VirtualBox

[clifford_cooley]

VirtualBox Home

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while Sun ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

VirtualBox Home

 

[catilley1092]

I've used many VM programs (including the latest from Microsoft, Windows Virtual PC), but none of them is as feature rich, or as easily configured than VirtualBox. I've used it on Windows XP through Windows 7, and Linux Mint, and can run almost anything that I wish through it.

All you need to run it is adequate disc space for the OS that you intend to run it on, plus enough for whatever other OS that you want to run. Also, to run it on a 64 bit system, it's best to have a minimum of 3GB RAM, 2GB for 32 bit. Of course, a little more is better, but it will run on these specs.

A great software to evaluate an OS to see if it suits your needs, if it doesn't, three mouse clicks, the whole guest OS is gone. Also great for those who has older hardware (such as printers) that won't work with Windows 7. You'll need a retail copy of whatever Windows OS that you wish to install. Standard Windows validation and activation procedures apply.

Cat

 

[Ian]

I'm also a big fan of VirtualBox, primarily because of some of the extra features this has (and regular patches) - so this sits alongside MS VPC and I'll run most Linux sessions through this .

 

[Arnold1972]

Is this software safe to use.?
Ive heard on other forums that these sort of programs can harm your hard drive in some way.
I really like the essence of this program of leaving your real system as it is and computing in a virtual space.and im really tempted to use it but im also weary and suspicious too.
If its a proven safe program to use then i would be delighted to install and use it as virtualisation is the future of computing in some aspects.
Thank You.

 

[Ian]

Is this software safe to use.?
Ive heard on other forums that these sort of programs can harm your hard drive in some way.
I really like the essence of this program of leaving your real system as it is and computing in a virtual space.and im really tempted to use it but im also weary and suspicious too.
If its a proven safe program to use then i would be delighted to install and use it as virtualisation is the future of computing in some aspects.
Thank You.

I'm not aware of any way that VirtualBox could harm your PC - it's a container which is isolated from your main system, so you can safely test out a new OS (i.e. Linux or Windows 8). It's very safe

 

[draceena]

I've never had any problems with it and always found it a great way to try out different OS's without needing to dual boot.

 

[luke127]

Oracle specifically designed VB or Virtual Box for testing buggy OS's or software, So if it does stuff up it won't harm your main OS in anyway. I use VB myself although I use Unix and Linux.