Windows 10: Vmware or virtualbox?

You can do all of this with Hyper-V. One advantage Hyper-V has over VBox and VMWare (non server) is it automatically suspends and restarts VMs when you reboot.

 

I am not a Hyper-V expert. I use VMware Player and run all my virtual systems from an external device (SSD of fast USB stick). That way I can run the virtual systems of which I have about a dozen on every system that has VMware Player installed - even Linux systems or an old Vista laptop from 2007. Is that something I could do with Hyper-V ??

 

Of course in this sense Hyper-V is not as flexible because it only runs on Windows 8 & 8.1 Pro, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2008 and 2012 versions of Windows. It's not possible to run Hyper-V on Linux or legacy Windows (Seven and older).

To compensate that, it's incredibly easy to run Hyper-V virtual machines on your home network. They only need to be located on one computer, you can then connect to any vm on any virtual host (PC) on your network with Virtual Machine Connection tool:



This simply means that you don't have to connect the HDD or SSD containing your virtual machines to the computer you are currently using. Instead, if for example the PC-1 in your network contains the virtual machines, you can connect to them and use them from PC-2.

If you store your virtual machines on an external media, you can also create a new vm on any computer using existing vm on that media.

Personally I do not even need my virtual machines to go with me. I have set up port forwarding to forward incoming remote desktop connection requests to my home server (see RDC tutorial, Part Eight) which is always up and running. This way I can connect to and use my Hyper-V virtual machines from any Windows, Windows Phone, Linux, Android, iOS and MacOSX device out there (tutorial), without need to carry the media containing them with me.

Here I am connected to my laptop running Windows 10 Build 9926 using RDC from Windows Phone. As laptop has some virtual machines I have opened a Win 10 Build 9879 vm and am controlling it from the phone:

 

Kari, that sounds interesting but more complicated than my external SSD approach. And I don't know how your scheme would work when I move from Florida to Germany with everything in Florida shut down and a different ISP in Germany.

 

For me the easiest and by far the simplest approach is to let home server run 24/7 and connect to virtual machines when on the home network using Virtual Machine Connection, and when away over remote desktop connection.

In your case it would be to keep your virtual machines on an external device, connect it to any computer wherever you are (subject to the PC is running an OS which has Hyper-V) and create a new vm using existing virtual hard disks. This operation takes a minute and have to be done only once, next time the same media is connected to this PC the virtual machines are there.

Anyway, the RDC option is so easy I wholeheartedly recommend it.

 

Here is one of the problems - most of my PCs don't support Hyper-V. But my system works for me. Why change if it ain't broke.

 

I have no recent experience with VMware, but with VirtualBox on Windows 7 and one or two VM's running but doing nothing, the CPU load on the host was always 10 to 20%.

Now with Hyper-V on Windows 10 Pro, under the same conditions, the CPU load is only 2 to 5%.

Since my host is a laptop, it runs quite a bit cooler!

My 2 cents worth,

Bart

 

VirtualBox is great. I have tested other alternatives (VMWare, Hyper-V, etc) but VirtualBox works for me. I use it regularly to test software so I do not have to worry about corrupting my primary desktop. Has saved me a couple times from bad installs / uninstalls. I also use a virgin VirtualBox install of Windows 10 to create portable applications. The "Snapshot" option of Virtualbox is necessary for restoring the build to its original condition after testing software or creating portable apps.

 

sorry to bring up a old thread is VMware free ???

 

There is a free version.

 

is the free version any good ??

 

This thread is from 2015; no it makes no sense to bring it up again as it’s contents are widely void.
To my knowledge, there is no more free version of VMware.
Plus today, VirtualBox (5.2) is more advanced than VMware, at least for home use.
Use hyper-v on a Windows 10 host, or VirtualBox if you’re new to the topic.

EDIT: sorry, there is indeed still a free version, it seems, VMware Workstation Player 14 - so you could still check it out.

 

Yes, there's a free version of VMware desktop, for non-commercial use.
I find that it performs slightly faster than Virtual Box, but not much faster.
Both are underwhelming.
jpeni said he uses a VM for testing. That's all I use it for. That's about all it's good for, where speed is not so important.

Download VMware Workstation Pro

 

Hi there.

Like all these things --depends on what you want to use it for.

I've found VMware over the years far more stable and reliable than VBOX but it depends on what you are running, what you are using as HOST and the nature of the VM's themselves.

I'd suggest to anybody wanting an answer to this type of question is to try BOTH systems out -- just get rid of the one that is either more complicated to use or you feel less comfortable with.

This type of question these days is very much in the mould of "Audi vs BMW vs Mercedes". The final choice has to be with the end user as all the VM systems (like the Cars) have improved so much that answers valid a few years ago are no longer true today --for example VBOX used to be regarded as a joke and who ever uses QEMU nowadays.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Whilst all this is true, I would add that VBOX has had a bit of a chequered history of falling over after build upgrades with Windows 10, and Oracle have had to provide fixes.

Vmware seems to have been more immune to build upgrade impact.

Of course, if you have PRO, Hyper-V is really good but has downsides e.g. no sound for basic sessions. I hardly every use Vmware these days.