Virtualbox Multi-Tasking Your PC with various OSs running at the same time

[Jonnyabc 0]

Had fun writing this tonight. :] Hope you enjoy the TV ad spoof while getting real information about a really cool program:

 

Are you tired, stress out...can't seem to keep it all together...having OS anger issues and not sure where to turn to? What you need is VirtualBox! This little handy-dandy device installs just like any other piece of software.

 

Hi, I'm Jonnyabc, your friendly software guinea pig. If you're like me, you want to be efficient (to make up for your lack of efficiency) and you hate change (for the bad and indifferent) whether it applies to life or your life-line: I'm talking about computers. Yes, my friends, change can sometimes be healthy but is usually painful to produce the desired outcome. That's why there's VirtualBox, an innovative Sun product guaranteed to make you want to go to a busy street corner and flap your arms like a bird and look silly to all around you.

 

So what is VirtualBox? I'm here with celebrity brothers, Fedora and Ubuntu (who both come from a long line of open-sourced decedents of the Linux family where there’s no bones in their closet), two fine young OSs who have experienced it for themselves. Ubuntu, why don't you start by explaining what VirtualBox is?

 

"Thanks Jonnyabc. VirtualBox creates separate operating systems within other operating systems. Take for instance myself. I actually look like my usual self, but in fact I'm actually being monitored from behind the camera by my competitive friend, Microsoft Windows. He's my boss (better known as a host OS) at the moment, although we trade places often to where he is my employee (guest OS).

 

"Dual booting two of us at the same time is not a new feature. Unfortunately, you spend valuable time on startup if you aren't present because we sit there until someone or something chooses which one of us they would like to use as their assistant for the day. This leads to the problem that you can only use only me or Mr. Windows at the same time. However, with this system, one of us is the primary OS...in this case Mr. Windows. He's my manager and takes care of the details as to how far I am allow to expand my horizons. And if you choose to remove me (for whatever reason, I really don't want to know), you can do so without leaving a wasted partition left on the drive.

 

"What’s even better than that? How about full screen and seamless view? While in full screen you will still feel as though I’m still my same old self. But with Seamless mode, Mr. Windows and I work side-by-side on various tasks on his desktop. One more thing before I hand it back over to Jonnyabc. Fedora is not only is my brother but also a business associate He too currently works for Windows and has had almost the same user experience as myself. On rare times all three of us join in on projects at the same time. Nifty, huh?"

 

That's great, Ubuntu. I think that really explains the 101 basics. Now, I’m sure some of you out there say it isn’t for you. I want to be honest. Fedora, far be it for me to criticize your limited size and strengths that you always possess when you start off, but I would like to hear from you specifically what problems you have encountered.

 

"Well, I have had a rougher go at it than my brother, but after all is installed on my end and I know just what to do, I’m ready to go! The primary problem is making sure I have the right tools in hand beforehand. This means that I need certain things in place or updated such as my kernel , but you will find that to be true with Ubuntu.

 

"Although it’s not really a problem, the second issue that I’ve encountered is sharing memory and CPU. The manager has to divide and share the memory…so please pardon me if I have circles under my eyes or respond to your questions a little slower. Same is true for Mr. Windows. But overall, you will not find any noticeable changes."

 

Thanks Fedora. While we take a small commercial break, please take a moment to pick up your mouse pointer and direct your browser to https://www.virtualbox.org/ …

 

 

Hello and welcome back, this is Jonnyabc and I’ve been talking with Ubuntu and Fedora about this amazing product. Now I would like to bring out another guest to our stage. Please join me in welcoming the (in)famous Microsoft Windows! Come on up Mike! I won’t start off with any jokes for you since I know you don’t take them well and run crying to your Send Report tool. I want to start this session off by having you explain how versatile VirtualBox is.

 

"Yes, s-s-sir. Sorry, I sometimes repeat myself when I’m in a hurry or have stage fright. Anyways, VirtualBox is used for me to manage other OSs. True. However, it is also true that other OSs can manage me, and not only different ones but different generations. My nickname is 7…you know like ‘7 of 9’ from Star Trek? Anyways, as terrible as it may sound, I’m able to manipulate my great-great-great-grandfather (know by his stage name as vintage ’98) into doing what I need him to do. After all, they placed him in the nursing home since 2003 and no one’s been looking after him anyways. But sometimes I like to visit him since he can remember the good ol’ days better than me and can show you an old flight simulator which I wouldn’t touch with a 10GB partition."

 

Thanks Windows for that, err, fine explanation. Again, please place a tab in your browser and visit http://www.virtualbox.com/ . And if you download it today, it will be free of charge, although it’s free of charge anyways. So what are you waiting for?

 

[This has been a stupidly humorous post by Jonnyabc…he is not responsible for anything he says or recommends. Some things he recommends are off the wall, although that’s not the case in this instance.]

Edited August 20, 2010 by Jonnyabc (see edit history)

[rob86 2]

Wow, very interesting way of introducing VirtualBox. I enjoyed reading it. I have heard of VirtualBox but never tried it before. It sounds like it would come in handy for running things that don't work right on Linux. Unfortunately I think this computer is too old and slow to benefit from using it though. So you can see two OS's on the screen at the same time?

[The Simpleton 2]

Lol that's a very creative way of introducing something Jonnyabc Keep up the good work; and I'm curious - are you a writer in disguise?

Wow, very interesting way of introducing VirtualBox. I enjoyed reading it. I have heard of VirtualBox but never tried it before. It sounds like it would come in handy for running things that don't work right on Linux. Unfortunately I think this computer is too old and slow to benefit from using it though.
So you can see two OS's on the screen at the same time?

For virtualbox to run smoothly, I think it's best to have a computer with at least 2GB of RAM. 1GB may be enough for emulating Linux distros but if you're trying to run Windows inside Virtualbox then it's better to have a minimum of 2GB RAM because the host needs to run along with the guest. I once tried running XP inside Ubuntu on my PC with 512MB RAM and the installation process went off smoothly; however the system became very slow once the desktop showed up.

And yes, you can see the two OSes on the screen at the same time, and you can choose to run the guest OS (i.e. virtualbox) in full-screen mode so that it would appear as if it's the real thing and not a guest!

[Jonnyabc 0]

Ha, ha...thanks guys.

Wow, very interesting way of introducing VirtualBox. I enjoyed reading it. I have heard of VirtualBox but never tried it before. It sounds like it would come in handy for running things that don't work right on Linux. Unfortunately I think this computer is too old and slow to benefit from using it though.
So you can see two OS's on the screen at the same time?

There's a few others out there but I've honestly not tried them. The nice thing is that you are able to use VirtualBox on any OS to run any OS. However, as The Simpleton has mentioned, it is important to have enough system resources.

Yeah, the Seamless tool is amazing...especially if you setup your Linux to look just like Windows. Keep in mind that it takes some genius (or at least be knowledgeable) debugging when you try to install the "guest add-ons" that allow this to happen (I've still got a few bugs I'm working out myself). But overall a fabulous program.

Lol that's a very creative way of introducing something Jonnyabc Keep up the good work; and I'm curious - are you a writer in disguise?


For virtualbox to run smoothly, I think it's best to have a computer with at least 2GB of RAM. 1GB may be enough for emulating Linux distros but if you're trying to run Windows inside Virtualbox then it's better to have a minimum of 2GB RAM because the host needs to run along with the guest. I once tried running XP inside Ubuntu on my PC with 512MB RAM and the installation process went off smoothly; however the system became very slow once the desktop showed up.

And yes, you can see the two OSes on the screen at the same time, and you can choose to run the guest OS (i.e. virtualbox) in full-screen mode so that it would appear as if it's the real thing and not a guest!

A writer in disguise? Ha, well I could give or take on that, but I'll bite. By profession, no, but I've come to enjoy (creative) writing if it's about something that inspires me (the talent has literally come down through the family so naturally I'd have to have some talent!). That and I'm a "punny" guy (can't tell a joke though if my life depended on it), so that's where most of my humor generates from.


Yeah, 1.5 to 2GB is definitely recommended when running Windows on top of another OS (2GB minimum for Windows 7, which is what I'm currently at on this slightly outdated PC)...when you're running it in Ubuntu you'll probably have to increase the allotted RAM past the recommended amount to about 1 or 1.5GB. I've been able to run Linux reasonably well as a guest with 512MB, although that's not a good speed if it's your host! 'cause if your host ain't happy, your guest ain't happy!

One thing I've never tried (although interested nonetheless) is seeing what happens if I try Seamless mode on both Ubuntu and Fedora at the same time? I've run them together so I know I've got enough resources (just barely) to make that work but I'm curious about trying that out someday soon.

[mahesh2k 0]

There's a few others out there but I've honestly not tried them.

VMware is the most famous virtualization application. Many windows users use it for trying out linux distros. That includes me as well. I don't think linux is worthy enough for me to get hard disk space. I'm happy with the codecs and some programs on windows so these days that is the way i'm using linux.
Microsoft virtualPC is also one from microsoft that can be used on macintosh and windows. Paralles Virtual machine is for Mac users. There is going to be a windows release as well but i'm not sure when.

As simpletone said earlier, most of the windows virtual machines on these applications require more than 1GB of RAM. So it's better to get atleast 2GB RAM while working on windows. Linux runs fine with 512 RAM on any virtualization application.

[Jonnyabc 0]

VMware is the most famous virtualization application. Many windows users use it for trying out linux distros. That includes me as well. I don't think linux is worthy enough for me to get hard disk space. I'm happy with the codecs and some programs on windows so these days that is the way i'm using linux.
Microsoft virtualPC is also one from microsoft that can be used on macintosh and windows. Paralles Virtual machine is for Mac users. There is going to be a windows release as well but i'm not sure when.

As simpletone said earlier, most of the windows virtual machines on these applications require more than 1GB of RAM. So it's better to get atleast 2GB RAM while working on windows. Linux runs fine with 512 RAM on any virtualization application.

That's great, but I'm not hearing you say that any of those work on all Windows, Apple AND Linux. VirtualBox can and the great thing is that makes possible it transfer the partition files and use them on VirtualBox running another OS.

[Strikee 1]

I've heard about this kinds of programs and it made me curious. so i tried the VMWare out of curiosity and also to play with a second account on Mu. Online (the mmporg ) but sadly it didn't work. Other then that the Virtual Server was working great , I remember installing windows XP on it and it was all , just a little bit slower than my normal pc but that's absolutelly normal considering that I was practically having two Windows runing on the same time ..VIsta on the normal PC and XP on the virtual One.It's a usefull program for safety reasons and other things on the internet , like hosting a website , game server , etc.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Strikee (see edit history)

[Quatrux 4]

I mainly Today use Windows 7, but also have VirtualBox to run Linux (openSUSE) and Windows XPIt's good to test out things on XP and not mess up your main OS, you can do different things there and whenever you want to can reformat it as there is nothing special there.. Some programs, especially which you use in the university, requires XP.I have 4 GB of RAM, so it enough for me to run everything, even though I have a lot of things turned on, when using running XP on Win7 through Win7 it sometimes seems to get slower after some time, but it usable.I used to dual boot on my old computer, as I had only 1 GB or 1,5 GB of RAM, can't remember and it was a headache, as usually you're lazy to boot into other system to do something, due to you don't want to close the windows and other programs, such programs like VirtualBox does their job Great!

[mahesh2k 0]

That's great, but I'm not hearing you say that any of those work on all Windows, Apple AND Linux. VirtualBox can and the great thing is that makes possible it transfer the partition files and use them on VirtualBox running another OS.

VMWare works fine with all the operating systems that are released after 2007. Even the files for the virtual mahcine can be transfered to another OS and run from that version of vmware. If that is what you ask me about the transfering of files.Eve microsoft virtual pc has option to transfer the same files to mac based software of it and run the os from there. It is possible if those software are multi-platform. There is VMware version for almost every platform out there. You just need to find where to download the software. It works just fine and has no issues with most of the popular platforms. I hope that answers your query.

[rohit0web 1]

VMware is the most famous virtualization application. Many windows users use it for trying out linux distros. That includes me as well. I don't think linux is worthy enough for me to get hard disk space. I'm happy with the codecs and some programs on windows so these days that is the way i'm using linux.
Microsoft virtualPC is also one from microsoft that can be used on macintosh and windows. Paralles Virtual machine is for Mac users. There is going to be a windows release as well but i'm not sure when.

As simpletone said earlier, most of the windows virtual machines on these applications require more than 1GB of RAM. So it's better to get atleast 2GB RAM while working on windows. Linux runs fine with 512 RAM on any virtualization application.

hay right vmware is best application in this field, even we can run it in x86 based systems, and virtualbox will run only in x64 based system. but both need good amount of RAM memory. I have 4GB ram in my pc, & trust me its not enough when i using vmware os.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

On the topic of VMWare, does anyone happen to have experience with (or at least the theory of) using it for creating a VPS on a dedicated server? Due to the amount of RAM used, I don't quite get how we use them to set up VPS's without having massive RAM available to use, nor can I find a guide anywhere.

[iGuest 3]

I really like this virtual box software, i do use this in my ubuntu Operating System its just like host and guest system.where host would invite his/her guest for dinner or some other work.the guest operating system uses the stipulated configuration of the hardware specified in settings during the creation of the virtual Operating System and completes its work within the specified hardware requirements.

[Quatrux 4]

I also like VirtualBox, even though it was bought by ORACLE, it still seems to work pretty well. It's good that it's free and VMWare is not free, you need to pay for it.I personally use VirtualBox on Windows 7, I run XP on it for testing purposes where you can do a lot of junk stuff and if you ruin something, I just use the backup of that XP to make it what it was in the beginning, I mean when I first installed XP on virtualbox as a separate OS, I did everything like I use it and made a backup and whenever I get a virus or ruin something, I just restore from that backup and it really useful, especially to not mess up my main Windows 7 installation.I also tried different operating systems with it, just to see how it works, from various Linux distros to Amiga like OS like AROS which can easily be run from VirtualBox :)The benefit of virtualization is that you don't need to dual boot! But of course you need a computer with good specifications to run it.Also, in another topic I've read a little about KVM which is as I understand is Kernel-based Virtual Machine and didn't really try it myself, but here is a link to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel-based_Virtual_Machine if somebody is interesting.