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Virtual-Machines
What are the best desktop virtualization solutions?
12
Options
Considered
53
User
Recs.
Jul 18, 2023
Last
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10
Options
Considered
Best desktop virtualization solutions
Price
Platforms
Based On
--
QEMU
-
Windows, Linux, Mac
-
--
Docker
Free / paid
Windows, Linux, Mac
-
--
Virtual Box
Free
-
-
--
Proxmox VE
FREE
Linux
Debian stable
--
Turbo.net
Free / paid
-
-
See Full List
--
QEMU
My Rec
ommendation
for
QEMU
My Recommendation for
QEMU
Add Video or Image
All
5
Pros
3
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
QEMU is available for free with source code available here.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Steep learning curve
Not as easy to master as other options.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Near-native performance
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
QEMU is capable of taking whole-system snapshots and writing them to a backing file.
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
8
--
Docker
My Rec
ommendation
for
Docker
My Recommendation for
Docker
Add Video or Image
All
13
Experiences
1
Pros
8
Cons
3
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Tool ecosystem
See More
Top
Con
•••
Kernel OS fragmentation
See More
RickZeeland's Experience
Mainly of interest to developers and professionals who are using lots of containers. The base image, e.g. Alpine Linux, is used only once which allows containers based on it to be very compact, in contrast to traditional virtual machines.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac
Top
Pro
•••
Git-like capabilities
Docker tracks changes in systems. It allows for commits and rollbacks and for quick deployment due to having to deploy only the updated code.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No Winforms applications
Docker can not run Windows forms or WPF applications.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Automatic build
Allows automatically assembling a container from its source code.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Windows containers are large
The smallest Windows Nano Server container for use with .NET Core is about 420 Mb in size. For the full .NET framework even larger containers are needed.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Low overhead
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Provides easy sharing and installation of containers through a public registry
Docker allows easily pushing and pulling containers to and from their public index.docker.io registry. Additionally, dotCloud maintains a list of official repositories of the more popular containers.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Allows for portable application deployment
Docker creates a single object, containing an application with its dependencies, that can be moved between any docker-enabled machines, guaranteeing the same environment for application execution.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Allows re-using components
Docker essentially allows creating boilerplate systems (a LAMP stack, for example) that can be used as a starting point on multiple projects. And you can find multiple such containers already created by people in their public registry.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Free Community Edition
See More
Hide
See All
Free / paid
Recommend
6
1
--
Virtual Box
My Rec
ommendation
for
Virtual Box
My Recommendation for
Virtual Box
Add Video or Image
All
11
Experiences
2
Pros
7
Cons
2
Top
Pro
•••
Compatible with Many Operating Systems
It works for Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, and many others.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Lacks video performance
Virtualbox has a hard cap of 256MB of video memory. This could make newer operating systems run slower.
See More
Evolze's Experience
My go-to hypervisor that is free and open-source! It's available for almost any operating system, including Windows, Mac, Linux, and even BSD.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Beginner friendly
A virtual machine can be set up in minutes if a ISO file to load is already available.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Minimal CPU customization
You can only enable/disable certain features. You cannot cap the speed of the CPU, which is required to run systems such as Windows 95.
See More
ArticulateCariocecus's Experience
isos like void & windows doesn't boot in uefi mode
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Works well and fast for Windows host and Linux guest
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Free and open source
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Many free images available
Though most are linux flavors at https://virtualboxes.org/ Oracle's virtualbox site has others.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Can do snapshots
See More
Top
Pro
•••
A lot of customization
VirtualBox has multiple virtualization options. Each one may be tailored to the guest operating system’s needs. This makes it especially good on virtualizing older systems, such as DOS, obscure distros, etc.
See More
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
11
3
--
Proxmox VE
My Rec
ommendation
for
Proxmox VE
My Recommendation for
Proxmox VE
Add Video or Image
All
1
Specs
Specs
Platforms:
Linux
Based On:
Debian stable
Init-System:
Systemd
Hide
FREE
Recommend
--
Turbo.net
My Rec
ommendation
for
Turbo.net
My Recommendation for
Turbo.net
Add Video or Image
Hide
Free / paid
Recommend
3
--
VMWare player
My Rec
ommendation
for
VMWare player
My Recommendation for
VMWare player
Add Video or Image
All
5
Pros
4
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
3D graphic support
Not sure about games but WebGL works ok.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Not open source
Which means having to install their intrusive tools manually on guest linux vms.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Works well and fast with Windows host and Linux guest
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Microsoft VM support
Also supports Microsoft Virtual Server virtual machines or Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machines.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
User friendly
Somewhat more user friendly than VirtualBox.
See More
Hide
See All
Free / £131.95
Recommend
2
1
--
Hyper-V
My Rec
ommendation
for
Hyper-V
My Recommendation for
Hyper-V
Add Video or Image
All
3
Pros
2
Cons
1
Top
Pro
•••
Tight integration with Windows
Built in PowerShell commands, can be started as a service, can be installed using Windows Optional Features, etc.
See More
Top
Con
•••
Windows only
Since it's the virtualization platform of Windows, Hyper-V can be used only on Windows.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
See More
Hide
See All
Get it
here
Recommend
1
--
V2 Cloud
My Rec
ommendation
for
V2 Cloud
My Recommendation for
V2 Cloud
Add Video or Image
All
2
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to use
It's fast enough and a user friendly solution to move your operations to a cloud-based computer. This is the company to work with.
See More
Darim's Experience
Provides working virtual desktop, no difficulties in use, secure access
See More
Hide
from 60$/month
Recommend
5
2
--
rollApp
My Rec
ommendation
for
rollApp
My Recommendation for
rollApp
Add Video or Image
All
2
Pros
2
Top
Pro
•••
rollMyFile
rollMyFile can open files from your computer online, supports more than 500 file types.
See More
Top
Pro
•••
API
Online File Editing API.
See More
Hide
Free / paid
Recommend
1
--
Windows 10 Sandbox
My Rec
ommendation
for
Windows 10 Sandbox
My Recommendation for
Windows 10 Sandbox
Add Video or Image
All
4
Experiences
1
Pros
1
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Isolation
Run applications in isolation, after closing the sandbox everything is deleted.
See More
Top
Con
•••
No save
The state can not be saved, all changes are lost after closing the sandbox.
See More
RickZeeland's Experience
Ships with Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise (build 1903). It can be activated on Windows 10 Home by using a batch file.
See More
Specs
Platforms:
Windows
Hide
See All
Free
Recommend
2
1
Don't see your favorite option? Add it.
--
SSuite FireFly HD+ Desktop
My Rec
ommendation
for
SSuite FireFly HD+ Desktop
My Recommendation for
SSuite FireFly HD+ Desktop
FREE
Recommend
4
1
--
Cameyo
My Rec
ommendation
for
Cameyo
My Recommendation for
Cameyo
Free / paid
Recommend
1
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