Virtualization software recommendation

[crystal_sun]

Hello,

I own Windows 7 Ultimate edition at the moment. I would like to set up a virtual environment of another Windows XP or Windows 7 for browsing and testing purpose on the same machine. If I get a virus or corruption in the virtual environment, then I like to be able to wipe it out and copy the original virtual environment within minutes.

I have tested Virtual Windows XP Mode, but the CPU spiked up to 100% when I tried to tar/untar large files from my host machine. I tried to do the network mapping from the virtual to the host machine, but it failed with better performance in CPU usage.

Does anyone know if I can install Windows 7 again on the same machine as a Virtual for free? or even XP?

I read that VirtualBox from Sun or VMWare Player from VMWare are free, but I'm not sure if it has a better IO or if I can reinstall Windows 7 to the Virtual.

Does anyone recommend a free software that can meet my needs?

[brettallica]

Are you looking to run both "machines" at the same time? For example, you boot into your primary OS as normal, and then while in there you boot a virtual system on top of that.

[crystal_sun]

good question: I was thinking booting up the primary Windows 7 and then boot up VM within Windows 7 so that I can access my files in the primary host.

After hours of googling, I found this one that I might give a try soon today to see the performance with VMWare free product.


http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10911...irtualization/

Originally Posted by brettallica

Are you looking to run both "machines" at the same time? For example, you boot into your primary OS as normal, and then while in there you boot a virtual system on top of that.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by crystal_sun

good question: I was thinking booting up the primary Windows 7 and then boot up VM within Windows 7 so that I can access my files in the primary host.

After hours of googling, I found this one that I might give a try soon today to see the performance with VMWare free product.


http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10911...irtualization/

Damn, dude. That looks like one heck of an application. The setup looks fairly involved, but not necessarily complicated. If I wasn't already a full-fledged user of Parallels virtualization software, I'd definitely give this a go. I use virtualization all day, every day, so I know what it's like to have something like this on a computer.

Let me know how it goes!

[crystal_sun]

I just uninstall the Microsoft Virtual PC software and decided to use the VMWare Player 3.1 and then update to 4.0.

It was pretty easy following the instructions provided and it's all free.

I noticed that the CPU usage was very little during basic application usage if it doesn't need to access your local host directory in comparison with the Microsoft. That's a plus...

However, I'm still running into 100% CPU usage when I tried to untar files from the Virtual environment. There's gotta be a solution to this as I can't be the only one encountering this issue. I read about mapping the drive via IP address to the local main host computer or possible use Samba...

Time for dinner as I'll continue this some other time..

This is my first time using Virtualization and I like it a lot...knowing that if I get virus infected, then I won't harm my main PC. Yes, I do regular backup of the main host PC, but I rather rely on backup as the last resort.

How is your Parallel? Does it have IO issues? Do you see in a huge spike in CPU when you try to tar/untar from the virtual to the host?

Originally Posted by brettallica

Damn, dude. That looks like one heck of an application. The setup looks fairly involved, but not necessarily complicated. If I wasn't already a full-fledged user of Parallels virtualization software, I'd definitely give this a go. I use virtualization all day, every day, so I know what it's like to have something like this on a computer.

Let me know how it goes!

[BLindsay]

the virtual machine only uses one core unfortunetly, when i run xp mode just watching a flash video causes the cpu to be at 100% in the virtual machine lol

to fix that you would need some better VM software that lets you assign more cores to the virtual machine

[brettallica]

The virtualization software I use (Parallels) allows you to allot as many cores and however much RAM you want — or as much as your system will allow, I should say. It's really great for that, and super-easy to configure. I usually give my Windows virtual systems a healthy amount of CPU and RAM, because I've got enough to spare in the systems where I use Parallels.

With Parallels, you can clone an OS, so in your case you could have (for example) 10 copies of the exact same Windows XP image as of 6:00PM on your system. If you mess something up, you have the other nine images. In those images, all of your documents are retained, so you could just go back to that moment in time and edit from there again if you wish. Parallels doesn't limit the number of virtual systems you have either, which is nice. On one system of mine — my main design rig — I've got Windows XP Service Pack 1 with Internet Explorer 6, XP Pro fully updated, Vista fully updated, and 7 fully updated. This is all under one Parallels installation license. I design websites, so having just about every OS available at the execution of a few mouse gestures is huge for me for testing purposes.

I use Parallels EXTENSIVELY, so I am pretty familiar with how it works, and I'm a huge advocate for their software for people in my boat. If I wasn't so busy with everything else I do, I'd probably ask to be a sales rep for them; that's how much I like their stuff. I've purchased a couple different versions and updates over the years, and it's definitely been the best couple hundred bucks' worth of software I've purchased in that time.

[crystal_sun]

sounds interesting. I might have to give Parallels a test run when time permits... So far, Microsoft and VMWare did not meet my need in term of performance with IO (accessing a different sata drive from the virtual env).

Originally Posted by brettallica

The virtualization software I use (Parallels) allows you to allot as many cores and however much RAM you want — or as much as your system will allow, I should say. It's really great for that, and super-easy to configure. I usually give my Windows virtual systems a healthy amount of CPU and RAM, because I've got enough to spare in the systems where I use Parallels.

With Parallels, you can clone an OS, so in your case you could have (for example) 10 copies of the exact same Windows XP image as of 6:00PM on your system. If you mess something up, you have the other nine images. In those images, all of your documents are retained, so you could just go back to that moment in time and edit from there again if you wish. Parallels doesn't limit the number of virtual systems you have either, which is nice. On one system of mine — my main design rig — I've got Windows XP Service Pack 1 with Internet Explorer 6, XP Pro fully updated, Vista fully updated, and 7 fully updated. This is all under one Parallels installation license. I design websites, so having just about every OS available at the execution of a few mouse gestures is huge for me for testing purposes.

I use Parallels EXTENSIVELY, so I am pretty familiar with how it works, and I'm a huge advocate for their software for people in my boat. If I wasn't so busy with everything else I do, I'd probably ask to be a sales rep for them; that's how much I like their stuff. I've purchased a couple different versions and updates over the years, and it's definitely been the best couple hundred bucks' worth of software I've purchased in that time.

[brettallica]

Originally Posted by crystal_sun

sounds interesting. I might have to give Parallels a test run when time permits... So far, Microsoft and VMWare did not meet my need in term of performance with IO (accessing a different sata drive from the virtual env).

Yeah, accessing different HDDs is nothing in Parallels. The environment works just like it does as if it were not a virtualized one.

[Hatter]

You are allowed to install the Virtual XP in VMWare Player for freeprovided you have Win 7 Pro (which you have)

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10911...irtualization/

[crystal_sun]

here's an update:

I decided to install the free VirtualBox by Oracle, and it works so much better than VMWare Player and Microsoft Virtual PC in terms of the IO.

I shared the host folder and I ran my test. The CPU was jumping up and down from 3% to 40%. While the other two that I tested maxed out at 100% constantly. I'm a happy camper now...more testing to be done

[Ginsberrose879]

Is there anyone who have used a virtualization software named Hopedot VOS? It differs from vmware and can enable the virtual operating system to run at any PC with a USB drive. It seems that it includes all the features of Prayaya , that is what I’m using now.

But what Hopedot VOS interests me is its Security Edition. I’m thinking if I take this Security Edition, people can’t copy my file without the data management password. That makes me feel more secure because sometimes I have to give the USB with my own virtual operating system to friends.

I notice that Hopedot VOS is having a special 30% off offer for back to school season. Just wondering if there is anyone who would like to share the experience of using Hopedot VOS.