Most modern computers are powerful enough to
run entire operating systems within your main operating systems, which
means virtual machines are more commonplace today than ever. Here's a
look at the five most popular virtual machine applications.
Virtual machines
allow you to run one operating system emulated within another operating
system. Your primary OS can be Windows 7 64-bit, for example, but with
enough memory and processing power, you can run Ubuntu and OS X side-by-side within it.
VirtualBox (Windows/Mac/Linux, Free)
VirtualBox
has a loyal following thanks to a combination of a free-as-in-beer
price tag, cross-platform support, and a huge number of features that
make running and maintaining virtual machines a breeze. Virtual machine
descriptions and parameters are stored entirely in plain-text XML files
for easy portability and easy folder sharing. Its "Guest Additions"
feature, available for Windows, Linux, and Solaris virtual machines,
makes VirtualBox user friendly, allowing you to install software on the
virtual machine that grants extra privileges to the host machine for
tasks like sharing files, sharing drives and peripherals, and more.
You
can read about additional VirtualBox features here.. Parallels (Windows/Mac/Linux, $79.99)
Although
best known for the Mac version of their virtual machine software,
Parallels also runs virtualization on Windows and Linux. The Parallels
software boasts a direct link, thanks to optimization on Intel and AMD
chips, to the host computer's hardware with selective focus—when you
jump into the virtual machine to work the host machine automatically
relinquishes processing power to it. Parallels also offers clipboard
sharing and synchronization, shared folders, and transparent printer and
peripheral support.
VMware (Windows/Linux, Basic: Free, Premium: $189)
VMware for desktop users comes in two primary flavors: VMware Player
and VMware Workstation. VMware Player is a free solution aimed at casual
users who need to create and run virtual machines but don't need
advanced enterprise-level solutions. VMware Workstation includes all the
features of VMWare Player—easy virtual machine creation, hardware
optimization, driver-less guest OS printing—and adds in the ability to
clone machines, take multiple snapshots of the guest OS, and a replay
changes made to the guest OS for testing software and recording the
results within the virtual machine.
You can read more about VMware Player here and VMware Workstation here.
QEMU (Linux, Free)
QEMU is a powerful virtualization tool for Linux machines built upon the back of the KVM system
(Kernel-based Virtual Machine). QEMU executes guest code directly on
the host hardware, can emulate machines across hardware types with
dynamic translation, and supports auto-resizing virtual disks. Where
QEMU really shines, especially among those who like the push the limits
of virtualization and take their virtual machines with them, is running
on hosts without administrative privileges.
Unlike nearly every emulator out there QEMU does not require admin access to run, making it a perfect candidate for building thumb-drive based portable virtual machines.
Windows Virtual PC (Windows, Free)
Compared to the other any-OS-under-the-sun virtual machine applications
in this week's Hive Five, Windows Virtual PC is a tame offering.
Windows Virtual PC exists solely to emulate other—usually
earlier—versions of Windows. If you need to run an app that only works
under Windows XP or test software for backwards compatibility with
Vista, Windows Virtual Machine has you covered. It's limited, true, but
for people working in a strictly Windows environment—and most of the
world still is—it gets the job done. Note: Virtual PC is availabls as
Virtual PC 2004, Virtual PC 2007, and Windows Virtual PC, use this host and guest OS compatibility chart to figure out which one fits your needs.
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