

Virt-Manager requires the libvirtd service to be running on your system before it can be launched, which a helpful message will notify you of, and if you're using a full-featured desktop environment, it will do this for you; All you have to do is enter the root password.

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

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

The easiest to use of our selection is Boxes, even if this is due to providing only the bare minimum of Qemu / libvirt functions. VMware Player and VirtualBox come in second, followed by their paid rival (nominally more difficult, due to more options). Virt-Manager isn't particularly difficult to use, but it has just enough of Qemu's maze of settings to overwhelm a newbie. In addition, its mechanism for managing storage is quite confusing, especially if you are going to store your virtual disk in a non-standard location: then you first need to add the required directory as a “storage pool”. However, all the necessary exotic modules will be provided by your own distribution, and in this case, why not take a risk.

Performance

Will they create a slow or agile VM for you?

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

However, as it is, there is usually some performance hit. Almost every configuration on which we tested the guest desktop exhibited some kind of slowdown. But you get used to it, and you can turn off all the beauties or turn on the appropriate troubleshooting mode if it bothers you.

We're not taking 3D performance into account here - that wouldn't be entirely fair, and it has its own category across the page. However, for everyday tasks using Terminal, you're unlikely to notice much difference between our candidates. Experiments with kernel compilation have shown that VirtualBox is significantly behind the competition. SunSpider's JavaScript benchmark test confirmed this finding, with both tasks running 20% ​​slower than the others. Disk input/output (I/O) (especially if you have an SSD) and network traffic were fast for all of our candidates. Ultimately, VMware gained an edge by supporting newer Intel processors.

Functionality

What does each candidate have to offer?

All of our candidates target different use cases and therefore each have their own, individual benefits. Of course, the presence of some standard features is certainly implied: these, for example, include the ability to create snapshots, support for Intel VT-x and AMD-V processor extensions, and flexible configuration of virtual hardware. All this is offered by everyone, but some applications are capable of more heroic feats.

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

So, let's look at our candidates individually.

Gnome Boxes ★★

When invoked from the command line, Qemu supports a ton of options, most of which are missing from Gnome Boxes: its goal (implemented) is to be simple and straightforward in appearance and operation. Through its user-friendly wizard interface, you can set up a virtual machine in literally three clicks - just point it to the appropriate ISO. Boxes abstracts the difference between a virtual machine and a remote machine, and you can connect to both via VNC, SPICE (which allows audio to work over a network), or OVirt.

Gnome Boxes

Boxes doesn't offer much in the way of managing your virtual machine over the network, but it at least provides all the NAT wizardry you need to make sure your virtual machine communicates with the world. The remaining candidates successfully configure NAT, network bridges or host-only networks, and all this can be very convenient in certain circumstances.

Virt-Manager ★★★★

Virt-Manager (aka Virtual Machine Manager) offers significantly more Qemu features (but again, not all). It seems to have gone overboard with its list of supported x86 operating systems, particularly those from the Linux family.


Virt-Manager

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

Compatibility and snapshots

Is it possible to move virtual machines between real ones?

Sometimes you need to move a VM between hypervisors. All of our programs can import machines stored in the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) format, which is simply a tarball of a VMDK (VMware) disk image, and virtual hardware data. VirtualBox allows export to this format, but also has its own - Virtual Disk Image (VDI), and also copes with all the others.

The qemu-img command can be used to convert formats. Of particular note is his favorite QCOW2 format, which allows you to store multiple snapshots of the system internally, using the excellent Copy On Write (COW) technique.

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

VirtualBox and VMware Workstation can also "clone" a VM, and this is an effective method of creating system snapshots: data is written to the corresponding clone only if its state is different from the state of the parent. VMware allows you to mount a guest VMDK image on the host, which can also be 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 simplifies setting up a virtual machine, and many useful options. In addition to limiting the number of CPU cores that the guest OS has access to, VirtualBox allows you to specify a limit on the guest's CPU usage as a percentage. VirtualBox also supports video recording, so you can record a Windows tutorial for your YouTube channel in an evening.


VirtualBox

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

By the way, in the article “” we talked in detail about how to install and properly configure the VirtualBox virtual machine.

VMware Player ★★★

VMware's free offering has come a long way since its introduction in 2008. The most remarkable thing is that this is no longer a player: it is more than capable of creating a high-quality virtual machine for you.


VMware Player

In addition to supporting a number of network configurations (NAT, bridged, host-only, etc.), it offers very nice network traffic shaping options, which is quite useful if you are testing the latest version of, say, a DDoS client or seeing how much malware you can hang Windows XP on your virtual machine until it crashes. VMware also supports USB 3.0 devices, and installing guest tools will allow you to use brilliant graphics, a distributed clipboard, and distributed directories. Player is somewhat inferior when it comes to snapshots (it only allows you to take one), but we criticized it in the previous section.

VMware Workstation ★★★★★

There is a non-free version of VMware Player (VMware Player Pro), but we decided that for this Comparison it would be more appropriate to take the higher-end Workstation instead. The app has a lot of extra features for developers, including the ability to group virtual machines into a sort of virtual phalanx so you can have them all come online at the same time with a single click.

VMware Workstation also offers support for new commands on modern Intel processors, and also allows you to configure machines with virtual CPUs, up to 16 and 64 GB of RAM. However, Workstation is very much aimed at integrating with the rest of the (rather heavy) VMware suite, and therefore will look more at home in an enterprise environment.

Desktop integration

Will they clash with your color scheme?

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

VirtualBox uses Qt4, which is especially infuriating on the Qt-based Arch Linux desktop, which uses Qt5 everywhere, but it's just something of a niche flaw. Boxes fits perfectly with Gnome 3, as you'd expect; Virt-Manager and VMware use GTK3 and also work perfectly with it.

All of our candidates allow us to switch the virtual machine to full-screen mode, and fortunately they all allowed us to switch back using the appropriate key combination.

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

All of our candidates support running the guest in full screen mode, and can be configured to change resolution when the window size is changed. Suitable hotkeys are provided to exit this scenario. The drag-and-drop feature on VMware machines is very convenient, which is why VMware wins in this category.

Graphics acceleration

Is it possible to avoid software rendering problems?

Any of our candidates would serve you well if you just wanted to install a virtual machine with no intention of doing anything graphics-intensive.

But if you need 3D acceleration, you need to use VMware or VirtualBox. Once you get past installing the Guest Additions (including the double-negative VirtualBox question that tries to steer you away from its experimental WDDM support needed for, say, the Windows 7 Aero interface), you'll be able to enjoy 3D acceleration in VirtualBox and in two VMware clients.


Boom-boom, Maxwell's silver hammer landed on the, uh, beehive. He died shortly after this screenshot was taken in Don't Starve.

VirtualBox allows you to allocate up to 256 MB of system RAM to the virtual video card, and VMware - up to 2 GB. Note that these gigabytes are not taken from your actual graphics card, so you often won't see much improvement above 256 MB. VirtualBox also provides 2D acceleration for Windows guests, which should help speed up video rendering, screen enlargement, and color correction, although a lot of this depends on the host configuration—on a fast machine this setting won't have much of an impact. A Windows VM probably won't run Battlefield 4 or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (we're lucky they're ported to Linux) when everything is cranked up to 11, but more older or less demanding games will work just fine: we spent a good hour playing the popular indie game Don't Starve, completely forgetting about our Comparison.

Everything worked better on VMware than on VirtualBox, but perhaps this was due to a more advantageous configuration - on Arch Linux we were using the latest proprietary Nvidia driver, which could lead to an advantage of one over the other.

Verdict

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

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


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

But there is only one winner (a tie is a rare exception), and this time it is Virt-Manager - well, we couldn’t let VMware win. Virt-Manager allows you to harness most of the power of Qemu without resorting to lengthy command-line spells. Virtual machines can be paused, reconfigured, moved and cloned - all without much hassle. The only thing it lacks is support for graphics acceleration, but who knows, maybe it will appear. VMware Player and Gnome Boxes are tied for second place as they both score highly for their simplicity, and we love the Boxes icon, which features a tesseract (or a hypercube, or a cube within a cube - whatever you prefer).

Virt-Manager ★★★★
All managers should do such a good job.

VirtualBox ★★
Once the only solution, now on the sidelines.

VMware Player ★★★
Fast and convenient, but the license let me down.

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

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

Virtualization allows you to encapsulate the internals of operating systems or parts of them within virtual hardware and software. In other words, create a virtual space that will be real from the point of view of the operating system running in this space. This is exactly what virtual machines do for Windows 7, Linux and Mac OS X. Virtualization also allows you to simulate devices that are not even on your computer.

Note: In a sense, virtual machines allow you to create a computer within a computer.

There are two important aspects of machine virtualization:

  • interaction between a physical host (computer) and a virtual host
  • interaction between the operating system running in the virtual space and the hardware used

Virtualization software, namely virtual machines for Windows 7 (Linux, Mac OS X), is typically a regular operating system application or service that allows you to create hosts. A host is any physical machine (computer). Within virtualization software, the operating system runs on a host similar or identical to the actual host, called a virtual machine. For convenience, the operating system running in a virtual machine is called a guest operating system.

In addition, there are various virtualization methods that affect not only the implementation of applications for creating virtual machines, but also the capabilities provided to guest systems. There is conventional emulation, in which hardware and software calls pass through an intermediate layer. There is also para-virtualization, where part of the actions inside the virtual machine takes place on real hardware, while the other part passes through an intermediate layer. There is also virtualization at the system level, when each guest system boots in a special kernel, which allows you to run only similar versions of the operating system.

Some of these methods can be performed on the fly, without significant changes to the actual host and its operating system. Others require the host to be rebooted into a special instance of the operating system that supports virtualization. Others use special hosts that support and are designed for virtualization at the hardware device level. The latter are also known as bare metal virtualization methods (although this is not entirely true, since some software kernel is still used).

The virtualization software that manages the creation and operation of virtual machines, as well as the allocation and limitation of the resources provided, is often called a hypervisor. Some virtualization applications can also use special processor extensions to improve the performance of virtual machines. The presence of such extensions is called hardware support for virtualization. Examples of this support are VT-X (Intel) and AMD-V (AMD) technologies.

What is not virtualization and virtual machine?

Some people like to call virtualization programs (virtual machines) anything that creates a layer of abstraction between the operating system and some of the running processes. For example, there is Sandboxie, which allows you to isolate browsers from the system (see browser protection utilities). Some programs allow you to freeze the state of the system so that it cannot be changed. Others also allow you to use the so-called shadow mode, in which all programs run normally, but any changes are canceled when you restart the computer.

Of course, all of these programs provide various benefits, but they are not considered virtualization technologies and are not virtual machines because they do not simulate system calls, and they do not allow guest operating systems to run on top of the current system. Such programs only create additional layers of separation, mainly to increase the level of security. If we continue the topic of security, then...

Why use virtualization and virtual machines?

If security comes first for you and is the first thing you think about in any situation, then virtualization (the use of virtual machines) can certainly help you with this. But don’t assume that virtualization is mainly used for security. Its initial goals are: testing, cost reduction, flexibility, legacy product support, and education. Increasing the level of security is just a pleasant bonus, which also has many pitfalls.

Note: Although virtualization allows you to isolate one operating system from another, there are still ways to get from the guest system to the main one.

What is needed to run virtualization technology and virtual machines?

The first thing to consider is the physical host. Depending on the type of virtualization software (virtual machines), completely different hardware and operating systems may be required. Virtualization does not imply any single solution that will run wherever needed. Virtual machines need to be selected for the system (Windows, Linux, Mac) and for the hardware (hardware). In addition, the host must have the necessary .

So if you are going to run guest operating systems on top of your system, you will need additional resources to run them, such as a processor and RAM. For example, if your computer only has 2 GB of RAM and you want to run a guest system on Windows 7, then you will have to severely limit resource usage on the real system in order for the virtual machine to function properly. Unless, of course, you're trying to run Windows XP with 256 MB of memory. However, if you have 16 GB of RAM, then you can run more than one guest system without experiencing any shortage of resources.

Pros: Easy to install and use.

Cons: Limited functionality. Does not support snapshots or directory sharing.

Virtual machine for Windows 7, Linux and Mac OS X - VirtualBox

VirtualBox is another cross-platform virtual machine creation program for Windows 7 and above, as well as Linux and Mac systems, currently owned by Oracle. VirtualBox is similar to VMware Player, but has more features, including a more advanced networking stack, unlimited snapshots, some OpenGL and DirectX support, and much more. The app is easy to install and just as easy to use. You can also use the command line for automatic deployment. VirtualBox also supports USB and shared directories. There is also a portable version of VirtualBox. However, there are also disadvantages. You cannot take screenshots of guest systems. Disk management is a bit confusing.

Audience: beginners and experienced users.

Pros: Easy to install and use, many features.

Cons: No support for screenshots, importing existing machines is difficult, disk management is not intuitive.

VMware ESXi hypervisor for creating virtual machines

ESXi is a bare metal hypervisor with reduced functionality compared to ESX. The app requires a host and can be controlled from the console (the console is locked by default, but you can enable it manually). You will not be able to take screenshots or record video of the screen of your virtual machines. Transferring and cloning guest systems can only be done manually. But what you get is memory sharing for improved RAM efficiency, powerful monitoring and management, and command line access via SSH (when unlocked). You can also install VMware Tools to improve the performance of virtual machines. Para-virtualization is also supported by ESXi.

Pros: Powerful, advanced virtual machine capabilities.

Cons: Requires a host and a lot of resources. Not easy to install and run.

Virtual machine for Unix/Linux - Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM)

KVM supports virtualization only for UNIX-like operating systems (Linux). The application can be run on any hardware or in emulation mode, but without processor extensions the performance will be terrible. KVM is designed to be used via a console. But, it has a decent management interface that allows you to start and stop virtual machines, take screenshots and much more. The interface is known as the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) and is also used to manage Xen virtual machines (see below). Supports local and remote control. There is a known conflict with VirtualBox, but it can be resolved relatively easily

Audience: advanced users and professionals.

Pros: Full control and flexibility, very high performance under the right conditions.

Cons: UNIX-like systems only. Requires hardware virtualization extensions for normal execution. Emphasis on the command line. Not easy to install and run.

Virtual machine for Unix/Linux - Xen

Xen is another application for virtualizing UNIX-like operating systems (Linux). It must boot in its own kernel instance. The emphasis is on the command line. But, you can also use VMM. Officially, Xen has been supported by OpenSUSE for many years and was recently added to the main kernel release branch. Xen can run in hardware-assisted or para-virtualization mode. However, for para-virtualization, Xen is extremely problematic to install and run. Additionally, Xen has limited support for CD-ROM and network devices. The program is also available as a bare metal virtualization hypervisor on a Live CD. There are numerous third party extensions for managing Xen.

Audience: advanced users and professionals.

Pros: Full control and flexibility, very good performance, native kernel support.

Cons: UNIX-like systems only. Para-virtualization mode is buggy. Emphasis on the command line. A few command line utilities that can be confusing. Not easy to install and run. You must boot your own instance of the kernel.

Other solutions for creating virtual machines

There are many other solutions that were not listed here, such as Parallels Virtuozzo, OpenVZ and VMLite-based VirtualBox. There are also a number of redesigned solutions, including examples of crossing virtualization and thin clients. Linux also has a huge number of its own modifications. And don’t forget about cloud technologies with their virtualization applications.

However, if you are a novice user, then you should not chase possibilities and colorful modifications. Otherwise, trying to create a virtual machine to run a couple of programs can result in several sleepless nights.

A few words about virtualization programs

This review will be useful not only for novice users, but also for experts. The listed products cover a wide range of virtualization technologies at all levels. All solutions described are free for personal use. Choose what you want or need based on the available hardware, requirements for ease of setup and startup, as well as the availability of the required set of functions.

Typically, most people start learning virtualization with VMware Player or VirtualBox. Linux users may prefer KVM and perhaps Xen. Advanced users might want to take a look at ESXi.


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 malware, and install Windows XP , which will literally be “rubber”, i.e. quite powerful.

5 - WMwareWorkstation . But here the emulator, on the contrary, is perfect for 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.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to get a second computer on which you can install a different operating system or safely test programs. A virtual machine will help you cope with this task. In this article we will look at what a virtual machine is, why a virtual machine is needed, and how to install and configure a virtual machine.

Virtual machine– a program that emulates a real (physical) computer with all its components (hard drive, drive, BIOS, network adapters, etc.). You can install an operating system, drivers, programs, etc. on such a virtual computer. Thus, you can run several more virtual computers on your real computer, with the same or a different operating system. You can easily exchange data between your real and virtual computer.

Why do you need a virtual machine?

Not every PC user needs a virtual machine, but advanced users use it quite often. A virtual machine is used for various purposes and tasks:

  • Installation of a second/different operating system;
  • Software testing;
  • Safe launch of suspicious programs;
  • Computer network emulation;
  • Launching applications that cannot be launched from your operating system.

For clarity, I will give a few examples.

The Windows 7 operating system can be installed on your real computer, and Windows XP, Windows 8 or Linux can be installed on the virtual machine.

If you need to choose a program (for example, a video player), you need to install several similar programs and determine which one you like best. Whatever clutters up your computer, test programs in a virtual machine.

I often use a virtual machine when I write an article for a website. Before writing material, I personally check everything. When I do a software review, I have to install a lot of different programs, which creates extra clutter on the system. And unsuccessful encryption or hiding of data can lead to unpleasant consequences. It’s better to protect yourself and experiment on a virtual computer.

Virtual Machines Overview

There are a large number of different programs for creating and managing virtual computers. Now we will look at the 3 most popular programs.

VirtualBox virtual machine

– a free virtual machine on which you can install all the most popular operating systems. VirtualBox supports Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS.

VirtualBox supports both 32 and 64 bit versions of operating systems. VirtualBox supports working with virtual computers created in the paid program VMware Workstation.

Setting up and working with VirtualBox is very convenient and simple. The program is quite productive and stable.

VirtualBox has wide functionality, a specific interface and is completely free. VirtualBox is the best virtual machine for home use.

VMware virtual machine

VMware the most famous and widespread virtual machine. VMware is typically used by large sites or corporations.

VMware comes in two forms: Workstation and Player. VMware Workstation is a great, but paid virtual machine. VMware Player is a free, stripped-down version of VMware Workstation.

VMware Workstation supports 32 and 64 bit systems, USB 3.0, and installation of various operating systems.

VMware Workstation is by far the best virtual machine used by large companies, but its cost reduces its popularity among ordinary users.

Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine

Microsoft Virtual PC– another free virtual machine. It has wide functionality and a user-friendly interface, but it has one big drawback - it only works with Windows operating systems. It cannot run Linux or Mac OS.

To summarize, I would like to note that VirtualBox is best suited for home use. Next, we'll look at how to install and configure a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Installing a VirtualBox virtual machine

Of the virtual machines discussed in the previous section, it is best to use VirtualBox. Now we will look at how to install VirtualBox, and the next section will describe how to configure it.

Download the latest version of the program from the official website. Download program

We launch the installer and see the welcome window. Let's move on to the next stage.

At the second installation stage, you can see all the program components that will be installed and the directory in which the program will be installed. You can change the installation directory, but I recommend installing all the components. You may not need all the components now, but if you need them in the future, you need to install the virtual machine again. Go ahead.

Here you need to mark where you want to place the program shortcuts.

At the next stage, a warning will appear that during installation your computer will be temporarily disconnected from the network. If you are downloading something important from the Internet, wait until the download is complete and only then click the “Yes” button in the installation window.

You will then be told that if you are ready to begin the installation, click the “Install” button, and if you want to change any parameters, then go back. Click “Install” 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.

The installation is complete. Click the “Finish” button. The virtual machine will automatically start after installation is complete.

Let's move on to creation and configuration.

Creating a VirtualBox virtual machine

To create a virtual machine, you need to click on the “Create” button in the VirtualBox program window (in the upper left corner).

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

In the second step, you need to set the amount of RAM that will be allocated to the virtual machine. You need to choose based on the needs of the operating system. The system requirements for Windows 7 indicate that you need at least one gigabyte of RAM. I specified 1.5 GB. Windows XP requires less RAM. In general, we take the minimum that is indicated in the characteristics of the operating system + a small margin. Please note that you cannot give a virtual machine more than half of the computer’s RAM, of course, unless you have a very powerful computer with 8 or more gigabytes of RAM.

You can connect a virtual hard disk to a virtual machine. Let's create it. Check the box “Create a new virtual hard disk” and click on the “Create” button.

Now you need to specify the type of hard drive. If you do not know the formats that are described there, leave it as is and click “Next”.

Next, 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. See what is more convenient for you.

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

Setting up a VirtualBox virtual machine

Let's get acquainted with the settings of the virtual machine. Click the “Customize” button in the upper left corner of the program.

A settings window will appear. By changing the settings, you can change various parameters of the virtual machine (for example, the amount of RAM, the order in which devices boot, enabling 2D acceleration, etc.)

All settings are divided into several sections. The current version of the program has 9 sections. We will not consider each section in detail. Visually, you will master the settings much faster than by reading extra text. At the same time, by pointing at any settings item, a window will appear in which it will be described why this or that parameter is needed. I'll briefly describe what features you can find in each section.

Basic settings by section:

  • General – machine name, OS type, clipboard, removable media;
  • System – Basic virtual machine hardware settings: RAM, chipset, processor, acceleration, device boot order;
  • Display – Video memory settings, number of monitors, 2D and 3D acceleration, connection to a remote display, video capture;
  • Media – Hard drive controllers and their configuration;
  • Audio – audio driver and controller;
  • Network – setting up network adapters;
  • Com ports – enable and configure COM ports;
  • USB – Enabling the USB controller and setting up USB filters;
  • Public folders – create and manage public folders.

If you make a mistake in the settings, the program will inform you about it. The message “Incorrect settings detected” will appear at the bottom of the settings window. By hovering your cursor over the exclamation mark, you will see a pop-up panel in which you will find out what you did wrong and how you can fix it.

For an ordinary user, the first 3 sections of settings are enough. If the virtual machine runs 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, you need to 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.

Conclusion

In this article, we looked at what a virtual machine is, why it is needed, and how to install and configure a virtual machine. Installing and configuring a virtual machine is not difficult.