Best VM

Looking for the best VM software. Must be light on the system and user friendly. Basically Ill be using it for testing of different security apps against my collection of malware.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say there isn't a best VM piece of software. There is always something wrong.

From my experience:

Oracle VM VirtualBox

Pros:
- free;
- nice set of features and settings (including snapshots);
- wide OS support.

Cons:
- no freaking drag-n-drop support, even though it has been requested since almost forever;
- buggy and not very stable.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

Pros:
- free;
- drag-n-drop;
- stable and reliable.

Cons:
- not so feature rich;
- guest OS performance is worst of the three (although difference isn't that big);
- no longer being developed;
- not so good support for guest OS other than Windows.

VMware Player

Pros:
- free;
- decent feature set;
- drag-n-drop;
- good guest OS support.

Cons:
- some additional services installed and running alongside VM;
- supports only 1 snapshot: when you turn off the VM all changes get saved, no option to discard them, unless you edit the XML file for the VM and add a few lines of tweaks which will make the VM discard all changes when turned off; basically you need 2 VMs if you want to have the option to save and discard changes and you need to decide which VM to use for a certain test; very, very annoying.

VMware Workstation

Pros:
- nice set of features and settings (including snapshots);
- drag-n-drop;
- good guest OS support.

Cons:
- some additional services installed and running alongside VM;
- hefty price tag ($189).

There is also Windows Virtual PC (which is the successor of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007) but it runs only on Windows 7, and since I use XP I can't provide much information on it.
There is also VM software from Parallels which is also paid but has a much more reasonable price but I haven't used it.

My 2 cents.

 

If you got lots of coin then it would be VMware Workstation! http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/

TH

 

Basically Im looking for the app with the least amount of resource usage and stability.

 

heh
No..you're looking for the most stable feature rich VM environment with the best back-up and OS/appliance support

If you want to experiment and "get a handle" on VM use: then dl VBox and give it a run.

Realistically VMWare is the best: free updates, great kb all over the web.
Lots of free tools.
Unhappily: the initial cost looks a bit daunting
( I never got around to trying Parallels: at the time I got WS it was way behind Workstation )

When you amortise the cost v. hours you will spend in the VM =

If you want VM in Linux:
http://www.linux.com/news/enterpris...kvm-or-xen-choosing-a-virtualization-platform
That would be a fairly authoritative write up to start with.

You can write VMs for use with VMplayer:
http://www.easyvmx.com/
That also is a great learning experience.

The other easy option is do DL already created VMs and run in player to "test"
http://www.vmware.com/appliances/
Or here: some great VMs:
http://bagside.com/bagvapp/

Obviously player and the preconfiged VMs above are free.
( erm .. minus downloads !!)

Here we go: Workstation free trial
https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/?p=vmware-workstation&lp=1&q=vmware free trial

EDIT: oh ... and what Pete said

 

whitedragon, you have to pony up and provide the hardware with enough horsepower to run a decent vm. BTW, my vote goes to VMware as the best overall, even with the hefty $$ tag.

 

Hardware shouldnt be an issue even on my laptop. Asus M50SV-A1 laptop, 3Gbs of RAM (will be 4 soon), Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 overclocked at 3.0Ghz with 6Mb L2 cache, 250Gb Seagate Momentus 5400.6RPM HD, External 1.5TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM HD, NVIDIA 9500GS 512Mb GDDR2 GPU also over clocked, Realtek HD Audio card, and over course a Thermaltake T4000 CPU cooler. Doesnt get over 98*F even gaming.

 

I'm a bit confused, isnt VMwaremPlayer a VM? What does it mean to create a VM in it?

PS: VMware Player can apparently create VMs now.

 

http://www.ilsistemista.net/index.p...machines-performance-comparison.html?start=18

 

Ah I'd forgotten about that: VMPlayer and VMs that is.
Thanks for reminding me. I do remember reading that somewhere.

VM player does as the name suggests: "Plays" the tape so to speak.
Any "tape" ie VM can be moved about like any file:VMPlayer can point to the file/VM and run the virtual environment.
I have to admit that I'm not fully aware of the current level of dev. with VM Player. ( I'm prolly not going to read it atm either )

 

Sweet (nice h/ware specs)! You're good to go no matter what you choose

 

I went with VMWare Workstation v7.1. While I was doing morning errands I had Windows 7 x64 Pro installing. Now just to set it up and be on my way. I chose Win 7 x64 Pro simply because its what I use on my laptop.

All thats left is for me to configure it how I would normally via Blackvipers services and Windows components, update with the latest patches, and take a snapshot.

 

Great choice, even for the big $$. The snapshot management/functionality is first-rate and it handles 3D probably better than anything else.

 

Conveniently my local community college has MSDNAA accounts to hand out to those who are enrolled in computer courses. My advanced HTML course qualifies. I paid nothing for it.

 

kinda makes your choice a whole lot easier

 

How so? All VMs support windows...

 

Because it's arguably the best vm software @ nearly $200 for free in whitegragon's case.

 

You mean VMware workstation is in MSDNA? Isnt MSDNA just for MS software?

 

I thought so too, but they offer a whole slew of software here for free including Adobe CS4 Premier suite for free as well.

 

Maybe Parallels

 

Now that I have a baseline with the most up to date software. Whats next?

 

Did you install the VMware Tools?

 

VMWare Tools is installed and updated.

Im going to give Rising Antivirus Free a go and see what happens.

 

I forgot, did you take a snapshot of baseline?