Here at Softonic we test hundreds of applications each week. In order to keep our computers safe from such an insane deluge of software, we use virtual machines, namely VirtualBox and VMware Player. Both of them are very good at their job, but VirtualBox always had one great advantage over VMware Player: the ability to create virtual systems. Well, that was until now. The next version of VMware Player has just launched its first Release Candidate and guess what: it lets you create virtual machines!
For those of us who work with VMware Player on a daily basis, this is great news. Of course, I couldn’t help downloading the Release Candidate and testing this new feature by myself, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to write a tutorial about how to create virtual machines in VMware Player:
1. In the main screen, click Create a New Virtual Machine and you’ll launch the New Virtual Machine Wizard. This wizard lets you choose between a CD and an ISO file to start creating the virtual machine.
2. In my case, I’ve selected an ISO file with Ubuntu 9.04. As you can see, this virtual machine can be created using Easy Install, which means you can perform an unattended installation after completing the Wizard.
Continue reading “How to: create a virtual machine in VMware Player”
Working as software reviewer means that you have to install at least twenty new apps every week and uninstall them again as soon as you’re done with your analysis. However we all know how unhealthy this habit is for Windows, so using a virtual environment is almost compulsory. Virtual operating systems provide you with a safe sandbox where you can test as many programs without affecting the host system. What’s more, they usually feature an easy way to rid of a slow, app-ridden Windows and get a fresh, brand-new installation in a couple of clicks.
Both VMware Player and VirtualBox are free apps, which is always a good point for a start. However VMware Player is more limited, because it doesn’t allow you to create new images (i.e. virtual operating systems) while VirtualBox does. If you want to create new images for VMware Player, you’ll have to upgrade to the more pricey Workstation version.
Regarding usability, both programs have their own pros and cons. On the one hand, VMware Player supports shared folders and also lets you directly drag and drop files between both the guest and host systems, while VirtualBox only works with shared folders that you need to configure before running the program. Keyboard and mouse swapping between the guest and host machines is generally more intuitive in VMware Player, whereas VirtualBox requires you to press a hotkey. Also, copying and pasting between the two operating systems works for VMware Player, but not for VirtualBox. On the other hand, VirtualBox enables you to create the so called snapshots, which let you restore the system to a previous state at any time. This comes in really handy when the image is not working properly and you can’t bother to create a new one: simply restore it to a previous fully working snapshot and you’re done.