Virtualbox Comparisons and info

Virtualbox -- best kid on the block, free and full of features, if anyone knows sthg in this same software field (thts not mentioned) let me know.

VMWare player -- hefty resource usage compared to vbox, has crippled feture set excluding snapshots etc. runs too many services in bg even when not used. Some claim it to be stable,

Xen -- open source projrect to run vms on linux. I dont know much about it except that it doesnt run on windows and that it applies a concept of paravirtualization tht requires the guest OS 's kernel to be modified in order for it to work. Sthg microsoft have no interest in doing. Linux guests seems to work fine though. Dont know if this could be a viable candidate for a vbox alternative.

Qemu -- After hours of research I still dont get what this program does compared to vbox or which one is better. Is it full virtualization or just paravirtualization? Is it feature rich and fast? I know its free and that some features have been incorporated in vbox. Someone experienced fill me in on this and please clarify how it works compared to the beloved vbox.

If anyone has other suggestions for virtual machines softs go ahead and post about it, but only if its free please. I know vbox is great but I am open to alternatives and suggestions just incase sthg causes us to change horses in the future.

 

Add VMLite

 

......and m$ virtual pc

 

Researched VMLite it seemed interesting at first how it could run winxp mode on win7 pcs tht dont have hardware enabled VT available. Found out that it was basically a vbox clone with a different name,

@ MS vpc, I heard it had pretty primative features and was slower than vbox

 

VirtualBox is the best for me right now.
VMware is too bloated with services like you've said.

 

I just want to warn u guys that most(?) sandbox or virtual softwares are useless because of this:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1731184&postcount=24

Private hackers that create malware are far above them. D:

 

Yes tinpie this would matter if testing was for malware, but dont forget that vms are pretty good at testing clean software for reviewing purposes etc.

Also guys, can anyone explain and contrast what QEMU does and how its different from vbox?

 

I think it was discussed in that thread that such tools are only used to prevent debugging of malware; and not for malware circumventing virtualisation. That is, malware can detect if its running in a virtual environment, and if so, will shut itslef down to prevent debugging.

 

You mean free or open source?

If not, then 'the best kid on the block' atm you would have to look at VMWare and Parallels for features and services they provide, btw I would be the first to say otherwise.

Are you aware of the many other virtualization solutions...
growing list : KernelMode
wiki comparisions : Wikipedia

Note.
Malware/VMs. Please guys before laying down blanket statements do your research. VM awareness is a little like the old cat and mouse game.

Can't believe the rubbish I've read in this thread.

 

VirtuaBox is not open sores.

 

Virtualbox OSE is. See here.

 

Why no mention of parallels?

 

@ Meriadoc, according to my research vbox is both free and open source. I am aware and review the wiki virtualization list before posting here. Gotta say tho, there are some pretty unknown/peculiar software listed there with little relevance to my quest.

I am only concentrating on the big names that most ppl in this field know of. About paralells, its a cheaper proprietry option that doesnt really provide anything not already there.

 

Then what is your 'quest.'

Try the one's you can.

Parallels has a big user base from Mac version to Windows & Linux. System feels capable host and guest, just for Mac I prefer Fusion.

 

Ok, comments below:

I guess you were focusing on free software, but I'll mention WMware Workstation for the benefit of those wondering what the (arguably) best free-or-paid VM software is:

VMware Workstation isn't free, but it's more user-friendly and polished than Virtualbox. I don't find the resource use high for what it does. The most noticeable difference between VMware and VBox is the ability to drag-n-drop files between the former and your actual computer. But I use Virtualbox too and it's certainly top notch, and noticeably faster and lighter. Sometimes something will work on one of them but not the other.

I also use VMware's ThinApp to "thinstall" applications, which is a way to make them portable. Not free, but they give out a 60-day trial.

I'm not very familiar with QEMU, but I did use a smallish QEMU BartPE/WinPE plugin ("Qemu_iso_boot") to test recovery CDs (ISOs) I built (testing boot CDs on VMs is a HUGE time saver). You can also test them on VMware and Vbox, but the QEMU plaugin lets you try the boot-up procedure without the need to install a full VM. I also read that you can use QEMU machines to test USB-based recovery disks, whereas VMware does not support that.

That said, I don't use the QEMU plugin anymore since I have VMware Workstation and Virtualbox installed (on different machines) so I might as well use those, and if I'm using a USB flash disk for the boot medium, I either test an iso version of it on the VM or I boot the VM to a Plop Boot Manager floppy image (plpbt.img) which lets me then boot to a flash drive.