Tips for using Virtualization Tools

Tips for using Virtualization Tools evaluates Virtualization on desktop operating system only. We have tested and published video guides on virtualization tools before that works either for the desktop or server. As the time changes, some becomes either better or worser. Additionally, we have added some tips which were not present before. The sole reason for an new article on the topic Tips for using Virtualization Tools is mainly to consider non UNIX operating system, i.e. Windows 7 and Windows 8. There are excellent readers of our website, they give us excellent feedback after one year from the date of publication of the article or guide. This quite helpful for the other users as we do not have any kind of affiliation with any of the company or software manufacturer.

Tips for using Virtualization Tools : Introduction

When we are talking about Virtualization Tools, we usually are saying about server Virtualization. But, in this guide cum article, we are considering only the desktop virtualization. You might be interested to read about the differences between Server OS and Desktop OS. Virtualization is not anymore a domain of professionals or system specialists only. With the mass usage of Virtual Appliances, like WordPress Virtual Appliance; we are becoming more used with virtualization. In addition, not only on servers, but also on desktop systems, virtualization technologies can be used effectively for creation of test environment with bare metal. We have basic tips and tools gathered around the topic.

3 Tips for using Virtualization Tools

Questions surrounding Computer Hardware – If special hardware is required to use a desktop virtualization solution?
Basically virtualization can also be exclusively software-based solution. However, modern applications rely on the current CPU’s existing hardware features that enable a much faster virtualization experience. Most processors from Intel and AMD have been providing the necessary prerequisite to support virtualization. Depending on the type of solution used different features will be present. While solutions such as VirtualBox also work with older CPUs from Intel, most newer software demands higher physical RAM and either a newer processor or more Processing power.

How to determine whether the computer has the necessary features ?
Often it is not that easy to determine the type of CPU installed on the computer, particularly this is true for the laptops. On the websites of Microsoft, like Sysinternals at Microsoft provides free software download to get the core info. The command line program displays some information about the processor in use. So, one way is to get the desired information as report related to the virtualization ability of the processor is using the softwares. If there is an asterisk at any entry, usually it indicates that yet it is an unknown function.

Can you tell me only one software as a virtualization solution on the system ?
There is unfortunately no unique virtualization solution that suits everyone’s need. For example, one who wants to install VMware Player on a Windows 8 system, may get a surprise: even the installer notifies the user with that “This Product may not be installed on a computer that has Microsoft HyperV”. In this case, the problem is specifically named and uninstalling Hyper-V solves the issue.
This is not a marketing campaign, try a version of the freeware VirtualBox on a Windows 8 system with Hyper-V. The software can be easy to install on a system that already contains Hyper-V. But if the user attempts a 64-bit system or another version of Windows 8 to install in a virtual machine, the software reports that a 64-bit CPU is not found – even though the hardware is definitely there.

Modern virtualization solutions require the hardware features of the processors exclusively for themselves. A second software can not use it, so that the solution appears to be no longer available. You should only use a virtualization solution on the desktop system. If Hyper-V is used, no other solution can be run on the system. Obviously we are not taking account Linux, any kind of BSD or UNIX / OS X as host operating system or a Multi-CPU Computer.