Some options are VirtualBox (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X), VMware Player (Windows, Linux), VMware Fusion (Mac OS X) and Parallels Desktop (Mac OS X). There are many different virtual machine programs you can use. Also, when many virtual machines are running at the same time on a single computer, performance can become unstable. Since hardware resources are indirect, they are not as efficient as a physical computer. There are a few drawbacks with virtual machines. Each piece of virtual hardware is mapped to real hardware on the host computer. Virtual machines have virtual hardware, including CPUs, memory, hard drives, and more. Often a server will use a program called a hypervisor to manage multiple virtual machines that are running at the same time.

Virtual machines are also used to quickly set up software with an image, access virus-infected data, and test other operating systems.Ī single physical computer can run multiple virtual machines at the same time. For instance, if you are using a Mac computer you can run Windows programs inside a Windows virtual machine on the Mac computer. Virtual machines are often used for running software on operating systems that software wasn't originally intended for. This means that nothing that runs on the virtual machine can impact the host computer.

Virtual machines are sandboxed from the host computer. It is basically a way to create a computer within a computer.Ī virtual machine runs in a window on the host computer and gives a user the same experience they would have if they were using a completely different computer. A virtual machine is a program you run on a computer that acts like it is a separate computer.

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