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VirtualBox vs VMware Player vs Windows Virtual PC


LeetPirate

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As the topic says, I would like to get your comparison of VirtualBox vs VMware Player vs Windows Virtual PC and your opinions on each.

Personally my only opinion is that VMware is bloated and VirtualBox is better but I would like to learn from the experience of those who are more familiar with using virtualization technologies. In the end I really just want the fastest free virtual environment to test out Windows Server 2008.

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i use sun virtualbox on linux (mint) and it pretty cool.i used it to virtualize XP ,fedora and Ubuntu. when i install guest additions i can hover my mouse seamlessly between the host and guest.this really saves me a lot of time and confusion.it is also very easy to use.there's nothing bad with virtualbox ;) .

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Yeah, VMWare is rather big but it's by far the best I tried, I never get any problems with it and I use it heavily. Not to mention it works flawlessly with zero-configuration.

VirtualBox is nice but I ALWAYS had the same exact problem no matter which version I tried, I could never access the internet from the guest OS.

VirtualPC? *pukes* :P

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Well this is the question I'm havin in my mind from last six months. Well I have never tried VM as I don't think my PC would be able to handle it. But I would like to know more about it.

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@LeetPirate:

VMWare = too big

VirtualPC = too complex

VirtualBox = just right

In any case, don't take my word for it.

I'm just passing what my experience dictates.

@Lohengrin:

Deselect VirtualBox Networking when installing VirtualBox.

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Me too. Biz has great experience in many subjects. :)

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@LeetPirate:

VMWare = too big

VirtualPC = too complex

VirtualBox = just right

In any case, don't take my word for it.

I'm just passing what my experience dictates.

@Lohengrin:

Deselect VirtualBox Networking when installing VirtualBox.

I still think VMWare is the best regardless of its size, and there are some unoffical "Lite" versions out there.

Regarding VBox I might try your tip but do you know if there's a way to convert a VMWare to VBox machine? If not then I can try take an image then restore on a new machine I guess.

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Personal experience is for VMware. I use it pratically daily and never encountered a problem. is stable and the easy of usage is great. Internet and the ability to copy and paste from the host to the VM (and vice-versa) is out of the box (you only install vmware tools in the VM). I think the option to make a shared folder more easy too. Not noted much difference in resource usage compared with virtualbox with the VM on. My machine is modest (am2+ 4600 with 2gb of ram in dual channel) and i run my vista x86 host with a Vista x86 VM without lags. I think the difference in the installer is because the difference in the number of options. Not remember if exist much difference in the size of the snapshots. But i recommend for you the default: install the 2 and see if you need all the options of vmware. If you think is to much, go with virtualbox. The advantage of virtualbox is it can use the directx of the Host (or anything like that - not remember). Take some read about the frequency of exploits for the 2 too. I think VMware being a businness oriented software can attract more attention.

take care

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VMWare is a little better than VirtualBox but VirtualBox is a lot smaller(if I remember correctly).

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What about resource allocation, what cpu do these things emulate for the virtual environment? I want to use it to load server 2008 R2 on it which is a pure 64bit OS, what are your thoughts on that?

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Does VMware and VirtulalBox run on Windows 7?

yep

VMWare is a little better than VirtualBox but VirtualBox is a lot smaller(if I remember correctly).

yep

What about resource allocation, what cpu do these things emulate for the virtual environment? I want to use it to load server 2008 R2 on it which is a pure 64bit OS, what are your thoughts on that?

Frankly I haven't tried that before so I'm not really sure...

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So i think the best in this case can be Virtualbox. Because you only can create a VM x64 if the host system is x64 if i remeber right. In this case Virtualbox have a x64 native version that can perform better.

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I'm currently using VMware. I have used others but ran into configuration problems. For me, VMware is installed and forget. As far as being bloated??, it works....USB, VGA, network, internet...just like a real computer. I usually have 4 OS (Win7, XP, Vista) running at the same time for cracking software. I love the configuration options...drag and drop for host/Vpc. I abuse the crap out of my VPc. Another good thing is that, Perfect Disk 10 can defrag VMware offline. You can mount VMware hard drives as and external hard drives. I also found this external programs. I have not tested them but the Time Machine is what I am looking for.

I don't know what else to say except, I use VMware for simplicity and dependability and maturity.

http://vmxbuilder.com/

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I think I will begin with VMware, if it works for me I may just keep using that one for now.

Just to clarify, "VMware Player" is the one I need right? It is their only free solution so I assume it's the one I need.

Thanks.

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I think I will begin with VMware, if it works for me I may just keep using that one for now.

Just to clarify, "VMware Player" is the one I need right? It is their only free solution so I assume it's the one I need.

Thanks.

VMWare player only runs virtual machines you already made but what you need is VMWare Workstation 6.X which is not free but still not hard to "acquire" ;)

If you can't find it lemme know and I'll get you a torrent for it.

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Hello.

VMware Player 3 will can to make virtual machines !

++

"VMware Player is a freeware virtualization software product from VMware, Inc.[2] (a division of EMC Corporation). Player can run guest virtual appliances or other virtual machines produced by other VMware products but cannot currently itself create new virtual machines, but will be possible with version 3"

Now, version 3 has not been released yet (only an RC), so as it stands you still need VMWare workstation.

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You can use the Free VMWare server for your purpose also.

I though VMWare Server was used to create VMs to be accessed on a server or something like that.

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Ok so here is an update on what I have tried. Tried Windows Virtual PC, works OK for xp mode but it stinks when trying to install server 2008 R2, can you believe it gave a boot error? LOL A virtual boot error while trying to boot from the image file. Typical Microsoft nonsense. I believe it is incompatible and cannot virtualize pure 64bit OS. Pathetic. BTW is there a graceful way to uninstall virtual machines from Windows Virtual PC or do I just delete the files manually?

I tried VirtualBox and considering this is my first time using it, I was impressed at how easy it was to get it up and running, installed server 2008 R2 without any problems, internet is working in the VM because I followed what Bizarre said and deselected the network thing when I was installing VirtualBox.

I have 2 questions about VirtualBox:

  1. Should I enable nested paging under settings-> system-> acceleration?
  2. How do I share a clipboard between VM and real system? I was trying to copy files across without luck. Surely it must be doable since it works in Windows Virtual PC when I VM xp but I just need to know where the option is to configure it in VirtualBox.

Will probably be trying out VMware workstation later this week when I get some time. I will have to check their site for a quick comparison to see if I need workstation or server edition.

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Hello.

VMware Player 3 will can to make virtual machines !

++

"VMware Player is a freeware virtualization software product from VMware, Inc.[2] (a division of EMC Corporation). Player can run guest virtual appliances or other virtual machines produced by other VMware products but cannot currently itself create new virtual machines, but will be possible with version 3"

Now, version 3 has not been released yet (only an RC), so as it stands you still need VMWare workstation.

That's why I wrote in future tense ;)

Cheers.

++

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Hello.

VMware Player 3 will can to make virtual machines !

++

"VMware Player is a freeware virtualization software product from VMware, Inc.[2] (a division of EMC Corporation). Player can run guest virtual appliances or other virtual machines produced by other VMware products but cannot currently itself create new virtual machines, but will be possible with version 3"

Now, version 3 has not been released yet (only an RC), so as it stands you still need VMWare workstation.

That's why I wrote in future tense ;)

Cheers.

++

well...technically "will can to" isn't any form of tense at all (j/k) :P

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