Desktop Virtualization Software - What Do You Use

[mrsmith]

Desktop Virtualization Software - What Do You Use?

[DKT27]

Nice poll. :)

VirtualBox. Free, opensource, not so big sized. When I started using it, it had more features than any other. Also, I'm used to it and it's interface.

True, it does cause BSOD at times when installing a driver during installation (blame ESET, disable it and it will install fine) but that's the only thing I don't like.

[just1acc]

VirtualBox, small size, easy install, used to it. Linux support.

I had hard time to setup internet connection on VmWare. VirtualBox detect s it automatically.

[ALIEDHED]

VirtualBox or VMware Player it's already use for test programs insecure...

[ande]

VMware is da best ! :duh:

[avmad]

No need to settle for VBox when you can use VMWare. Workstation 8 is brilliant.

[RadioActive]

You forgot to mention Windows Virtual PC, which is the successor of Microsoft Virtual PC. I use it, it's free and it integrates nicely with Windows 7.

[Freddyfre]

VirtualBox with win7 & xp

[SnakeMasteR]

VMWare and VirtualBox, currently XP SP2 in VirtualBox. :)

[PurplebeanZ]

Virtual box on windows and parallels on osx. Can't stand VMware - it makes a mess of your system, and the virtual machines just never feel quite right. When I full screen my vbox machine you wouldn't know it's not the native os, but I don't find the same thing with VMware.

[playar]

feel good.. Vbox

[rseiler]

One thing that annoys me about Vbox is that you can't drag and drop files into the VM, which is a very convenient feature. Virtual PC has it; not sure about Vmware.

[johndoe]

One thing that annoys me about Vbox is that you can't drag and drop files into the VM, which is a very convenient feature. Virtual PC has it; not sure about Vmware.

vmware does allow drag and drop.

does anyone here have or use the latest (v6) or parallels, i'd love to get my hands on a copy (hint hint ;)). i've been using vmware but like PurplebeanZ said, it does make a mess out of your system. i'd used the prior version of parallels (v2.x) many years ago but this latest versions seems to be very promising!

[demoneye]

VB is the best choice , first its 100% free , sec its LIGHTER than all the other , it doesnt hold any stay Resident services when you close it :)

[maniac2003]

VMware Workstation 8 ^_^

[Knightmare]

VMware here. I had it crash on me today after I restarted the machine. I uninstalled Acronis from my VM and when I went to restart the VM, it said that VMware Workstation stopped working. Oddly enough, the virtual machine didn't crash, just the workstation. :huh:

[PreddyME]

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VBox_vs_Others But..

A common pirate behavior. I'm with VMware too because it's not-free and expensive. :D

[highend]

VMware. I tried to use Virtual Box in portable mode but it won't save the settings for the bridged network settings correctly and a vm without any network access is a bit clumsy ;)

[johndoe]

i started using vbox after going through this thread and although i liked the performance and features, i did find missing the same feature rseiler did above, drag and drop b/w host and guest. while you can do a file transfer via share/map it is highly inconvenient. in virtualpc (for xp) the way i get around this limitation is to create a temporary .ISO file with the desired content and mount the .ISO on the guest machine

[johndoe]

Update: I been using vbox since i went thru this thread.

My take: It's brilliant, the performance both on the guest and the host is awesome, no extraneous services created and/or loaded. The only drawback is no drag and drop between guest and host OS but it has a pretty nifty workaround a.k.a. shared folders which pretty much makes up for the lack of drag and drop. so out goes vmware. just uninstalled it as i was typing this. i am curious tho, vbox is free and less than 100 MB in size whereas vmware is almost 475 MB and costs money although i neither know nor care how much exactly :D

something to think about, isn't it :)

[Miroglu]

Virtualbox and vmware both are great desktop virtualization software.

[Hacknhotq]

VMware Workstation 8 very good.

[johndoe]

just to modify/update my vote (and the rationale thereof) vbox was not working well with extended use. the same guest operating system (modded xpmce basically) would install and work sometimes but not other times, vbox woudl crash and close at before the very first setup screen would even show up. switched back to vmware again. happy now :)