Virtualisation is an incredibly powerful technology, much loved by big corporations as it helps them squeeze the maximum performance from their servers.

But it has plenty to offer regular home users, too, via free tools like Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.0.

http://notquitelive.downloadcrew.co.uk/article/17-virtualbox

Essentially the program allows you to create and manage virtual machines (VMs), simulated computers that run in a window on your PC, but act as though

they were separate systems. It’s a very interesting idea that has all kinds of useful applications.

Do you want to try out a new operating system, for instance? Don’t waste time partitioning your hard drive. Just install it in a VM and in a few minutes you

could be running Ubuntu on your Windows 7 desktop.

Or maybe you’ve an old application that doesn’t run properly on a modern PC? If you’ve an old Windows XP system disc, say, then use that to create an XP PC

and you might be able to run it again.

If you want to test a potentially risky program – a partitioning tool, for example – then a VM will let you do this without risking your main PC.

And similarly, if you go browsing, or install small downloaded apps into a VM, then any malware you might pick up will be kept at a safe distance from your

main system.

It’s no surprise that some virtualisation packages cost big money, then. But, remarkably, Oracle VM VirtualBox 4 is entirely free. Should it be your VM creator

of choice? Let’s take a look.

Getting started

Virtualisation can seem complex, but fortunately VirtualBox shields you from that, at least initially. Click the “New” button, follow the simple wizard, choose

the operating system you’d like to run, the RAM the VM can have and the virtual drive it’ll use, and you’ll be ready to go in just a few seconds.

Installing your operating system is easy, too. When your VM is launched for the first time, VirtualBox will detect this, and ask for your installation disc. Point

the program at this (or an ISO disc image, if you’ve downloaded it), and it’ll be fired up, with the installation program appearing in the VM window. Then just

follow its instructions as normal to set up the operating system to suit your needs.

alertsmall > alertlarge.png

There are occasional complications that appear along the way, lengthy pop-up warning messages and alerts that aren’t exactly beginner-friendly. These don’t

contain any critical information, though, and can mostly be ignored, at least for the moment.

Otherwise, though, VirtualBox does a good job of helping its users through these initial steps, and the chances are that you’ll have your VM set up and ready

to go with the absolute minimum of hassle.

VM Management

managersmall > managerlarge.png

Once your VM has been created then it’ll appear in the new-look VirtualBox Manager, which has been redesigned in version 4.0 to give a better look at your

VMs current status (including a screen grab). A quick double-click will launch it, and a few moments later you’ll be running XP, Ubuntu, or whatever else

you’ve installed, in a window on your regular desktop.

This is very convenient, at least once you’ve installed the bundled Guest Additions addon. There’s no fuss over mouse capturing, or anything similar: just

click inside the VM window, and you can immediately begin running whatever applications it contains.

In most cases these will work just as you’d expect. For instance, although the VM acts as a separate system, sensible network defaults mean it will probably

be able to share your hosts internet connection. So you can open a browser, email client or other online app and use it right away.

snapshot.png

And you’ll immediately benefit from handy VirtualBox features, like Snapshots. So if you’ve just installed and updated a clean version of Windows XP, say,

then you can take a snapshot of the VM at that point, and effectively VirtualBox will back up your virtual hard drive. If you later mess things up through

tweaking, viruses, software bugs or anything else, just revert to the snapshot and it’ll undo whatever changes you made, restoring your system to its original

pristine state.

The program performed well, and was generally reliable in all our tests. Although if you’re less lucky, then it may wise to check your VM configuration. There

are settings to enable 2D and 3D video acceleration, and to use more than one virtual CPU (if your host has hardware virtualisation support), which could

make a real difference to your VM speeds.

And new to version 4.0 is the ability to assign a VM more than 2GB of RAM, even on a 32-bit host. Which may not always be wise (you don’t want the host to

run short of RAM), but if you’re running something really memory hungry in the VM then it could be very useful.

Hardware issues

VirtualBox is generally very easy to use, then – but look a little further and you may find a few problems.

usb.png

In theory, for example, your VM should be able to share USB devices that are connected to the host computer, by selecting them from a menu. In practice,

though, this didn’t work out on our Windows 7 test PC – we tried several drives and none were recognised.

The same issue (presumably) meant we were unable to print from our test VM to our host’s USB printer.

And file sharing between the VM and host can also be a problem. In VMware Workstation (a commercial competitor), for example, you can transfer a file to

your virtual machine just by dragging and dropping it from the host. In VirtualBox you must instead set up the program’s shared folders system, which

requires a little more work.

These issues won’t be significant for everyone, of course. You may never need to use a printer or USB device from a virtual machine. If you do, you might be

luckier than us and find they work just fine. And even if they fail, there are still many workarounds (print to a document that you reprint from the host, say).

So don’t let these problems put you off from trying the program. VirtualBox is one of the most powerful free applications around, and most people will find it

provides all the virtualisation functionality that they’ll ever need.

If you’re affected by the device sharing, printing or similar issues, though, and you don’t mind parting with a little cash if it gets you more convenience and

features, then VMware Workstation could be a better alternative.