Virtualization seems to be a major vogue these days. Everyone wants to run an operating system other than their own. My first experience with this sort of thing is to try to run Linux alongside Windows XP using VMware. My second was with Parallels, running XP on my Mac.
The big problem with these two programs is cost. There is a free trial of Parallels and VMware a player free, but that’s not what I was looking for. I wanted a full version software that cost little or nothing at all. Although I have found. In this article I will expand on this point and show you how easy it is to be installed on a Mac and how it really is.
Firstly, what is virtualization? For our sake, it means creating a virtual computer on your physical computer. Say you’re running OS X Leopard on your Mac, but you want to use Windows XP or Vista or a flavor of Linux as well. Without virtualization, you may need to be a dual boot or install your second OS on a second machine. The use of virtualization, you can have your guest OS to function as a window on your host operating system, or better yet, make them work side by side, almost an equal footing.
Setting up the guest OS
The industry term for the operating system you’re running on a virtual computer is “Guest OS”. Your operating system is the main “host operating system. The virtualization software, in this case VirtualBox provides virtually computer. Fire it and you ask you some questions on the operating system you’re installing. Things like:
The name you want to give it. Choose a friendly name here, like “Windows XP” or “Jason’s Virtual Computer.”
The type of OS. There is a long list here, including DOS, all flavors of Windows back to 3.1 and many flavors of Linux
The amount of memory your system you want to allocate the virtual machine running.
For XP, I find 512M works very well for Vista you will need 1G. I got 2G RAM on my Mac so it’s enough for this test.
What type/size hard drive you want.
Your choices are Dynamically Expanding Image (default) or Fixed-Size Image.
Regarding the size, I chose the OS default is 10G for XP and 20G for Windows Vista. It’s just the size VirtualBox reports to clients OS as the hard disk size. If you choose Dynamically Expanding Image in the previous step VirtualBox create a file that represents your reader only as large as it is now necessary to install the operating system. Then, as its name suggests, as you add stuff to your virtual computer, the drive size expands as necessary.
You can then power on your virtual machine and it uses the installation CD in your player (or a disk image of your choice) to install the client OS. It will take place throughout the installation process, as if you were installing it on a physical machine, you enter your product key and your time zone, etc.
A word on the client OS. You must have your own copy of the OS, you’re installing, and all ordinary rules apply. If you install Windows on a virtual machine is the same as the installation on a computer and as you know, each copy of Windows is authorized to be executed on a computer. Of course, there is no problem if Linux is your operating system of choice invited. It’s free.
Running your virtual computer
Once installation is complete, you want to run your new (or old) OS. Just run and enjoy the surreal show to have an operating system boot in another. Once it is up and running, you’ll notice the mouse is a little nervous and difficult to control. Do not worry, this is what Guest Additions are for.
Guest additions do a few things very important.
- Make the mouse less nervous
- Keep track of which OS you use your mouse to read .. … A mouse driver is installed in the customer who communicates with the “real” mouse driver on your host and the guest moves the cursor accordingly. You will need only a mouse pointer… (VirtualBox documentation)
- Dynamically change the screen resolution depending on the size of the window guest OS.
- Shared folders
- Clipboard shared
- Seamless mode (see below)
You can start your operating system called in three modes of transport.
As a window of your host operating system
In full-screen mode, where it seems that you use only the client OS. Your host operating system does not appear anywhere.
In Seamless mode. This is perhaps the most powerful of the three. In mode seamless, every Windows application seems to be running in OS X. You get the same Windows tasks on the screen with Mac dock and menu bar (See picture above).
When you close your guest operating system, you have several options, including economic status of the virtual machine, so that when you start it up the next time, you’re right back where you left off. It’s like sleep or hibernate mode. Very practical.
As I said, I used Parallels to run Windows in OS X and to be honest, I prefer the free open source VirtualBox than the $80 Parallels. There are not many things Parallels can do that VirtualBox can not. In fact, I have not yet found something that I lack of Parallels. Windows XP runs very quickly in the virtual machine. Vista runs a little slower, but it’s probably just a matter of memory. If you have 3 or 4 gigs then you have enough to allocate 1.5 to 2 to Vista, which should make things run much more smoothly.
Here are some suggestions:
Save your virtual hard disk. Once you have your guest OS implemented the way you want with all your software and operating system updates, then save it at another location on your hard drive or another disc drive or if it is small enough, on a DVD. If you ever get some malicious software on your operating system that you can not get rid of, just delete it and use a copy of your backed up copy.
If you want to keep the guest OS working well for a long time, treat it as you would with a regular computer. Install some antivirus and anti-malware tools.
My recommendation: before the bombing of VMware or Parallels, give VirtualBox a try. You’ll probably love it and you’ll save a wad of dough.
VirtualBox.org
