Virtualization is always an interesting and stimulating topic for IT workers. Although the topic is part of the speeches between specialized technicians, engineers and consultants who work in IT environments, today anyone can virtualize an operating system on their computer, without encountering major technical difficulties. Virtualization is also used to lower hardware costs so that multiple virtual servers can be installed on a single machine, sharing the resources of the latter (which must be powerful enough to support the virtual machines created). Simply put, virtualization allows you to install multiple operating systems on one computer, so that they can work and stay simultaneously and separately, as if they were different computers.
Let's see together the best programs that you can use on Windows to virtualize other operating systems .
Article Index
- What is virtualization
- Hardware requirements for virtualization
- Best programs to virtualize operating systems
- Other virtualization programs
What is virtualization
Virtualization, both in the corporate environment and for home use, can also be used to use separate environments for each software application so that one program cannot interfere with the other. This is very useful for checking the functioning of a program on different types of computers or for testing an unknown program before starting it on the production machine (if it hides a virus or a threat it can be easily controlled without compromising the work). In fact, you can even test viruses and antiviruses to test their effects, without there being any risk of causing problems on the main computer.
Virtualization can also be used as a tool to try different operating systems such as Linux or the next version of Windows, so as to try new features or study new systems without having to install dual-boot with a real partition.
When we talk about virtualization of operating systems, we must be careful to identify the host, i.e. the main computer where the management program is installed and which provide all the hardware to be shared, and the guest, i.e. the operating system that runs all inside the virtualization program.
The virtual machine is enclosed in a file that can be of different types depending on the program used to create it: VMDK (VMWare), VHD (Microsoft), VDI (Sole) and HDD (Parallel).
In another post we showed you how to create the VHD file for your PC, so that you can test it in another virtualized location.
Hardware requirements for virtualization
In the home environment, we will need to make sure we have the following hardware requirements before starting any virtual machine:
- Octa-core or higher CPU with Hyper-V support, nested paging and para-virtualization
- RAM of at least 16 GB
- Dedicated SSD of at least 200 GB (without operating system or files inside)
- Dedicated video card with at least 1 GB of video memory
- CPU: at least 2 cores (of those available)
- RAM: at least 4 GB
- Virtual hard disk: at least 60 GB
- Video card: active 3D acceleration and 512 MB of virtualized video memory
In the business environment, numerous servers are set up to share resources, so the latter are always available and the virtual machines run as if they were "real"; in many companies we find in fact only keyboard, mouse and monitor for each workstation, since all systems are virtualized on a central server with other services (virtual stations).
Best programs to virtualize operating systems
The best programs to virtualize operating systems on Windows can be used, for home and non-commercial use, for free and without limits. If we have a company and we want to virtualize workstations, we will have to rely on paid versions in order to obtain all the necessary tools.Hyper-V
One of the fastest and fastest ways to create a virtual machine is Hyper-V, a program already integrated in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.
It can be used both at home and in the company, since it can manage all the virtual machines built on a Windows 10 server. Virtualization is extremely performing, especially with hardware capable of supporting the specific Hyper-V instructions present on modern processors.
In order to create a virtual machine with Hyper-V, we recommend that you read our guide on how to create a virtual machine in Window 10 and 8.1 with Hyper-V .
VMware Workstation Player
One of the best programs, if not the best ever, with which we can create virtual machines on Windows is VMware Workstation Player, free version of the best known VMware Workstation.
The program is designed to be simple to use even for less experienced users, offers automatic configuration based on the operating system chosen, can automatically download the files needed to complete the creation of the machine and allows you to switch to full screen, to exchange the files by simply dragging them and sharing notes between the host and the guest.
Another strong point is the suspension mode, which allows you to turn off the virtual machine in a few seconds and restart it from where we left it, so that you can be immediately productive.
This program can only be used for free in the home, so if we have a company it is better to focus on the paid version (much more powerful and complete).
To create virtual machines with this program, please read our guide on how to use VMware Player to create virtual machines .
VirtualBox
Another very useful program for virtualizing operating systems is Oracle VirtualBox.
With this free program we can virtualize any operating system and obtain advanced features such as: saving snapshots for every moment of the operating system (so that we can restore the system after an experiment or an update gone wrong), access to advanced 3D acceleration, possibility of move files between host and guest by simply dragging them, bidirectional notes, advanced virtualization of the network card (so as to make the machine look like any computer on the LAN) and management of any type of virtual hard disk, with the possibility of choosing whether to take up all the space right away or use dynamic allocation.
Most of the functionality can be obtained by installing the Guest Additions to the virtualized system. Virtualization is very good and fast, especially with Windows and with GNU / Linux systems.
If we are looking for a guide on how to create a virtual machine on VirtualBox, we invite you to read our guide to VirtualBox to create, start and manage virtual machines on PC .
Other virtualization programs
What we have shown you above are the best operating system virtualization programs that we can try for free at home. If we want to evaluate other virtualization solutions, the best alternatives are:- VMWare Workstation Pro, or the paid version of VMware Workstation Player with many additional features and the ability to manage a server of virtual machines in real time.
- VMWare Fusion is the Mac version of VMware Workstation, with which you can create any type of virtual machine on OS X systems.
- Parallels Desktop is another non-free Mac program that allows you to manage multiple virtual machines simultaneously (as long as resources allow).
- QEMU is a popular virtualization solution with which you can also virtualize Android.
- Microsoft Virtual PC is the old free virtualization program from Microsoft that was used to virtualize Windows XP in Windows 7. Virtua PC can still be used in its 2007 version and can work to virtualize any operating system as a host. Virtual PC has some limitations: It does not have support for USB devices and the state of the virtual machine cannot be saved.
Other types of virtualizations that we can exploit allow, for example, to install virtual private networks, virtual CDs and virtual printers .
