VirtualBox vs. VMware Player for home use and light business testing?

[Imyourzero]

I posted this on another forum but didn't get many replies. When I did a search here, I found one thread but it was a few months old an in the *nix forum so I wondered if you guys could shed any additional insight.

When running a VM in years past, I've typically gone with MS Virtual XP (pre-Windows 7) or VirtualBox. While both met my needs, I see that VMware Player now lets you create virtual machines as well as run them. I installed it on my second rig and so far have been pleased with the results, though work and school have prevented me from doing a rigorous comparison.

Basically, my needs are very simple. I want a straighforward VM app that will allow me to play around with older versions of Windows, various Linux distros, etc. VirtualBox has worked well for that, but if it doesn't offer any advantages over VMware Player at this point in time then I'll just go with the latter for its more robust 3D support.

Initially I thought that VMware was the preferred solution and that VirtualBox was just a good free alternative, but now I'm not so sure. Doing some brief research, many people actually appeared to prefer VirtualBox. Some of these external links are older (from when VMware Player wouldn't let you create VMs, for example), and I'm not sure how much has changed since then or what strides both apps have made:

http://en.onsoftware.com/head-to-head-vmware-player-vs-virtualbox/

http://maketecheasier.com/5-reasons-why-you-should-use-virtualbox-over-vmware-server/2008/07/21
(I realize this is referring to Server)

http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=2549

http://lnxpowered.org/2008/10/04/virtualbox-and-vmware-player/

A recurring theme is the bloat and (lack of) speed associated with VMware Player, though I didn't notice anything particularly lethargic in my (brief) testing. Another thread said that VirtualBox had a faster 2D driver, but I'm willing to give up some 2D speed if it'll mean I'll have a lot more success running my older 3D games.

Are there any dealbreakers from either app that I should be aware of?

 

[0roo0roo]

I thought virtualbox didn't support 2d acceleration in *nix only in windows, so i'm not sure how it could be faster

 

[Red Squirrel]

VMware player wont let you create VMs, though I suppose you could just clone existing VMs, then reinstall the OS. VirtualBox is pretty decent and has a pretty good feature set. Apparently the latest version even supports live migration from host to host. I have not tried that yet since I don't have two spare PCs to test that on.

I'm not too fond of how vBox stores it's data, by default it's kinda spread all over the place instead of in it's very own folder, but if you're careful while creating a VM and use the command line, you can tell it to create everything in the proper folder. Other then that it's great, and very stable. I have 7 VMs running on my production server right now and it would be hard to tell. The load hovers around 0.57 or so. Some of those VMs are quite big and intensive.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have a huge amount of experience with VM software, but here's my choices

MS VirtualPC - Good for Windows on Windows, when you don't need anything fancy. It's the easiest to setup, but feature poor.

VirtualBox - Good for Linux and Windows. Free to use, no registration or anything. Like RS said, the way it handles the virtual files is a little weird, but easy enough to figure out.

VMware Server - Good for Linux and Windows, but you need to register to use it. The way it handles virtual files is a little more straight forward than VirtualBox.

VMware Player - I'm not sure what this is good for. It'll run VMs, but can't create them. It might be good for a specialized purpose, but it's no good for a total solution.

I use VirtualBox more than anything, but I also use VirtualPC on occasion. I quit using VMware a couple years ago.

 

[0roo0roo]

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22422&sid=572b26c60a40cd01b81198bf648e70f9
a vdi tool you might need for virtual box.
good for compacting images.

 

[MrChad]

You can create VMWare virtual machines using free utilities at VMXBuilder.com.

 

[thedosbox]

Another free way of creating VMWare virtual machines: http://easyvmx.com/tutorial.shtml

 

[Modelworks]

I thought virtualbox didn't support 2d acceleration in *nix only in windows, so i'm not sure how it could be faster

It supports 2d and 3d for linux and windows.
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d

 

[Imyourzero]

How long has it been since you guys used VMware Player? It now allows you to create VMs.

I've found that a lot of people suggest VB because they are still in the mindset that VMware Player can only run pre-existing VMs...I was just wondering if the recommendations would change now that that limitation is gone.

Oh and thanks for the link 0roo0roo. BTW Red, Shift+F10 brings up a command prompt during Windows setup.

 

[bigi]

Virtualbox is very good now. Flexible, supports everything, and works very well.

It is free and gets updated often

 

[MedicBob]

I have used VB for about a year now. I do like it and it seems to be updated very often.

I am trying VMWare Player now. So far so good.

I think either fits what you want to do. Try them both.

 

[0roo0roo]

It supports 2d and 3d for linux and windows.
http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d

I don't think it does.
It says it supports some open gl in linux, but i don't see where it says it supports 2d accel for linux.

Check the status of your linux vm's, 2d is probably off regardless of what you set during install.

 

[lxskllr]

How long has it been since you guys used VMware Player? It now allows you to create VMs.

I've found that a lot of people suggest VB because they are still in the mindset that VMware Player can only run pre-existing VMs...I was just wondering if the recommendations would change now that that limitation is gone.

Oh and thanks for the link 0roo0roo. BTW Red, Shift+F10 brings up a command prompt during Windows setup.

Yea, I didn't know that. I'll have to give Player a shot, and see how it compares to VirtualBox.

 

[Modelworks]

I don't think it does.
It says it supports some open gl in linux, but i don't see where it says it supports 2d accel for linux.

Check the status of your linux vm's, 2d is probably off regardless of what you set during install.

I only use linux with opengl applications like maya and they ran fine in virtual box on a windows 7 hosts. Compiz works well with ubuntu inside virtual box too.

For 2d it states:

In Linux guests, VirtualBox video acceleration is available through the X Window System. Typically, in today's Linux distributions, this will be the X.Org server. During the installation process, X will be set up to use the VirtualBox video driver. On recent Linux guests (that is, guests running X.Org server version 1.3 or later with the exception of Fedora 9), graphics modes can be selected by resizing the VirtualBox window using the mouse, or sending video mode hints using the VBoxManage tool.

 

[0roo0roo]

Hm i did install the guest additions for ubuntu, mandriva didnt need it. both resize fine, so maybe its enabled, but in the main virtual box window it lists 2d/3d as disabled.