6 tips how to make your Virtualization better

Hi all,

I've written a how-to explaining how you can increase your productivity when working with virtualization software like VMware, VirtualBox or others.

This can help you if you're running low on disk space, have only a single hard disk, would like to increase performance and responsivity, and reduce the wear on your internal hardware ...

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virtualization-tips.html

The tips presented here should significantly help you increase the efficiency and ease of your work with virtual machines.

Comments and suggestions are welcome.

Regards,
Mrk

 

Thanks for the guide Mrkvonic.

I want to use Windows as guest os on my Linux box to use software that is not avaliable for linux.

I am aware of the advantage of allocating virtual disk image before hand but is it logical to run the built-in defragger of guest Windows for speed purposes or is this a waste of time? I do not know how the files are placed in a wm image; by guest os or virtualization software?

 

By guest.

You could run defrag insidethe virtual machine, but the performance gain is going to be negligible, especially for small sized disks like those used in virtual machines. When you preallocate the space, make sure the host disk is properly defragged, so you give away a single chuck of space. After that, the virtual machine will work within its small space (6-8GB ??), so you won't see much difference either way.

Mrk

 

Good tips, I didn't think of the Pre-allocation benefits. Also, I use nLite on my guest OS which results in better performances.

 

Does 'Ext2 Installable File System for Windows' not count?

 

I think the author is referring to native supports.

Anyways, after formatting my machine and installing xp sp3. I had ext2 fs installed. And thats when I began to have the BSOD. It says system.sys error. I used memtest86 and found nothing wrong w/ my ram. Only when I copy system.sys from a working machine and uninstall ext2 fs did that stop happening. But then again, thats just me.

Linux is so popular, I hope its supported in windows7. (fat chance?)

 

Excellent, as a newbie to virtualization your article has been invaluable. I am a bit dizzy from it but I now know a lot more about the subject than I did a few minutes ago.

Mucho thanks.

 

Hi,
No, it does not, because this baby is quite prone to bsoding, especially alongside various anti-x software.
Cheers,
Mrk