Who cares. Why use sub par Type 2 virtualization with DKMS modules when you can use built+in world class, industry standard, Type 1 hypervisor with Qemu+KVM and Virt-Manager? Already has clipboard sharing with qemu-guest-agent.
I totally agree with you on the Linux side. However, I first got into Linux by using it in Virtualbox on Windows. In the Windows world, as far as I know, it’s the easiest-to-use free-as-in-beer1 hypervisor, so long as UEFI support has improved since I last used it.
1: I say this because of the non-libre extension pack.
Hyper-v is bundled with windows now and is just as easy to use as virtualbox (slightly easier for windows guests since the drivers are bundled in the os)
vbox is easy. qemu is kinda frustrating to use sometimes, although virt-manager makes it a little easier
Virt-Manager provides a complete UI, with a four step wizard to creating a VM, how is vbox any easier?
Vbox will create a bridge with my wifi card (I’m a laptop user with no option for a wired nic in the host).
I’ve never been able to get kvm to do that and haven’t found any working instructions online that a simpleton like me can follow
I teach a class where I use VirtualBox. Students commonly use Windows or Mac. I use Linux.
It is very handily to use VirtualBox where, if I demo something, the same steps will work on the student machine. It is also nice for documentation if you want to show a screenshot.
I have never used the “extension pack” for this so it would be fine. Educational use seems to be permitted regardless.
Virtualizing Windows 10 for various binbows-only work stuff
Virtualizing Windows XP to run Office from before it started sucking
Ok so I guess I am the stupid because I always assumed kernel-level virtualization meant that you were limited to guest OS’s that used the Linux kernel. I was drawing incorrect connections to Docker
TIL
For XP, the machine KVM presents as may be too new, but that isn’t an issue with non-virtualized QEMU.
Are you paying for a Virtual box commercial license? They change for every employee in the company not just active users.
Just use KVM and be done with it. You can get the Windows guest drivers and addons from the Fedora project
Because at least for me getting a shared folder to work was a total pain in the ass. Virtualbox just worked in that regard.
Because for some reason, no matter what I try, Windows 10 desktop is laggy as hell on Qemu, and smooth out of the box on VirtualBox.
Yeah, gotta have that and all that Secure Boot with TPM bullshit, because I’m visualizing a company workstation and nothing will work without those.
Because they are for different use cases. I use QEMU+KVM on desktop for games and 3D CAD software, because of its undeniable performance advantage. But on work laptop, I use VirtualBox to test my software on different platforms. On VirtualBox it’s relatively easy to initialize a VM, configure network, file sharing and device passthrough, and its snapshot feature allows me recreate the same environment for troubleshooting
All this is true using Virt-Manager… Especially if you use the qemu-guest-agent.
I just looked them up and maybe you are right. But QEMU definitely lacks a GUI config tool that is both easy to use and allows for advanced features like snapshots. So far the only ones I know is GNOME Boxes and Virt Manager, and neither is as good as providing handy ways to configure as VirtualBox. I could probably just write the XML config or QEMU command by the documentation, but next time it could be a different scenario so I have to investigate the docs and maybe a few more forum posts. In VirtualBox, the buttons that do everything for me are always there
I think VBox is more user friendly? Virt-manager would need a GTK4 (?) update and a few UX improvements.
Certainly using a slightly dated Gtk is still more user friendly and better integrated than the god aweful stuff Oracle puts up. What UX improvements are you looking for?
I never got clipboard sharing working, on Fedora 40 KDE on Wayland. Probably a Wayland issue.
Doesn’t VirtualBox use KVM if it’s available?
I likeVBoxManage. Any crazy thing I’ve ever imagined doing with a VM it’s already supported.
So, to answer your question - I use VirtualBox because it does everything I want and I’ve never had a reason to look elsewhere.
No, VBox does not use KVM unless you use some off brand backend, which is an extra layer of complexity and software you must install and manage.
Absolutely everything you might want to do with VBoxManager is going to be available via virsh and the multiple libviet utilities.
I’ve never had a reason to look elsewhere.
Not using Type 2 hypervisor would be a good one. Not being beholden to Oracle’s shitry licensing schemes is certainly another.
