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    What is VMware and why/how do you use it?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by cradle_emperor, Feb 4, 2012.

  1. cradle_emperor

    cradle_emperor Notebook Consultant

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    sorry if this is the inappropriate board

    What is VMware? what is it useful for?
     
    cradle_emperor, Feb 4, 2012
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  2. JOSEA

    JOSEA NONE

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    Long story is here VMware - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    VMware will allow you to run a plethora of operating systems (Guests) under a Host (or what I would call base) operating system.
    For instance, If I have enough hard drive space and sufficient RAM I could have Win 7 as my Host and within win 7 I could launch an install of VISTA, and/or Linux, etc.
    Here is a link to player that is free - http://www.vmware.com/products/player/overview.html
    See next post for a much better explanation and suggested alternative
     
    JOSEA, Feb 4, 2012
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  3. halladayrules

    halladayrules Notebook Guru

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    To put it simplest: It is a piece of software that allows you to run an additional operating system inside of your operating system. For example you could run Windows XP on your Windows 7 machine at the same time. The Windows XP machine is whats known as a "Virtual Machine".

    For example:

    http://www.thespinningdonut.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/vmware.jpg

    VMWare comes in many different flavors including freeware (VMware Player), paid (VMWare Workstation), as well as Enterprise level support for stuff like live migration (vSphere).

    The biggest advantage of VMWare Workstation over VMWare Player is the snapshot feature. A "snapshot" is simply a feature of VMWare which allows you to save an image of the operating system as the current state lies. This is useful for testing untrusted software that may or may not infect your machine. For example let's say you download a piece of software from a torrent. You aren't sure if its a virus or not. You go to install it and sure enough its a virus! With the snapshot feature you just simply *CLICK* revert snapshot...and the OS is back to the state BEFORE the installation of the rogue software. No need to run tedious anti-malware scans, in-depth google searches on how to remove the pesky virus. The snapshot reverted the PC back to the state in which the virus never existed.

    Before you can run VMWare however your computer must support hardware virtualization. On Intel motherboards this feature is called "VT-x" on AMD boards it is dubbed "AMD-V". Your board may support hardware virtualization, but the feature may be disabled by default in your BIOS. Check in your BIOS for the VT-x/AMD-V option, if you do not have it you cannot run VMWare.

    Oracle's Virtualbox offers a fully software-enabled virtualization package for free. In simple terms, it does not require hardware virtualization the virtual machines are completely virtualized through software packages. Another great feature on top of being free is the ability to take snapshots of OS like VMWare Workstation.
     
    halladayrules, Feb 5, 2012
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