Virtualization versus Dual Booting....70-680 Question

[JWMiddleton]

I am taking a prep class for MCTS: Win 7. A question I came accross is not covered in the book.

Q: In which situation is dual booting required because virtualization is not able to perform the task?

A.) Installing and testing new applications
B.) Installing and testing new device drivers
C.) Installing and testing service packs
D.) Installing and testing security updates

The book states that dual booting would be used for testing new service packs, drivers or software to ensure it does not affect their daily work if unstable. That covers 3 of the items above. But, no where does it talk about what can't be perform with virualization. I know Linux can be installed in a VM which has all of the above. So,is this just a crappy question, or am I missing something?

 

[Syran]

Generally, I would say B, as most virtualized environments do not pass through the actual computer components, but some form of standardized set of hardware that may not even fit what you have. I've used virtual machines for A, C, and D; but never for B.

 

[mvbighead]

I agree 100% with Syran. There isn't much of a way to test device drivers in Virtualization, as the hardware is virtual. Everything else above can be tested, but not B.

 

[JWMiddleton]

I see your point. The book does mention Virualized hardware, but doesn't go into it.

Thanks!

 

[mvbighead]

Yes, essentially virtualized hardware is software emulated hardware. So, if you have 10 virtual machines on host, all of them have the same video card driver, chipset driver, etc. There are a few different varieties of devices per VM (such as different types of virtual NICs), but whether you're running an LSI SCSI controller or a Dell PERC, a VM does not care nor see that hardware, as that is handled by the Hypervisor itself.

 

[mfenn]

Generally, I would say B, as most virtualized environments do not pass through the actual computer components, but some form of standardized set of hardware that may not even fit what you have. I've used virtual machines for A, C, and D; but never for B.

:thumbsup: Yep, 100% correct.

 

[classy]

B

That is really common sense really.