How to use virtual machine. Installing and configuring a program for working with virtual machines - Oracle VirtualBox. Create a virtual machine
Sometimes, you need to check a particular program that does not fit your operating system. In this case, it is not necessary to install a second OS or erase an existing one, as there are many platforms for operating system virtualization. Virtualbox is just such a platform with a lot of advantages: it's free and made by Oracle, supports most network interfaces, can work with hard disk images, and makes 64-bit guests. Try yourself in this simple software and you will no longer want to reinstall your system.
Installing and downloading Virtualbox
As already mentioned, this is a completely free program. You can download it on the Oracle website http://www.oracle.com.
- Follow the link and select your operating system from the list. Next to each title is a link to download Virtualbox.
- After saving the installer to your computer, run it. There are no special features in the installation of the platform: it is simple and fast. You only need to select the installation directory by clicking on the “Browse” button or leave it as it is.
- Agree with the installation of all software from Oracle, as it is necessary for the correct operation of the virtual machine. Such windows will appear about five times.
- That's all. You have completed the platform installation and are ready to work with the virtual machine.
How to create a virtual machine in Virtualbox
- As soon as you find yourself inside the program, you will have access to one single button on the toolbar on the left - “Create”. Click it, and a notification will appear on the screen that you have started creating a virtual machine.
- First, enter the name of your OS. It can be any word that helps you remember the purpose of the system.
- In the next line, select the system itself that will be installed in the virtual machine. Almost all operating systems are available to you.
- It remains to specify only the version. For example, Windows 98 is installed.
- Click "Next" and you will be in the next window. Now you have to specify the amount of memory for the virtual machine. Of course, this memory will be allocated from your main memory. If you installed the same old version of the OS, then feel free to set the value to 64 MB.
- The next step is dedicated to the hard disk - it will be virtual. If you do not have a hard disk image, then just make yourself a virtual one in this window.
- Select "Create a new hard drive".
- Specify the type of virtual hard disk. Its choice directly depends on your goals of the virtual machine.
- The recommended size remains at 2 GB, but you can adjust this value with the slider.
- There are two last steps left. Create a hard drive and confirm OS creation.
- You now have your first virtual machine. Its characteristics are displayed on the right, and a list of all machines on the left.
Virtual machine settings in Virtualbox
With this, everything is quite simple: you can change existing settings and set new ones in the “Properties” tab on the toolbar at the top.
It is important for you to specify the necessary data in all tabs of this window. Here you can set ports, USB, audio, display characteristics and everything else that a regular system has. Only by choosing the right parameters will you be able to accurately test a particular program in a virtual machine.
Starting the Virtualbox VM
Click on the "Start" button to start running. The system will analyze all the data and start within a minute.
Now you can run any programs and utilities, test them or enjoy old video games.
Don't forget to turn off the virtual machine when you don't need it.
The benefits of VirtualBox cannot be overestimated. It is perfect for when you need to test new operating systems or familiarize yourself with them. By the way, it received great popularity for good optimization and flexible configuration of many parameters. With its help, even an inexperienced user will be able to easily launch a new operating system. But, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to use VIrtualBox, so in this article we will try to clarify the main points.
Installation
Before using the VirtualBox program, you first need to download and install it on your computer, so let's start the article with that.
- It is important to download the installer from the official site in order not to pick up viruses.
- After downloading the installer, run it.
- In the welcome window, click the Next button to proceed to the next step.
- In the Custom Setup window, you can remove or, conversely, add additional components for installation. This is done in the corresponding window. To change the decision, you need to click on the drop-down list next to the name of the element and select the action that will be applied to it. By the way, you can learn more about the element in the adjacent area, which contains a brief description of it. After selecting the components, click Next.
- Now you need to choose where the program shortcuts will be added and set or remove file associations. The first item puts a shortcut on the "Desktop", the second - in the quick launch bar, and the third sets the virtual disks. After selecting the items you want, click Next.
- In some cases, a notification appears that when installing the application, the Internet connection will be disconnected. If everything suits you, click the Yes button.
- Now it remains to click the Install button to start the installation process of the program.
- During the installation process, a window will appear in which you will be asked to install USB controller drivers as well. You need to do this, so give permission.
When the installation is completed, a window will appear notifying you of this. In it, you can put a checkmark in front of the Start ... item so that after clicking the Finish button, the program starts. If you do not want this, then do not check the box, but simply click the Finish button.
Setting
We have installed the program, but it's too early to move on to the story of how to use VirtualBox: it needs to be configured. That is what we are going to talk about now.
- First you need to go directly to the application settings menu. To do this, you can press the key combination Ctrl + G or select the item of the same name in the "File" menu.
- A window will appear in which the "General" section will be opened - let's start with it. Here you can specify the directory in which the files of the program - the image of virtual machines will be stored. Please note that these files are quite large, so keep this in mind when choosing a storage folder. Leave the VRDP authentication library as default.
- In the "Input" section, you can view and change the program's hotkey combinations.
- In the "Updates" section, it is possible to set the interval for checking the release of new versions of the program, as well as their edition.
- In the "Language" section, everything is simple, you can define the language into which the program will be translated.
- You can skip the Display and Network sections for this step, as these settings can be set when creating the virtual machine.
- In the "Plugins" tab you can install them. Please note that their version must match the version of VirtuakBox.
- Well, in the "Proxy" section, you can specify a proxy server.
Having dealt with all the settings, you can go directly to how to use Oracle VM VirtualBox.
Operating system installation
To create a new virtual machine, you must first download the operating system image in ISO format. After that, do the following:
- In the main menu of the program, click the "Create" button.
- In the window that appears, specify the machine name, select the OS type and specify its version, then click Next.
- Now select the amount of RAM that will be allocated for the program. Please note that the recommended volume is listed just above the slider. Click Next.
- When creating a hard disk, it is recommended to select the second item, and then define its type as VDI.
- Set the storage format to "Dynamic" and click Next.
- Now you need to specify the folder where the disk image will be stored and set the amount of memory for it. After that click "Create".
- So, the disk is created. To launch it, press the button of the same name on the panel.
- A window will appear in which you need to select an operating system image to run. Do it.
The OS installer will start. You just need to install it, after which you can use the system in normal mode.
Create Shared Folders
Now let's talk about how to use in but first create them.
- After starting the OS in the program, click on the "Machine" button and select the "Configure" item.
- Go to the "Shared Folders" section and click on the plus icon.
- In the new window, select "Other" from the "Folder Path" list.
- In the Explorer window, select the folder you want to share.
- Give it a name and click OK.
This is how easy it is to create a shared folder in a virtual machine. Now it will be visible in the "Network Connections" section, which is located in the "Explorer".
Create permanent folders
We already know a lot about how to use VirtualBox, but in the end I want to tell you how to create a permanent folder. The fact is that the previously created shared folder is temporary, that is, after restarting the program, it will disappear.
It's actually very easy to make a folder permanent. To do this, when creating a shared folder, check the box next to "Create a permanent folder" and click "OK".
Now you know almost everything about how to use VirtualBox. We hope the article was useful for you and helped you understand many aspects.
When you select a virtual machine from the list in the Manager window, you will see a summary of that virtual machine's settings.
By pressing the button " Settings» on the toolbar at the top, you will see a detailed window where you can configure many properties of the selected virtual machine. But be careful, although you can change all the settings of the virtual machine after installing the guest operating system, some changes can prevent the guest operating system from working properly if done after installation.
Note: Button " Settings" is disabled when the virtual machine is in " launched" or " saved» condition. This is simply because in the settings dialog you can change the main characteristics of the virtual machine created for your guest operating system, and this operating system may not do very well when, for example, half of its memory is under its feet. As a result, if the button Settings” is disabled, first shut down the current virtual machine, and then you can make the desired settings.
VirtualBox provides many options that you can change for the virtual machine. Even more options are available with the VirtualBox command line interface.
General settings
In the window " Settings" In chapter " General» You can configure the most fundamental aspects of the virtual machine, such as memory and required hardware. There are four tabs: Main», « Additionally», « Description" and " Encryption».
General tab
On the tab " Main" categories " General» you can find the following settings:
This is the name with which the virtual machine appears in the list of virtual machines in the main window. Under this name, VirtualBox also saves the configuration files of the virtual machine. By changing the name, VirtualBox also renames these files. As a result, you can only use characters that are allowed in filenames on your host operating system.
Note that internally, VirtualBox uses unique identifiers (UUIDs) to identify virtual machines. You can display them using VBoxManage.
Operating system / version
Type the guest operating system that is (or will be) installed in the virtual machine. This is the same option that was specified in the "New Virtual Machine" wizard, as described in the " " section.
While in the New Virtual Machine Wizard, the default settings for a newly created virtual machine depend on the type of operating system selected, changing the type further does not affect the virtual machine settings; it means that the settings in this panel are purely informational and decorative.
Advanced Tab
Snapshot folder
By default, VirtualBox saves snapshot data along with other VirtualBox configuration data. With this setting, you can specify any other folder for each virtual machine.
Shared Clipboard
Here you can choose whether the guest operating system's buffer should be shared with your host. If you choose " Bidirectional”, then VirtualBox will always ensure that both clipboards contain the same data. If you choose " From host to guest OS" or " From guest to main OS”, then VirtualBox will only copy clipboard data in one direction.
Clipboard sharing requires the VirtualBox Guest Additions to be installed. Otherwise, this setting has no effect.
The shared clipboard is disabled by default. This setting can be changed at any time using the menu item " Shared Clipboard" on the menu " Devices» virtual machine.
Drag and Drop function
This option allows you to enable drag and drop support: select an object (such as a file) from the host or guest and directly copy or open it on the guest or host machine. Several drag and drop modes for each virtual machine allow you to restrict access in any direction.
The Guest Additions must be installed on the guest computer for drag and drop to work.
Note: Drag and drop is disabled by default. This setting can be changed at any time using the menu item " Drag and Drop" on the menu " Devices» virtual machine.
Description tab
Here you can, if you like, enter any description of your virtual machine. This does not affect the functionality of the computer, but you may find this space useful for noting things like the configuration of the virtual machine and the software that has been installed into it.
To insert a line break in the description text box, click Shift+Enter.
Encryption tab
If checked, this virtual machine will be encrypted. You need to select the algorithm that will be used to encrypt the virtual machine's disks, as well as enter and then confirm the encryption password.
System settings
Group " System» combines various options related to the main hardware that is presented to the virtual machine.
Note A: Because the Microsoft Windows activation mechanism is sensitive to changes in hardware, if you change the hardware settings for a Windows guest, some of those changes may trigger an activation request with Microsoft.
Motherboard tab
On the tab " Motherboard» You can affect virtual hardware, which is usually found on the motherboard of a real computer.
main memory
This option sets the amount of RAM that is allocated and given to the virtual machine when it starts up. The specified amount of memory for the duration of the virtual machine will be taken from the physical computer and transferred to the virtual one. Therefore, when the virtual machine is running, the amount of RAM on your main computer will decrease by this amount. This is the same setting that was specified in the "New Virtual Machine" wizard, as described above in the " " section.
Changing the memory should not cause problems in the guest machine, of course, if you do not set the value too low, at which it will not boot.
Load Order
This setting determines the order in which the guest operating system will attempt to boot from different virtual boot devices. Similar to the BIOS setting of a real PC, VirtualBox can tell the guest OS that it is starting from a virtual floppy disk, virtual CD/DVD drive, virtual hard disk (each defined by other VM settings), network, or none of these.
If you choose " Network”, the virtual machine will attempt to boot from the network through a PXE mechanism that must be configured.
Chipset
Here you can choose which chipset will be presented to the virtual machine. Prior to VirtualBox 4.0, PIIX3 was the only option available. For modern guest operating systems such as Mac OS X, this older chipset is no longer supported. As a result, VirtualBox 4.0 introduced an emulation of the more modern ICH9 chipset, which supports PCI Express, three PCI buses, PCI-to-PCI bridges, and Message Interrupt (MSI) messages. This allows modern operating systems to address more PCI devices and no longer requires an IRQ exchange. Using the ICH9 chipset, up to 36 NICs can also be configured (up to 8 NICs with PIIX3). Please note that ICH9 support is experimental and not recommended for guest operating systems that do not require it.
Cursor manipulator
By default, virtual pointing devices for ancient guests are the traditional PS/2 mouse. If this setting is set to USB tablet, VirtualBox tells the VM that a USB tablet device is present and sends mouse events to the VM using that device. Third setting - USB multi-touch tablet, which is suitable for recent Windows guests.
Using a virtual USB tablet has the advantage that movements are reported in absolute coordinates (instead of relative position changes), allowing VirtualBox to translate mouse events over the VM window into tablet events without the need to "capture" the mouse in the guest as described in the " " section. This makes using the VM less tedious even if the Guest Additions are not installed.
Enable APIC I/O APIC
Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controllers (APICs) is the latest x86 hardware feature that has replaced the old style Programmable Interrupt Controllers (PICs) in recent years. With the I/O APIC, operating systems can use more than 16 interrupt requests (IRQs) and therefore avoid IRQ exchanges to improve reliability.
Note: Enabling I/O APIC is required for 64-bit guest operating systems, especially Windows Vista; this is also required if you want to use more than one virtual processor in a virtual machine.
However, software support for APIC I/O has been unreliable with some non-Windows operating systems. Also, using the I/O APIC slightly increases the overhead of virtualization and therefore slows down the guest OS a bit.
A warning Note: All Windows operating systems since Windows 2000 install different kernels depending on whether APIC I/O is available. As with ACPI, the APEC I/O APIC should not be disabled after installing a Windows guest OS. Enabling it after installation will have no effect.
Enable EFI
This allows the use of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which replaces the legacy BIOS and may be useful for some advanced use cases.
Hours in UTC
If checked, your host's clock will display the Universal Time Coordination (UTC) time, otherwise it will display the host's local time. Unix-like systems usually stick to the UTC system.
If checked, VirtualBox will tell the guest the UTC system time instead of the local (host) time. This affects the virtual real-time clock (RTC) and can be useful for Unix-like guest operating systems that typically expect the hardware clock to be set to UTC.
Additionally, you can disable the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) that VirtualBox presents to the guest operating system by default. ACPI is the current industry standard that allows operating systems to recognize hardware, configure and control motherboards and other devices. Since all modern PCs contain this feature, and Windows and Linux have supported it for years, it is also enabled by default in VirtualBox. It can only be disabled on the command line.
A warning Note: All Windows operating systems since Windows 2000 install different kernels depending on whether ACPI is available, so ACPI cannot be disabled after installing a Windows guest OS. Enabling it after installation will have no effect.
Processor tab
On the tab " CPU» you can specify how many virtual processor cores guest operating systems should see. Starting with version 3.0, VirtualBox supports symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and can present up to 32 virtual processor cores per virtual machine.
However, you should not configure virtual machines to use more processor cores than you physically have (real cores, no hyperthreading).
On this tab, you can also set " CPU load limit". This setting limits the amount of time the host processor takes to emulate a virtual processor. The default value of 100% means there are no restrictions. The 50% setting means that one virtual processor can use up to 50% of one CPU. Please note that limiting the execution time of virtual processors can cause problems with guests.
In addition, the " Enable PAE/NX' determines whether the PAE and NX capabilities of the CPU will reside in the virtual machine. PAE stands for "Physical Address Extension". Usually, if it is enabled and supported by the operating system, then even a 32-bit x86 processor can access more than 4 GB of RAM. This is made possible by adding 4 more bits to memory addresses, so with 36 bits you can use up to 64 GB. Some operating systems (for example, Ubuntu Server) require PAE support from the CPU and cannot run in a virtual machine without it.
If you are using a 32-bit Kali Linux image, enable PAE/NX or the Kali image will not boot because the default kernel used by Kali for i386 (“686-pae”) is compiled in a way that requires support for “physical address expansion” ( PAE) to the CPU.
With virtual machines running on modern server operating systems, VirtualBox also supports CPU hot plugging.
Acceleration Tab
On this page, you can determine if VirtualBox should use hardware virtualization extensions that your host processor can support. This applies to most processors built after 2006.
You can choose for each virtual machine individually whether VirtualBox should use software or hardware virtualization.
In most cases, the default settings will be fine; VirtualBox will choose reasonable defaults based on the operating system you chose when you created the virtual machine. However, in some situations, you may want to change these pre-configured defaults.
If your host processor supports nested paging (AMD-V) or EPT (Intel VT-x), you can expect significant performance gains by enabling nested paging in addition to hardware virtualization.
Starting with version 5.0, VirtualBox provides paravirtualization interfaces to improve the accuracy and performance of guest operating systems.
Display (Display settings)
Screen tab
Video memory size
This sets the amount of memory provided by the virtual graphics card available to the guest, in MB. As in main memory, the specified amount will be allocated from host resident memory. Based on the amount of video memory, higher resolutions and color depths may be available.
The GUI will show a warning if the amount of video memory is too low to switch the virtual machine to full screen mode. The minimum value depends on the number of virtual monitors, screen resolution and color depth of the host display, as well as the activation of 3D acceleration and 2D video acceleration. Rough estimation: (color depth / 8) x vertical pixels x horizontal pixels x number of screens = number of bytes. As noted above, additional memory may be required for any enabled display acceleration setting.
Number of monitors
With this setting, VirtualBox can provide more than one virtual monitor to a virtual machine. If the guest operating system (such as Windows) supports multiple connected monitors, VirtualBox can pretend that multiple virtual monitors are present. Up to 8 of these virtual monitors are supported.
The output of multiple monitors will be displayed on the host in multiple VM windows that run side by side.
However, in full screen and screen integration mode available physical monitors connected to the host will be used. As a result, you will need at least as many physical monitors as you have configured virtual monitors to run in full screen and screen integration mode with multiple monitors, or VirtualBox will report an error. You can set up communication between guest and host monitors using the view menu by pressing the combination "Host" + "HOME" when you are in full screen or screen integration mode.
Enable 3D acceleration
If the guest additions are installed on the virtual machine, you can choose here whether the guest should support accelerated 3D graphics.
Enable 2D video acceleration
If the Guest Additions are installed on the Microsoft Windows virtual machine, you can select here whether the guest should support accelerated 2D graphics.
Remote tab
Remote display
On the tab " remote access", if the VirtualBox Virtual Display Extension (VRDE) is installed, you can enable the VRDP server built into VirtualBox. This allows you to remotely connect to the virtual machine console using any standard RDP viewer such as mstsc.exe, which comes with Microsoft Windows. On Linux and Solaris systems, you can use the standard program rdesktop open source.
Video Capture Tab
On the tab " Video capture» You can enable video capture for this virtual machine. Please note that this feature can also be enabled/disabled while the virtual machine is running.
Media Settings
On a real PC, so-called "storage controllers" connect physical drives to the rest of the computer. Likewise, VirtualBox provides virtual machine virtual controllers to the virtual machine. Under each controller, the virtual devices (hard drives, CD/DVDs, or floppy drives) connected to the controller are displayed.
Note: If you used the wizard " Create a virtual machine' to create a machine, you will usually see something like the following:
Depending on the type of guest operating system you chose when you created the virtual machine, a typical storage layout in a new virtual machine looks like this:
- You will see the controller IDE, to which the virtual CD / DVD drive is connected (to the port " secondary master» IDE controller).
- You will also see the controller SATA, which is a more modern type of storage controller for increasing the throughput of the hard drive that VHDs are attached to. Initially, you will usually have one such virtual disk, but there may be more than one, each represented by a disk image file (in this case, a VDI file).
If you created your VM with an older version of VirtualBox, the default storage layout may be different. Then you can only have an IDE controller connected to a CD/DVD drive and hard drives. This may also apply if you selected an older operating system type when creating the virtual machine. Since older operating systems do not support SATA without additional drivers, VirtualBox will ensure that such devices are not present initially.
VirtualBox also provides a flexible controller which is special: you cannot add devices other than floppy drives to it. Virtual floppy drives, such as virtual CD/DVD drives, can be connected either to disk drives (if any) or to a disk image, which in this case must be in RAW format.
You are free to modify these attachments. For example, if you want to copy some files from another created virtual disk, you can connect this disk as a second hard disk. You can also add a second virtual CD/DVD drive or change where these items are attached. The following options are available:
- To add another virtual hard disk or CD/DVD or floppy drive, select the storage controller to which it should be added (IDE, SATA, SCSI, SAS, floppy disk controller), and then click the " add disk» down the tree. You can then select " Add a CD/DVD device" or " Add hard drive". (If you clicked on the floppy controller, you can add a floppy drive.) Alternatively, right-click on the storage controller and select the menu item there.
On the right side of the window, you can set the following:
- You can then select which controller device slot the virtual disk is connected to. IDE controllers have four slots, which are traditionally called " chief master», « primary slave», « secondary master" and " secondary slave". In contrast, SATA and SCSI controllers offer up to 30 slots to which virtual devices can be attached.
- You can choose which image file to use.
- For virtual hard disks, a drop-down button appears on the right, offering either to select a virtual hard disk file using the standard file dialog, or to create a new hard disk (image file), which will open the Wizard " Create a new drive”, which was described in the section“ ”.
- For virtual CDs/DVDs, the image files will usually be in the standard ISO format. Most often, you will select this option when installing an operating system from an ISO file that you have obtained from the Internet. For example, most Linux distributions are available this way.
The following additional options are available for virtual CD/DVD drives:
- If you select " Host disk", the host machine's physical device will be connected to the virtual machine so that the guest operating system can read and write to your physical device. This is, for example, useful if you want to install Windows from a real installation CD. In this case, select your host drive from the dropdown list.
If you want to burn (burn) CDs or DVDs using the master drive, you also need to enable the " Passthrough».
- If you choose " Remove disk from virtual disk”, VirtualBox will present a blank CD/DVD to a guest that has no media inserted.
- To remove attachment, select it and click on the " delete» at the bottom (or right-click it and select a menu item).
Removable media (CD/DVD and floppy disks) can be changed while the guest is running. Since at this time the dialog box " Settings» is not available, you can also access these settings from the menu « Devices' in the window of your virtual machine.
Sound settings
Chapter " Audio" in the window " Settings» virtual machine determines whether the virtual machine will see the connected sound card and whether the sound input should be heard in the host system.
If audio is enabled for the guest, you can choose to emulate an Intel AC"97 controller, an Intel HD Audio controller, or a SoundBlaster 16 card. Either way, you can choose which VirtualBox audio driver to use on the host.
On a Linux host, depending on your host configuration, you can also choose between OSS, ALSA, or the PulseAudio subsystem. On newer Linux distributions, the PulseAudio subsystem is preferred.
Since only OSS is supported on Solaris hosts in VirtualBox 5.0 - the "Solaris Audio" audio system is no longer supported on Solaris hosts.
Network settings
Chapter " Network" in the window " Settings» Virtual Machine allows you to customize how VirtualBox presents virtual network cards for your virtual machine and how they work.
When you first create a virtual machine, VirtualBox by default includes one virtual network card and selects the mode for it " Network address translation» (NAT). This way the guest can connect to the outside world using the host's network, and the outside world can connect to services on the guest machine that you have made visible outside of the virtual machine.
This default setting is good for probably 95% of VirtualBox users. However, VirtualBox is extremely flexible in how it can virtualize the network. It supports many virtual network cards per virtual machine, the first four of which can be configured in detail in the Manager window. Additional network cards can be configured on the command line using VBoxManage.
Introduction to Online Modes
Each of the eight network adapters can be individually configured to operate in one of the following modes:
Not connected
In this mode, VirtualBox tells the guest that the network card is present, but there is no connection - as if there is no Ethernet cable plugged into the card. Thus, it is possible to "pull out" the virtual ethernet cable and break the connection, which can be useful for informing the guest operating system that it cannot connect to the network and allowing reconfiguration.
Network Address Translation (NAT)
If you only want to surf the web, download files, and view email inside the guest, then this default mode will be sufficient for you and you can safely skip the rest of this section. Please note that there are certain limitations when using Windows File Sharing.
Network NAT
NAT networking is a new variant of NAT introduced in VirtualBox 4.3. The Network Address Translation (NAT) service works similarly to a home router by grouping systems using it on a network and does not allow systems outside of that network to directly access systems inside it, but allows systems inside to communicate with each other and with systems outside using TCP and UDP over IPv4 and IPv6.
network bridge
This is for more complex networking tasks such as network modeling and running servers in the guest. When enabled, VirtualBox connects to one of the installed network cards and exchanges network packets directly, bypassing your operating system's networking stack.
Internal network
This can be used to create a different software-based network that is visible to selected VMs, but not to applications running on the host or in the outside world.
Virtual host adapter
This can be used to create a network containing a host and a set of virtual machines without the need for a physical network interface on the host. Instead, a virtual network interface (similar to the loopback interface) is created on the host to provide communication between the virtual machines and the host.
Universal driver
Rarely used modes share the same common network interface, allowing the user to select a driver that can be included with VirtualBox or distributed in an expansion pack.
There are currently two potentially available sub-modes:
UDP tunnel
This can be used to directly, easily and transparently interact with virtual machines running on different computers with existing network infrastructure.
VDE (Virtual Distributed Ethernet) network
This option can be used to connect to a Virtual Distributed Ethernet switch on a Linux or FreeBSD host. At the moment this requires compiling VirtualBox from sources as the Oracle packages don't include it.
The following table provides a brief overview of the most important network modes:
| VM ↔ Host | VM1 ↔ VM2 | VM → Internet | VM ← Internet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual host adapter | + | + | - | - |
| Internal network | - | + | - | - |
| network bridge | + | + | + | + |
| Network Address Translation (NAT) | - | - | + | Port forwarding |
| Network NAT | - | + | + | Port forwarding |
4.6.2 Virtual machines on the same network, isolated from other networks
How to isolate virtual machines from external networks, but at the same time preserve the ability for virtual machines to be on the same network and interact via local IP? Consider how to create a local network of virtual machines without Internet access.
Task: create a local network between virtual machines in which they can access each other by IP addresses, but so that there is no access to these machines from the real local network, and there is also no access from virtual machines to the real local network. It is necessary that the virtual machines do NOT have access to the Internet.
- File → Host Network Manager. There, click on the icon Create».
- Connection type» select « Virtual host adapter", and where " Name» select the name of the network you just created in host network manager.
In this case, the virtual machine NOT will have Internet access. To have Internet access, you need to add a second adapter with NAT +, you may need to additionally configure network interfaces or use rules iptables inside virtual machines.
With this setting, a new virtual network interface will be created in the HOST. On Linux, this interface can be seen with the command:
The default name for this interface is vboxnet0. This is a system setting and if you run multiple instances of VirtualBox (virtual machines) as different users, then they can all connect to this virtual adapter.
4.6.3 How to isolate virtual machines from the local network while maintaining Internet access
A similar task: to create a local network between virtual machines in which they can access each other by IP addresses, but so that there is no access to these machines from the real local network, and there is also no access from virtual machines to the real local network. It is necessary that virtual machines HAVE access to the Internet.
The sequence of actions is as follows:
- From the VirtualBox menu go to File → Settings → Network. There, click on the icon Create».
- In the settings of the virtual machines that must be connected in this virtual network, as " Connection type» select « Network NAT", and where " Name» Select the name of the network you just created.
- Repeat step 2 for each virtual machine to connect it to this network.
The creation of virtual networks occurs at the VirtualBox level for a given user. That is, if you start VirtualBox as a different user (for example, with sudo), then this instance will have its own settings and will not see the networks created in this way. Therefore, virtual machines running under different users cannot be combined into one virtual network in this way.
COM ports (serial ports)
VirtualBox fully supports virtual serial ports in a virtual machine in a simple way.
USB settings
USB support
Chapter " USB" in the window " Settings» virtual machine allows you to configure the sophisticated USB support of VirtualBox.
VirtualBox allows virtual machines to directly access USB devices on your host. To do this, VirtualBox presents a guest operating system with a virtual USB controller. As soon as the guest system starts using the USB device, it will not be available on the host.
Note:
- Be careful with the USB devices currently in use on the host! For example, if you allow your guest, when activated, to connect to a USB hard drive that is currently installed on the host, then that drive will be disconnected from the host without being properly disconnected. This may result in data loss.
- Solaris hosts have several known limitations regarding USB support.
In addition to allowing guest access to your local USB devices, VirtualBox allows even your subscribers to connect to remote USB devices using the VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension (VRDE).
In the dialog box " Settings» You can first configure whether USB is available in the guest and then select the level of USB support: OHCI for USB 1.1, EHCI (which will also enable OHCI) for USB 2.0, or xHCI for all USB speed.
Note A: The xHCI and EHCI controllers come as a VirtualBox expansion pack that must be installed separately. For more information, see the section "".
When USB support is enabled for a virtual machine, you can specify in detail which devices will be automatically connected to the guest. To do this, you can create so-called "filters" by specifying certain properties of the USB device. USB devices with the appropriate filter will be automatically transferred to the guest after they are attached to the host. USB devices without an appropriate filter can be handed over manually to the guest, for example using the menu Devices/USB Devices.
Clicking on the " + » to the right of the window « USB device filters' creates a new filter. You can give the filter a name (for reference later) and specify the filter criteria. The more criteria you specify, the more accurately the devices will be selected. For example, if you only provide Vendor ID 046d, all devices created by Logitech will be available to the guest. On the other hand, if you complete all fields, the filter will only apply to a specific device model from a specific vendor, and not to other devices of the same type with a different version and serial number.
The following criteria are available in the USB filter properties:
- Vendor and Product ID. Each supplier of USB products has an identification number that is unique throughout the world, a "supplier ID". Likewise, each product line is assigned a "product ID" number. Both numbers are usually written in hexadecimal (that is, they consist of the numbers 0-9 and the letters A-F), with a colon separating the vendor from the product ID. For example, 046d:c016 means Logitech as the vendor and "M-UV69a Optical Wheel Mouse".
Alternatively, you can also specify " Manufacturer" and " Product" by the name.
To list all USB devices connected to your machine with their respective vendor and product IDs, you can use the following command:
VBoxManage list usbhost
On Windows, you can also see all USB devices connected to your system in Device Manager. On Linux, you can use the command lsusb.
- Serial number. While vendor and product IDs are already specific enough to identify USB devices, if you have two identical devices of the same brand and product line, you will also need serial numbers to filter them properly.
- Remote. This setting specifies whether the device will be local only or remote (through VRDP only) or whatever.
On a Windows host, you need to disconnect and reconnect the USB device in order to use it after creating a filter for it.
For example, you could create a new USB filter and specify Vendor ID 046d (Logitech, Inc), Vendor ID 1, and Not Deleted. Then any guest USB devices created by Logitech, Inc with a manufacturer index of 1 will be visible to the guest.
Multiple filters can select the same device - for example, a filter that selects all Logitech devices and one that selects a specific webcam.
You can deactivate filters without deleting them by clicking the checkbox next to the filter name.
Shared Folders
Shared folders make it easy to share data between a virtual machine and your host. This feature requires the VirtualBox Guest Additions to be installed on the virtual machine. It will be described in more detail in the part on guest additions in the "" section.
User interface
Chapter " User interface' allows you to change some aspects of the user interface of this virtual machine.
Menu bar
This widget allows you to disable certain menus (click on the menu item to release it), some menu entries (uncheck the item to disable it), and the entire menu bar (uncheck the right).
Mini toolbar
In full screen or screen integration mode, VirtualBox can display a small toolbar containing some of the items that are normally available in the virtual machine's menu bar. This toolbar is reduced to a small gray line until you click on it with the mouse. Using the toolbar, you can return from full screen or screen integration mode, perform machine control, or turn on certain devices. If you don't want to see the toolbar, disable this option.
The second setting allows you to display the toolbar at the top of the screen instead of showing it at the bottom.
status bar
This widget allows you to disable certain icons in the status bar (uncheck the icon to disable it), swap icons (drag the icon to do this), and disable the status bar completely (uncheck the left).
Getting started with VirtualBox
(for Dummies)
2014.12.12. |
Recently, in the article "Getting Started with VMware Workstation", I described the basics of working with a VMware virtual machine, hoping to show that working with virtual machines is simple and useful. VMware is good for everyone, but it has one drawback - it is paid and not cheap. Today I want to talk about a free alternative to VMWare - the VirtualBox virtual machine.
As an example, I will use VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows and the guest operating system ubuntu-12.04. And I will install and configure all this in the host operating system Window 7.
1. Install the VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows virtual machine.
It is most convenient to download the virtual machine distribution kit from the official website "www.virtualbox.org", from the page https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. There you will find all the latest versions of the virtual machine for most popular operating systems. I am downloading for the Windows operating system (Figure 1).
The VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows distribution kit is presented as a single 105 MB VirtualBox-4.3.20-96997-Win.exe executable file.
After launching the executable file, a window opens informing about the preparation for the start of the installation of the program (Figure 2).
After a few seconds, the installation assistant window will open. To start the installation, click the "Next" button. After that, a window for selecting the volume and installation location will open (Figure 3).
By default, you will be prompted to install all the components of the virtual machine, I do not advise unnecessarily disabling the installation of any components, since all of them will be needed even with minimal use of the virtual machine. Also, by default, you will be prompted to install the program in the “Programs Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\” folder, and here I will not change anything. To proceed to the next stage of the installation, click the "Next" button.
In the window that opens (Figure 4), the basic settings for starting the virtual machine will be offered:
Create a shortcut on the desktop;
- create a shortcut in the quick launch panel;
- register Virtual Box file extensions in the operating system.
Of these settings, I will leave the first and third, but this is a matter of taste and habit.
To continue the installation, click "Next", after which a window will open (Figure 5) warning that the network connection will be disconnected during the installation process. To avoid data loss, it is advisable to ensure the operation of applications using a network connection and wait for the download of all data from the network to complete.
The network connection will be interrupted for just a few seconds and then automatically restored, so feel free to click the “Yes” button to proceed to the next stage of preparation for installation. In the window that opens (Figure 6), it is reported that all the necessary preparations for installing the program have been made and you can proceed with the installation. To start the installation, click the "Install" button and a window will open showing the installation process (Figure 7).
During the installation process, the operating system will ask for permission to install USB channel controllers for the virtual machine (Figure 8), network adapters (Figure 9), and network services (Figure 10).
For convenient work with a virtual machine, it is desirable to be able to access USB controllers and work with the network, so we agree with the installation of these components.
After the installation is completed, a window will open on the screen informing about this long-awaited event (Figure 11). Click the "Finish" button to complete the installation and move on to creating and configuring a virtual machine.
2. Create a virtual machine.
Well, let's start creating a virtual machine. It will be no more difficult than installing VirtualBox. And so, we launch VirtualBox and the main window of the program opens in front of us (Figure 12).
To create a virtual machine, press the button or select the menu item: “Machine-> create” or press the key combination Ctrl + N. In the window that opens (Figure 13), set the name of the virtual system, type and version of the guest operating system.
My virtual machine will be called "VM". Since I decided to use ubuntu-12.04 as a guest system, the guest system type will be Linux, and the version will be Ubuntu (32 bit). After setting the required parameters, click "Next".
In the window that opens (Figure 14), select the amount of RAM allocated for the virtual machine.
In most cases, the default 512 MB of memory is sufficient. If you have little RAM, then this size can be reduced, but do not set it too low, as this may affect the performance of the virtual machine. If necessary, if you need to run resource-intensive applications in a virtual machine, the amount of allocated RAM can be increased. After choosing the amount of RAM, click "Next".
In the next window (Figure 15), you need to select the virtual hard disk with which the virtual machine will work.
There are two options: choose an existing one or create a new one. Since we are just starting to work with VirtualBox, we do not have already created virtual hard disks, so we select "Create a new virtual hard disk" and click "Create".
In the window that opens (Figure 16), first of all, click on the "Hide details" button. In this version of VirtualBox, there is an error in the translation or naming of this button, and when you click the "Hide Details" button, a window with detailed settings for the created virtual hard disk is displayed.
After clicking the "Hide Details" button, a window with advanced hard disk settings opens (Figure 17).
First of all, select the type of virtual hard disk. To ensure compatibility with other virtualization programs, it is possible to create several types of virtual hard disks, for example, VMDK hard disks can be used with VMware virtual machines.
Since the purpose of this article is to provide basic skills for working with a VirtualBox virtual machine, I will choose the VDI virtual disk type - a hard disk format designed to work with VirtualBox virtual machines.
WARNING: Make sure you have enough space on your hard drive to create a virtual hard drive before you start creating one.
To create a virtual female disk, click "Create". After that, a window will open illustrating the process of creating a hard disk (Figure 18). This may take several minutes.
The created virtual disk is an ordinary file in the host operating system with the name you specified and the VDI extension. This file can be moved, copied, transferred to another computer. For example, if you need to work with the same virtual machine at home and in the office, you can transfer a hard disk file on a flash drive and work at home and in the office with the same virtual machine.
After creating a virtual hard disk, a new virtual machine will appear in the main window of the VirtualBox program, ready for use (Figure 19). It remains only to install a guest operating system on it.
3. Install the guest operating system.
The installation of the guest operating system will start automatically after the first start of the virtual machine. And so, we start the virtual machine by pressing the button. After a few seconds, a window will open (Figure 20) prompting you to specify the path to the boot disk or boot disk image.
I will be installing the operating system from a boot disk image (ubuntu-12.04-oem-i386.iso) downloaded by RuTracker.org beforehand. To select the image of the boot disk, press the button and in the window that opens (Figure 21) select the file ubuntu-12.04-oem-i386.iso, click the "open" button and to start installing the operating system in the window (Figure 20) click the "continue" button.
Immediately after pressing the button, the virtual machine will start (Figure 22) and after a few seconds the installation of the guest operating system will automatically begin. During the installation of the operating system, prompts will appear in front of you, designed to make it easier to work with the virtual machine.
Installation of a guest operating system will proceed in exactly the same way as when installing this operating system on a real computer or on a VMWare virtual machine. Since I already described the process of installing a similar operating system in the article “Getting Started with VMware Workstation”, in the Installing a Guest Operating System section, I will not repeat myself and immediately proceed to describe the basics of working with a virtual machine.
4. Basic operations with a virtual machine.
4.1. Starting the virtual machine
Launch the VirtualBox virtualization program. The main program window will open on the screen (Figure 23).
If in the left part of the window that opens, in the list of available virtual machines, there is no one you need, then select the menu item:
Machine->Add
In the file manager that opens, select the virtual machine you need (file with .vbox resolution) and click the "open" button. The selected virtual machine will appear in the list of available virtual machines on the left side of the main window of the VirtualBox program.
In the list of virtual machines in the window (Figure 23), select the one you need. I will select the virtual machine named "VM" and start the selected virtual machine in one of the following ways:
By clicking the button at the top of the window, under the "Edit" menu;
- by selecting the menu item: Machine->Run.
After starting the virtual machine, if its state was saved, the state of the virtual machine will be automatically restored and you will be able to continue working as if you had not turned off the virtual machine. If the state of the virtual machine was not saved, then the installed guest system will start, similar to the start of the operating system when the real computer is turned on.
4.2. Pausing the virtual machine.
Often it is necessary to temporarily leave the workplace. If a certain program is running at this moment and you cannot miss any important moment in the process of running this program, then VirtualBox provides the ability to temporarily suspend the virtual machine. To do this, select the menu item: Machine->Suspend, and the virtual machine will automatically pause. To resume work, select the menu item again: Machine->Suspend.
Of course, you can shut down the stateful virtual machine and then start the virtual machine again, but this is much longer. If setting to pause takes a fraction of a second, then saving the state can take several tens of seconds. If you have to be distracted often, then pause is much more convenient.
4.3. Shutdown the virtual machine.
There are several ways to shut down a virtual machine:
1. Click the shutdown button in the upper right corner of the window (Figure 24). In the menu that opens (Figure 25), select one of the following items:
- "Save machine state", which will save the state of the machine, and then the virtual machine will shut down. At the next start, the state of the virtual machine will be automatically restored and work will continue as if you did not turn off the virtual machine.
- "Send a shutdown signal", this will open the shutdown window, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. Using this window, you can properly shut down the guest operating system, and after the guest operating system is shut down, the virtual machine will shut down automatically.
- Turn off the machine. This action is equivalent to de-energizing the real machine.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that in the version of VirtualBox used in this program, regardless of your choice in the shutdown window of the operating system, a few seconds after selecting "Send a shutdown signal", the virtual machine turns off.
2. Shut down the guest operating system in the regular way provided by the guest operating system, and the virtual machine will automatically shut down after the guest operating system shuts down.
3. Select a menu item: Machine -> Send Ctrl-Alt-Del, while the actions of the virtual machine will be similar to the action of a real computer when pressing the keyboard keys of the same name, i.e. The task manager will start, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. With the help of the task manager, it will be possible to shut down the entire guest operating system or individual threads. After shutting down the guest operating system, the virtual machine will automatically shut down.
4. Select a menu item: machine -> reboot, after which a window will open (Figure 26) warning about the loss of all unsaved data in applications running in the guest operating system if you continue to reboot. If you press the "Reboot" button, then the further actions of the virtual machine will be similar to the actions of a personal computer when you click the "Reboot" button on the "system unit".
5. Select the menu item: Machine->shut down, this will open the shutdown window, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. Using this window, you can properly shut down the guest operating system, and after the shutdown of the guest operating system and the system, the virtual machine will shut down automatically.
I would like to draw your attention to the version of VirtualBox used in this program, regardless of your choice in the shutdown window of the operating system, a few seconds after selecting the menu item "Machine->Shut Down", the virtual machine is shutting down.
4.4. Connecting removable devices to a virtual machine.
Consider connecting removable devices using the example of connecting and disconnecting a USB drive.
To connect a USB drive, select the menu item: Devices->USB Devices and in the opened list (Figure 27) select the USB device you need. In my case, the USB drive was identified as "Generic Mass Storage".
After selecting the “Generic Mass Storage” menu item, the USB drive will be connected, as if you connected the flash drive to a real computer, and in the list (Figure 27) the selected device will be ticked. Further actions are determined by the operating system you are using. To disable the USB drive, uncheck the box in the same menu. As you can see, everything is very simple.
ATTENTION! When you connect a removable device to a virtual machine, it is disabled in the host operating system, which can lead to the loss of unsaved data. Therefore, before connecting a removable device to a virtual machine, make sure that you do not perform any actions with it in the host operating system.
4.5. Switching between host and guest operating systems.
When working in a virtual machine, the keyboard and mouse are “captured”, that is, all keyboard presses or mouse actions are processed by the virtual machine and ignored in the host operating system. In order to switch to working with the host operating system, you must press the "Host" key or a key combination. For different versions of virtual machines and depending on their settings, the "Host" key may be different, but the name of the key is displayed in the lower right corner of the virtual machine window (Figure 28).
When you press this key, the processing of all events from the keyboard and mouse will again be processed by the host operating system. In order to return to work with the virtual machine, simply click the mouse in an arbitrary place in the window of the ritual machine.
This is quite enough to start working with a virtual machine, and in the future, if you like the new tool, and you will certainly like it, you can easily explore all its features, and I will try to help you in one of the following articles.
If it seems to you that a computer system emulator is purely specialized software, you should try to change your mind. If you don't know how to use a virtual machine, you miss the opportunity to get acquainted with programs, games, systems without changing the current state of the computer. But even Microsoft has put its OS on the conveyor and supplies users with them with decent regularity. When there is a desire to see everything with your own eyes, but you don’t want to (or cannot) reinstall the system, virtual machines will become a useful tool.
Why you need a virtual machine
A virtual machine is the general name for the results of the work of computer hardware platform emulators, with the help of which it is really possible to create an isolated software environment. So, on a computer with Windows 7, you can run Windows 8 and work fully in it, while no changes will occur in the "master" OS. The "guest" system uses the hardware resources of the host (that is, it will not work, of course, to increase performance), ignoring the system ones. When setting up a virtual machine, you can set a variety of parameters and check, for example, whether GTA V will run on an old computer with 2 GB of RAM and a 1 GB video card.
So, a virtual machine is needed so that with maximum comfort:
- work in another (or several at the same time) operating system;
- run programs designed for a specific OS;
- test software products for compatibility;
- increase the level of network security;
- experiment with OS and BIOS settings.
A person who has not encountered emulators probably does not know how to install and use a virtual machine. Therefore, any terms and instructions seem to him complex, specialized. In fact, the emulator is installed in the same way as any other program: run the installer, answer system questions, wait for the installation to complete. Next, we create and configure a virtual platform to suit our needs.
To install a virtual machine on a PC, we need:
- installer of the selected emulator (VirtualBox, VMware Workstation, Microsoft Virtual PC, 1C-Bitrix: Virtual Machine, DOS-Box);
- PC that meets the system requirements of the program developer;
- free hard disk space;
- boot image of the OS that you plan to install.
If your computer is running Windows 7, then Microsoft Virtual PC is already included in the software package that comes with the operating system. Similarly, the Hyper-V hypervisor is included in Windows 8, so you don’t have to install anything else: just enable this component in the menu and restart the computer. If solutions from Microsoft do not suit you (or the OS assembly is corrected and the necessary components are missing), you can use third-party software products, the most popular of which are considered to be VirtualBox from Oracle and VMware Workstation from VMware.
Hyper-V on Windows 8
The Hyper-V hypervisor is included in the build of the operating system, only it is not enabled by default. To enable this component, follow the path Control Panel - Programs and Features - Turn Windows features on or off - Hyper-V (check the box). After the computer restarts, you will see shortcuts to the management programs and start the virtual machine. Installation on this is completed, now you need to create a virtual platform directly.
Launch the Hyper-V Manager, select the tab Actions - Create - Virtual Machine. The setup wizard will prompt you to choose manual setup or automatic (default, with standard settings). By clicking on the Done button, the new platform will be created and you can start working. The Next button will allow you to select step by step the location for storing program files, the amount of RAM and hard disk (no more than real ones, of course), enter the name of the virtual machine and install the OS on it from a disk image, from a bootable flash drive or DVD.
During the manual configuration process, you will have to select the generation of the virtual machine if you have one of the latest releases of Hyper-V installed on your system. There are no significant restrictions for the first generation, while the second one involves installing only Windows 8/8.1 (64-bit) and Windows Server 2012. In this case, outdated hardware will not be emulated (COM ports, IDE drives), only SCSI will remain, and BIOS will be replaced by UEFI.
One more thing to keep in mind: by default, the program will create an expandable virtual hard disk in VHDX format for the virtual machine. To work with operating systems earlier than Windows 8, you will need to create a VHD disk that supports up to 2 TB.
To access the network on the new platform, you must configure a virtual switch. For the interaction of virtual machines with each other, we select a private network, communication with the main system is provided by the internal network, and Internet access is provided by the external network. You can allow WAN access for both guest and host systems at the same time. In the settings of the already created virtual machine on the Options tab, select the desired virtual switch. You can later remove it for this system and choose another one.
After starting the guest system, you can work in it in the same way as in the main one. The window is minimized and unfolded, cursor movements and keystrokes are intercepted by the emulator. The Hyper-V component is also implemented on Windows 10, so users of this OS do not need additional software to install virtual platforms.
Microsoft Virtual PC on Windows 7
This virtual machine is included in one of the Windows 7 update packages. If you don’t have it in the Applications and Features menu, then you just need to download the required update from the Microsoft website, read the license agreement, and restart the computer after installation is complete. Virtual PC will appear in the programs along with the already installed software.
In fact, Virtual PC was created as a tool for interfacing Windows XP with Windows 7 to make it easier for users to switch to a new operating system from the old legendary one that broke all records of longevity. Therefore, XP Mode was immediately included in the program, which allows you to install a virtual WinXP in a couple of clicks without a bootable system image. To do this, just select XP Mode, then the location where the virtual system files are stored, accept the license agreement and set the account settings.
XP Mode is one of the options that demonstrate how to use a virtual machine on Windows 7. You can install any Windows OS in manual mode. In the Start menu in the Virtual PC folder, we launch the program and work further in the familiar explorer. Select the Create virtual machine button and follow the instructions of the system. Going forward, the Virtual Machines folder will display all of our guest platforms.
During the creation process, we indicate the location of the files of the new system, a friendly name, the amount of RAM of the future virtual PC, network connectivity (we select a real network adapter), and virtual hard disk parameters. Everything, the platform is ready, you can proceed to install the guest operating system!
This is done in the virtual machine options menu. At the first stage, a bootable OS image is mounted: select a virtual DVD drive and an .iso file with the desired system. Or just insert a regular boot disk into a regular drive. Now you can start the machine, the installation will be exactly the same as in the case of a real PC. Upon completion of the process, you will need to install the integration components: on the Virtual PC Service tab, select the appropriate item and run the application. The installation wizard will do the rest, all that remains is to reboot the new system.
You will most likely find the following information useful when working with guests through Virtual PC:
- USB devices can be connected to the guest system, for this it is enough to select the necessary USB flash drive, camera or scanner in the USB menu and allow sharing. However, you cannot use them in both systems at the same time.
- In order to be able to print documents from the guest system, you must select Add a new device - Network printer and install the driver (you can use it as PnP). The print will go to the local printer.
Features of working with VMware and Virtual Box
If you want to work with operating systems not created by Microsoft, you will have to use software from other developers. One of the most popular programs is VMware and Virtual Box. They differ significantly from each other in functionality, but the algorithm of work for all emulators is very similar:
- Program installation.
- Create a virtual machine with the specified settings.
- OS installation.
- Starting the guest system.
VMware Workstation is a paid program that is not cheap by Russian standards, but supports working with any OS, fine-tuning network adapters, USB 3.0, any hardware platforms. There is a free version of VMware Player that allows you to create virtual platforms, but the functionality has been cut. However, users believe that Player is quite suitable for home use.
