The best virtual machine for windows 7. Online virtual computer. Microsoft Virtual PC

What do you think is the most best virtual machine?

I will not invent a bicycle and retell others. I'd rather suggest you read an article from Linux Format magazine. In which the experts did comparative review five popular virtual machines in the hope of finding the very ... the best virtual machine. By the way, I highly recommend Windows to those who renounced and managed to escape from captivity.

• 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 tediousness, 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 checking programs. Among which, as you understand, there may be. Another virtual machine is used by hackers to test their own and others' Trojans, and other miracle files. Whichever group you belong to, you will still be interested in learning more about virtual machines and their work.

How we tested virtual machines

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

We tested each candidate on a different guest OS: Mint 17.1 and Kubuntu 15.04 beta, and different versions a non-Linux OS called Windows. To measure performance, we compiled the main Mint core, ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark, and played different games from our Steam library. To test the actual options, we ran them on an 8-core machine with 16GB of RAM and 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 providing resources), but ten years ago CPU innovations mean that you can only achieve near-native performance with x86 code. And now we manage to cram dozens of machines (easily copied and restored) into one building, and the work of data centers has become much more efficient. It is also possible to simulate another architecture, say ARM, which is convenient for embedded developers.

It's also a boon for regular users: getting to know a new OS doesn't have to be such a time-consuming exercise in constant fear of ruining your system. Even if you just want to test a new program, it is much safer to do it in a virtual machine instead of risking your current setup. Support for virtualization inside the kernel (via KVM) and the Qemu emulator means that linux users no longer need to resort to proprietary tools.

In the olden days, Sun's VirtualBox (once owned by Innotek and now Oracle) was the only real option. But times have changed, so let's look at other virtualization applications as well.

Both VMware and VirtualBox use kernel-dependent modules that load to do their magic. VMware will need to compile them, which will require installing the kernel header packages and all the compiler stuff. Then you get init script to boot these modulesthough it will be useless for 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 all the same error messages). At the time of this writing, the 3.19 series kernels required patching the VMware source code, but I hope 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 starting it, which will notify you with a kind message, and if you are using a fully functional desktop environment, it will do it for you; all you have to do is enter the root password.

Both VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are pretty straightforward, unless you want to be distracted by every option. However, VMware Player doesn't have that many options, and you can get your machine up and running very quickly. But if you are determined to make the most of these options, you will need to install Guest Additions.

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

Boxes is the easiest to use in our collection, even if it only provides the bare minimum of Qemu / libvirt functions. VMware Player and VirtualBox come in second, followed by their paid rival (nominally, they are more difficult due to more options). Virt-Manager isn't particularly difficult to use, but it has enough of Qemu's maze of settings to overwhelm a beginner. Besides, the mechanism for managing storage is rather convoluted, 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 kit, and in that case why not take the risk.

Performance

Will they create a slow or nimble VM for you?

Hardware enhancements and paravirtualization technologies have made it possible to perform some tasks at speeds close to those of real hardware.

However, as it is, there is usually a definite drop in performance. Almost every configuration we tested on the guest desktop showed some sort of lag. But you get used to it, and you can turn off all sorts of beauty or turn on the appropriate neutralization mode, if you are worried.

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 day-to-day tasks using Terminal, you are unlikely to notice much of a difference between our candidates. Experiments with kernel compilation have shown that VirtualBox lags far behind in the competition. The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test confirmed this conclusion: both tasks completed 20% slower than the others. Disk I / O (especially if you have an SSD) and network traffic were fast for all of our candidates. Ultimately VMware secured the edge with support for 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 functions certainly implied: these include, for example, the ability to create snapshots, support for Intel VT-x and AMD-V processor extensions, and flexible configuration of virtual hardware. All of this is offered by everyone, but some applications are capable of more heroic feats.

It should be noted here that Gnome Boxes and Virt-Manager are just interfaces to Qemu (via the libvirt abstraction layer). And Qemu is essentially a processor emulator that can provide virtualization over KVM, but it is a whole world nonetheless.

So, let's consider our candidates separately.

Gnome Boxes ★★

When called from command line Qemu supports a ton of options, most of which are missing from Gnome Boxes: its goal (implemented) is simplicity and clarity appearance and work. 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 the network), or OVirt.

Gnome boxes

Boxes doesn't offer much control over your virtual machine over the network, but at least it does provide all the NAT wizardry you need to keep your virtual machine communicating with the world. Other candidates successfully set up 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). He seems to have gone overboard with his list of supported x86 operating systems, in particular the Linux family.

Virt-Manager

Leaving that aside, Virt-Manager makes it relatively easy to configure a machine of any complexity - you can add any hardware, including multiple network interfaces. In addition to KVM VMs, Virt-Man-ager is able to leverage Qemu / libvirt support for Xen guests and LXC containers. It can optionally also poll guest resources and thus provide very nice graphs (like the ones in the Performance section on page 25, which takes about 30 seconds after windows startup ten). In addition, Virt-Manager leverages Qemu's recently added USB 3.0 support.

Compatibility and snapshots

Can virtual machines be moved between real ones?

Sometimes it is necessary to move VMs between hypervisors. All our programs can import machines stored in the Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) format, which is simply a tar archive with 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 beloved QCOW2 format, which allows multiple system snapshots to be stored internally using the excellent Copy On Write (COW) trick.

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

VirtualBox and VMware Workstation are also capable of "cloning" VMs, and this is an effective method of taking system snapshots: data is written to the corresponding clone only if its state is different from that of the parent. VMware allows the VMDK guest image to be mounted to the host, which is convenient too, 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 main tool for many. This program has a clear structure that makes it easy to set 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 utilization as a percentage. VirtualBox also supports video recording, so you can record a Windows manual for your youTube channel.

VirtualBox

It can import any virtual disks, but only offers USB 2.0 host controller support, and then only if you install proprietary package Oracle extensions. The distributed clipboard and drag-and-drop options (in one or both directions, as you wish) are quite handy. VirtualBox provides convenient indicators for network and disk I / O and for CPU utilization.

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

VMware Player ★★★

VMware Free Offer Passed long haul since its inception in 2008. The most remarkable thing is that it is no longer a player: it is more than capable of creating a 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 handy if you are testing latest versionsay a DDoS client or see how many malware you can hang Windows XP on your virtual machine until it bursts. VMware also supports uSB devices 3.0, and installing the guest tools will allow for shiny graphics, a shared clipboard and shared 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 of this Comparison it would be more appropriate to take a higher quality Workstation instead. This application provides many additional features for developers, including the ability to group virtual machines into a kind of virtual phalanx so that you can make them go live simultaneously with one click.

VMware Workstation also offers support for new commands modern processors Intel, and also allows you to configure machines with virtual CPUs, up to 16 and 64 GB of RAM. However, Workstation is heavily focused on integrating with the rest of the (rather weighty) VMware suite, and will therefore look more appropriate 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 only confused.

VirtualBox uses Qt4, which is especially infuriating on the desktop Arch Linux based on Qt, where Qt5 is used all over the place, but this is just a bit of a niche flaw. Boxes pairs perfectly with Gnome 3, which is to be expected; Virt-Manager and VMware use GTK3 and are also perfectly compatible with it.

All of our candidates allow us to switch the virtual machine to full screen mode, and luckily, they all allowed us to switch back with the appropriate keyboard shortcut.

Unity modes in VMware (no, this is not a way to make everything ubuntu-like) and Seamless modes in Virtual-Box stand out - both display application windows directly from the guest on the host desktop. This is very good for Linux VMs (excluding potential confusion between guest and host windows), however trying to run
the preview was not very successful; Windows 7 with the Aero interface turned on was also not a pleasant experience.

All our candidates support the launch of a guest in full screen mode, and they can be configured to change resolution when the window is resized. Suitable hotkeys are provided to exit this script. The drag-and-drop capability on VMware machines is very convenient, which is why VMware wins this category.

Graphics acceleration

Can software rendering problems be avoided?

Any of our candidates would serve you great if you just wanted to set up a virtual machine, without intending to do anything graphics-intensive.

But if you need 3D acceleration, you need to take VMware or VirtualBox. Once you get the hang of installing the Guest Additions (including the side-by-side VirtualBox double-negation question that tries to turn you away from its experimental WDDM support, for example windows interface 7 Aero), you can enjoy 3D acceleration in VirtualBox and two VMware clients.

Boom boom, Maxwell's silver hammer hit the, uh, hive. 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 a virtual video card, and VMware up to 2 GB. Note that these gigabytes do not come from your actual graphics card, so often you won't see much improvement over 256MB. VirtualBox also provides 2D acceleration for Windows guest, which should help speed up video rendering, screen enlargement, and color correction, although this depends a lot on host configuration - this setting won't have much impact on a fast machine. The Windows VM probably won't run Battlefield 4 or Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (so we're very lucky to be ported to Linux) when it's all down to 11, but more older or less demanding games will do just fine: we spent a good hour on the popular indie game Don't Starve, completely forgetting our Comparison.

Everything worked better on VMware than on VirtualBox, but perhaps it was a more advantageous configuration - on Arch Linux we used the most recent proprietary nvidia driver, which could determine the preponderance of one over the other.

Verdict

Virtualization is a long 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 do better in VirtualBox than we do, you will choose VMware as your hypervisor. But then again, this technology is nowhere near as mature as the native DirectX 11 format. You might even have better luck with games in Wine [Ed .: - Or not.] With some experimental performance patches. We're not really happy with VMware licenses, especially the one that makes you pay after 30 days. trial periodhowever, for some, enterprise-level features in Workstation will be a true boon. In particular, when using vCenter Converter from VMware, you virtualize the 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, along with more than abundant documentation. You can use them in your scripts when you go all the way with virtualization by pushing a host of virtual machines out of a secure command line environment. Perhaps hackers will prefer to work with Qemu directly, while those looking for a simple free solution with open source happiness will be Gnome Boxes.

Bubbles look good if you don't see the effort involved in rendering them.

But there is only one winner (a draw is a rare exception), and this time it's Virt-Manager - well, we couldn't afford to win VMware. Virt-Manager lets you harness most of Qemu's power 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, perhaps it will appear. VMware Player and Gnome Boxes tied for second place as they both scored high for their simplicity, and we love the Boxes icon, which depicts a tesseract (or hypercube, or cube cube - whatever you like).

Virt-Manager ★★★★
All managers would do so well.

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

VMware Player ★★★
Fast and convenient, but the license failed.

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

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

Every PC user sometimes wants to try some other operating system, but hesitates to install it on his work computer. Indeed, installing an unfamiliar OS is a very risky act. One wrong command can lose all data on the disk. But today there is a way to test several operating systems on one computer at once, and, if desired, even simultaneously! This method is called - virtual machine or virtual computer... Consider three best programsthat allow you to use virtualization technology at home.

Understanding virtual machines

Virtualization systems that exist today have a lot in common. Specifically, each virtual machine recognizes a CD drive as well as a floppy drive. In addition, it is possible to work with virtual drives and disk images. The ability to manually set the quantity is very useful random access memory for each of the virtual machines, a list of connected devices, etc. Such flexible settings allow you to comfortably use the guest system. Highly convenient function is the ability to suspend a virtual machine at any time. This frees up the necessary hardware resources for the host system.

All the differences between existing virtual machines, in fact, are reduced only to the list of supported by them operating systems, and cost... The most common systems today are VirtualBox, Windows Virtual PC and VMWare. How are they different?

ORACLE VirtualBox - versatile, free virtual machine

VirtualBox - very simple, powerful and free tool for virtualization, developing thanks to the support of the famous ORACLE corporation. Allows you to install as a "guest" almost any modern operating system, be it Windows, MacOS or any of the many representatives of the Linux family.

Creating virtual machines in VirtualBox is done with a step-by-step wizard. Any more or less experienced PC user will be able to understand its work. The system supports working with networks, therefore, if desired, you can give the virtual machine access to the Internet.

VirtualBox allows you to take "snapshots" of the operating system. With their help, you can create "restore points" to which you can "roll back" the guest system at any time in case of errors or failures.

Windows Virtual PC - a virtual machine from Microsoft

Windows Virtual PC - a virtual machine to work only and exclusively with Windows. Linux installation, MacOS and other operating systems are not supported.

Virtual PC allows you to run several different copies of Windows on one computer. In this case, you can set them a priority so that in automatic mode allocate more resources for the needs of a particular virtual machine, slowing down the work of the rest.

The monoplatform nature of the Virtual PC virtual machine is its main drawback. However, if you want to test only programs running on Windows, this is not relevant. Some disadvantage can be considered less functional and less convenient than in VirtualBox interface. Otherwise, Virtual PC is quite a reliable tool that allows you to create virtual machines with Microsoft Windows operating systems.

VMware Workstation - for serious tasks

VMware Workstation is a powerful, premium, premium virtualization software that supports Windows and Linux. For virtualization MacOS, this machine is not intended.

Due to its high reliability and the broadest functionality, VMware Workstation is often used not only for testing, but also for the permanent operation of virtual machines as servers, whether it be a firewall that separates an organization's network from the Internet or even a server of a database.

VMware Workstation is highly configurable, including many hardware options and options network connections to work with the Internet. This system is better than others we can reproduce graphics applications on virtual machines, since it has a special virtual 3D accelerator for obtaining high Quality graphics.

The interface of VMware Workstation is quite well-organized, so it's pretty easy to get comfortable with all its rich functionality. The program fully supports the Russian language.

It should be noted that VMware Workstation has a free "little brother" - VMWare Player. The player does not know how to create virtual machines, but allows you to launch previously created in VMware Workstation. This program will be useful in cases of testing, when, for example, a developer automated system will send it for review in the form of a virtual machine image. This practice is becoming more widespread, since it relieves the user of the need to deploy an unfamiliar program on their own.

The concept of a virtual machine (from the English. Virtual Machine) means a software or hardware system that emulates the hardware of a certain platform (guest platform), executing programs for the guest platform by means of the host platform.

Also, a virtual machine can virtualize a certain platform, creating independent, isolated environments on it for operating systems and programs.

Virtual Machine for Windows 7 - we offer you an overview of popular programs.

To put it simply, a virtual machine provides an opportunity on one real, physical computer to create several virtual computers, install various operating systems, programs, etc. on them.

This technology came to the masses from the world of server infrastructure, where virtual machines are used to create maximum server load and reduce equipment downtime.

Virtual machines are used to solve a range of tasks such as:

1. Optimization of the use of server resources.
2. Information protection, as well as limiting the capabilities of some programs, the so-called sandbox idea.
3. Research into new computer architecture or software.
4. Emulation of various computer architectures (for example, to emulate Sony's PlayStation game console).
5. Creature malicious code.
   For example, the SubVirt rootkit, created in 2006 by Microsoft Research (MSR), created a virtual working environment in which the user's operating system was placed along with antivirus, firewall and other software designed to protect the PC.
   At the same time, the rootkit itself remained outside and therefore did not fall into the field of action of antiviruses, providing remote control over the virtual machine to the attacker.
6. Modeling computer networks.
7. Software testing and debugging.

We bring to your attention short review most popular virtualization software.

Windows 7 virtual machine: Virtual Box

Oracle virtualization software for Linux, Mac OS X, MS Windows, etc.

The program is quite popular and below we will consider not everything, but only its key advantages:

Free.

Cross-platform.

Support for 64-bit guests on 32-bit host platforms. To do this, the host platform must support virtualization technology at the processor level.

Support for audio devices and different types network interaction.

The ability to create a chain of backup states (backups), to which you can return in case of problems with the guest system.

Russian language interface.

Important! The disadvantages of the program are not significant, but for the sake of objectivity of the assessment, they should also be mentioned - VirtualBox is poorly compatible with Win 95/98 slow work systems) and Mac OS X (sound problems).

As you can see, the shortcomings of the program are not significant and are rather nominal.

Windows 7 virtual machine: Xen

Virtual Machine Monitor (Hypervisor), developed at the University of Cambridge and distributed with the open source source code (GPL license).

Using paravirtualization technology (PV mode), Xen can achieve very high performance by emulating real hardware platforms.

A feature of the PV mode is the absence of the initial moment of computer boot (imitation of the BIOS code, bootloader) and the guest OS kernel starts immediately in the desired mode, like ordinary programs.

It is worth noting that Xen can be compared to enterprise-grade software due to its rich functionality.

Advantages:

Free.

Cross-platform.

High performance of running virtual machines, which is very close to the performance of real systems.

The ability to migrate running virtual machines between physical hosts.

High degree of support for emulated hardware.

The disadvantage of the program is, perhaps, one - its relative complexity, in comparison with similar software from other companies.

Virtual Machine for Windows 7: Virtual PC

Initially this program was developed by Connetix for Mac OS back in 1997. 4 years later, a version for Windows was released.

Later, in 2003, the rights to the program were acquired by Microsoft Corporation, and in 2006 the program became free.

In the future, Virtual PC did not develop and currently contains the functionality of 2007.

Benefits:

Free.

Simple, user-friendly interface.

Disadvantages:

The program works only in the Windows environment, but is incompatible with Windows 8 and higher.

The program, unlike Virtual Box, is not compatible with AMD processors.

Virtual Machine for Windows 7: VMware Player

A product from the largest American developer of virtualization software Vmware.

Vmware products are primarily aimed at the corporate segment of the market, therefore full version programs - VMware Workstation - paid.

The license price is about $ 250. For non-commercial use, the manufacturer offers a program with limited functionality VMware Player.

It should be noted that the restrictions generally apply to software developers and IT specialists; the program is quite functional to perform the tasks of an ordinary user.

Benefits:

Free.

Fast.

Simple, user-friendly interface.

ThinPrint technology allows you to print any document opened in the guest OS without installing additional drivers.

Working with multiple monitors in the guest OS.

File exchange between guest systems using Drag & Drop technology.

Disadvantages:

Limited functionality of the free version.

Installing Windows 7 x64 on VirtualBox (virtual machine)

Virtual machine for Windows 7: multiple operating systems on one machine

Any modern company today faces the need for Internet access. With the help of a "virtual machine" you can connect any number of subscribers to the network. Access is via dial-up telephone lines using a modem. It is possible to connect to a dynamic, static, private IP-address, in the latter case, the user's computer is closed from unauthorized access from the external network. You are charged for the total running time of all users of the "virtual machine" When connecting, you can choose any tariff plan convenient for you.

What is a virtual machine?

The virtual machine is directly software (Software / program), which is installed on your operating system, and then with its help it is possible to work in another operating system.

Using restrictions. Reducing the cost of connecting in "virtual machine" mode, in addition to providing preferential tariffspossibly also by setting restrictions on the work of users on the Internet in terms of time, types of services and access to resources. Any structure can use these opportunities, regardless of the field of activity. For example, a financial company can allow its employees access only to electronic exchanges or servers of the corresponding topic, a travel company - to the websites of transport agencies, a news service - to information portals, etc. For organizations that require a wider coverage of Internet resources, the introduction of restrictions on the time of the network is suitable. Perhaps just try the program by renting it for a certain period, for example.

And if access to the network is not needed, then you can use by email... In this case, the volume will be paid mailboxesrather than connection time.

Mail servers and individual mailboxes

E-mail is a convenient and efficient means of communication between people. In modern conditions, e-mail is becoming an integral part of business. With the help of a "virtual machine" a mailbox of the required size can be opened for each employee of the company. Access to mail is carried out using mail programs using POP3 / IMAP4 / UUCP protocols or interactively via the WEB interface. In addition to the usual individual mailboxes, the required number of mail domains and distribution lists can be opened. Customizable mail filters allow you to regulate the flow of incoming mail. Incoming message notifications can be directed to mobile devices users.

The "virtual machine" is especially convenient for creating mail servers... If the company has registered domains, such as company. ru, then each domain can have its own set of mailboxes or mailing lists open.

To pay for postal services on a "virtual machine", preferential tariff plans are provided.

Opening WEB-pages and WEB-servers

Opening a website on the Internet is the key to the success of any organization. The "virtual machine" connection mode will not only allow the company to place a corporate website on the Internet, but will also provide each employee with the opportunity to open their own WEB-page. The personal WEB-page will have an address on the www. dol. ru / machine_name / subscriber_name or can be accessed through a virtual WEB server. Users of the "virtual machine" get access to the rented space via FTP and can post information on the server themselves. For any site, interactive applications are provided. You can host WEB resources with a minimum volume of 1 MB. The cost reduction occurs due to rounding of the total volume of all WEB-pages and WEB-servers. Several options are offered tariff plans... A WEB server can be linked to each WEB page. All necessary features are provided: CGI, SSI, PHP, Perl, MySQL, log analyzers.

Organization of an FTP server If there is a need to create a single information space for a certain circle of people, for example, employees of one company, the administrator of the "virtual machine" can organize an FTP server.

The information on the FTP server is stored as files. These can be programs text documents, images, music, videos, etc. Usually, such sites store large-volume materials that require differentiated access rights. Storing information available via FTP will cost you significantly less than information available via the WEB. With the "virtual machine", access to the FTP server can be granted to every user of the virtual machine.

A Virtual Machine is a software environment that emulates the hardware of a computer with all its components. Essentially, a virtual machine is a separate virtual computer on which operating systems, programs, drivers, etc. can be installed, which can then be launched in isolation from the main operating system installed on this computer.

In this article we will analyze what a virtual machine is and what it is needed for. Using a virtual machine goes something like this: you install a special virtualization program (virtual machine) on your computer, into which you can then install one or more operating systems supported by this program.

For example, your computer is running Windows 7, and you want to try a different operating system: Windows 8.1, or Windows 10. You are not yet ready to immediately upgrade to a newer operating system, so after installing Windows 10 on a virtual machine, you can to get acquainted with her work and opportunities in detail, to acquire the necessary skills.

In parallel, you can install other operating systems in the virtual machine: various linux distributions, Mac OS X, etc. At the same time you can use on your computer, for example, on the main system Windows 10, and on a virtual machine Windows 7, Ubuntu, and Mac OS X.

The most popular programs for creating virtual machines (VMs) for ordinary users (there is a large corporate segment of virtualization systems): Oracle VirtualBox (free), VMware (free for personal use VMware Player, paid VMware Workstation), Parallels (for computers with Mac OS X), Windows Virtual PC (in Windows 7, starting from the Pro edition, supported free installation virtual windows environment XP Mode), Hyper-V (works in x64 bit windows versionsstarting with Windows 8) and others.

Virtual machines different manufacturers differ in their capabilities and features. It will be possible to download virtual machines from the websites of software manufacturers.

Using virtual machines

Virtual machines (VM) are mainly used for the following purposes:

• installation of another operating system for study, or work
• testing unfamiliar programs without risking the underlying operating system
• using programs that may not work on your computer
• local network setup
• safe launch of suspicious applications
• simultaneous installation of several operating systems on a computer

For example, on my computer at different times, were installed in virtual environment the following operating systems: Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Mac OS X, Linux Mint, Android.

Working in an operating system installed in a virtual machine is no different from working in a regular system installed on a computer. This is a normal OS running in a virtual environment. You can do whatever you want without fear of killing Windows or another system. If as a result of your actions the OS becomes inoperable, then you can simply delete this operating system, instead installing another.

Many virtual machines have the ability to take a snapshot of the system, so you can easily restore a "killed" OS.

Most likely, powerful resource-intensive games will not run on a virtual machine, because such games will most likely slow down a lot. The performance of the operating system installed in a virtual machine depends on the capacity of a particular computer.

In this image, you can see that Windows 10 is installed on my computer, and the Windows 8.1 operating system is running in the virtual machine window (I deliberately reduced the virtualization program window). Thus, on my computer at this moment two different operating systems were running simultaneously, independently of each other.

The operating system installed in the virtual machine will operate in isolation from the main operating system installed on your computer. You can do anything with Windows (or other operating system) installed in a virtual machine. The main system installed on your computer will not be affected by the operation in the virtual machine, or other changes made to the operating system installed in the virtual machine.

You can test unfamiliar programs in a virtual machine before installing them on a real system. Windows OS, or another operating system (if not free), will need to be activated.

Some programs do not work on a specific operating system, so you can install such a program on a supported operating system in a virtual machine. In this case, you can continue to use the required application on your computer.

The virtual machine can be used for security purposes. For example, you may not be able to immediately install on your computer a program that arouses suspicion on your computer, but pre-install such a program on a virtual machine. In the event that your suspicions are confirmed, then the main operating system installed on your computer will not be affected in any way.

You can safely visit suspicious sites by risking only the guest system installed in the VM.

In this image, the virtual machine is running an operating mac system OS X with the Safari browser open. In VMware Workstation, the guest system can be expanded to the full screen of your computer monitor.

When using a virtual machine, along with the advantages, there are some disadvantages. Main problem: on low-power computers work in a guest system installed on a virtual machine may slow down (freeze, slow down). This is due to the fact that at this time the resources of your computer are simultaneously consumed by two operating systems: the main one installed on your computer and the guest one installed in the virtual machine.

In order not to overload your computer, I recommend, while working in the guest operating system, to close unnecessary applications in the main system. After that, the load on your computer's resources will somewhat decrease, and work in the guest OS installed on a virtual machine will become more comfortable. On powerful computers, these problems usually do not arise.

If you would like to try a different operating room windows systems on your computer, and because of the low power of the computer, it will be difficult to work in a virtual machine, then you can install another system on a virtual hard disk (VHD). You can read more about this. With this option, you will take turns running the operating systems on your computer.

Working with a virtual machine, you can easily remove any operating system from there without any consequences for your computer, as well as uninstall a program - a virtual machine from your computer.

Conclusions of the article

Via special program: virtual machine, you can install a different operating system on your computer to get familiar with its operation, to test applications, solve compatibility problems, for security purposes, etc. You can try several different virtual machines in operation and stop at the most convenient option for yourself.