Using Windows in a VM, Best Solution?

[Xplorer4x4]

Ok so I have some windows apps I simply can not part with because no linux alternative exists. ISO2GOD is one such example. It converts ISO files to the Xbox360 GOD(game on demand) format. I may try some light old school gaming such as Sim City 4, maybe. A dual boot is to inconvenient for as little time as I will spend in windows on a daily basis. I plan to use VMWARE Server for the process but may try vSphere if that is better suited for this case. I have 3 install methods I am considering because I feel like the later 2 will provide better performance.
1. Run it as strickly a virtual disk from my SSD(os drive)
2. Partition off a small portion of the SSD for Win 7 and run it from vmware server.
3. Partition off a small chunk of my 2TB SATA III HDD and run it from VMWARE,

I literally plan to spend less then 30 min using windows a day, but want to still maintain as much performance as possible. I realize I will not have the performance of booting in to Windows directly, and that is fine, but I am questioning which method would retain the most performance.

[SteveRiley]

Why not run a Windows VM inside VMware Player instead, and let Kubuntu to be the host? Player offers a shared clipboard and provides a way to map a folder on the host into the guest. My Windows XP VM, in this configuration, subjectively feels faster than on the bare metal.

[Frank616]

I'll second Steve's suggestion. VMWare Player works amazingly well on Linux, and runs a guest OS like Windows with amazingly little overhead, and especially if you have a multi-core processor. It is also free.

Frank.

[Xplorer4x4]

Why not run a Windows VM inside VMware Player instead, and let Kubuntu to be the host? Player offers a shared clipboard and provides a way to map a folder on the host into the guest. My Windows XP VM, in this configuration, subjectively feels faster than on the bare metal.

I was under the impression VMware Player was pretty stripped down compared to the Server edition. Long story short, I assumed Player was rather limited to how many cores it could utilize. I once tried a "ready to use" vmware player install of debian(had all the dependencies for 360 dev precompiled) in vmware server. Worked fine but was unable to change core count and performance suffered. I assumed it was a limitation of vmware player. Guess not.

Server offers all of this and more but has more overhead I would guess. Then I threw out vSphere(unless I have the wrong vmware product in mind) because as I understand it, is a true hypervisor and I *think* it would utilize native drivers and therefore offer better performance.

I realize you said subjectively, but just curious if you ever benchmarked to confirm this.

I'll second Steve's suggestion. VMWare Player works amazingly well on Linux, and runs a guest OS like Windows with amazingly little overhead, and especially if you have a multi-core processor. It is also free.

Frank.

Free is not to much of a concern, but I assumed Server would offer better performance due to having more configuration options.


I will give Player a try, but I am curious if it requires changes to the kernel as server does? I declined when server asked as I had some concerns as to what the chances of a sucesfull boot up would be if I applied them.


Sent from my DROID2 Global

[Fintan]

Just my 2 cents worth. I have been using win (xp & 7) on vmplayer for years. In vmplayer you can tweak your guest (win) in many ways including how many cores and how much RAM you want to allocate to the guest, just be careful and don't go overboard. The default settings are usually good.

Although I do not have any benchmarks to compare with, I can only confirm that win (xp & 7) do feel snappier and faster than with the HW install.

I recently noticed that using the xorg-edgers PPA I was able to get my win 7 running in 3D

[Xplorer4x4]

Just my 2 cents worth.

The more the better imo. Even if it is mostly echoing Steve's OP.

Sent from my DROID2 Global

[SteveRiley]

Player will require you to compile five modules, which are supplied with Player's source code. The installer script automates this, just be sure to apt-get install build-essential first. The kernel itself remains unmodified.

VMware Server gives you a hypervisor that runs on the metal, but this matters only when you need strong guest isolation or sustained gigabits/sec through the virtual switch. In desktop scenarios, these usually arent't requirements.

[SteveRiley]

Oh, and the thing once known as VMware Server has been discontinued. Its replacement is VMware vSphere Hypervisor. Matter of fact, if you go this route, then you will have to install a different Linux than what you normally do: the kernel, the NIC, the graphics, and the I/O drivers are all different.

[pnunn]

Why do you want to use proprietary crappy hypervisors when you can just as easily use kvm and libvert or the os version of Virtualbox?

Peter.

[Frank616]

Xplorer4x4:

Free is not to much of a concern, but I assumed Server would offer better performance due to having more configuration options.

I bought the full version of VMWare Workstation 6, 7, 8. I don't use it anymore, as for my needs, it is way overkill. Like you, I just have a Windows program that I need to run on my single boot Kubuntu boxes. VMWare Player appears to be the same product as VMWare Workstation, as I cannot install both on the same machine. (One overwrites the other.) VMWare Player just appears to have some features disabled -- features that I never use anyway.

It is the Cadillac of virtualization products.

Frank.

[SteveRiley]

Why do you want to use proprietary crappy hypervisors when you can just as easily use kvm and libvert or the os version of Virtualbox?

KVM is more suited for server virtualization than for desktop virtualization. The host-guest integration tools aren't nearly as flexible.

You are aware that Oracle owns VirtualBox, right? Their attitude toward open source should give one pause. VMware's open source reputation is rather stronger, I'd think.

To call VMware "crappy" is disengenuous. VMware's virtualization stack is one of the most mature stacks available. Some of the largest datacenters in the world utilize VMware for across-the-board virtualization of millions of guests on tens of thousands of hosts. VMware underpins a great number of cloud computing infrastructures.

[ScottyK]

I've been curious, what are the differences between the free VM Player, and cost VM Workstation? Since I just want to run some old Window machines for game purposes, it sounds like VM Player will do it, correct?

[pnunn]

How is VMware open source in any sense of the word? It is totally closed source as far as I'm aware. I don't want to start any flame wars, just get sick of hearing that vmware is the only game in town. I don't think KVM is for servers only at all, it works fine for desktop virtualization and the tools may not be as polished as others, but particularly for desktop virtualization they work really well (and it is completely open source).

[Frank616]

pnunn:

I don't want to start any flame wars, just get sick of hearing that vmware is the only game in town.

Not the only game in town. Not open source. However, it works, and it works well. If it offends one to use closed source products, then, yes, there are other options. I use nVidia drivers because they work. I also use Skype, and Flash. You?

Personally, I'm happy to support financially companies that produce quality products for Linux.

Frank.

[Frank616]

Soctty:

I've been curious, what are the differences between the free VM Player, and cost VM Workstation? Since I just want to run some old Window machines for game purposes, it sounds like VM Player will do it, correct?

One can do a whole lot more with VMWare Workstation if one is a developer. I'm not. I started buying VMWare Workstation when VMWare Player could not create a VM by itself. One had to buy VMWare Workstation to be able to create a Windows VM, for instance. However, that limitation has been removed a long time ago. If one just wants to create a Windows VM and run a few Windows programs, then VMWare Player is all you need.

I continue to buy VMWare Workstation because I want to support VMWare, and do what I can to see that they stay in business, and continue to provide a free, quality Linux product for us to use. But that's just me.

Frank.