Virtualbox

JesseBassett said:

Hello all,
Recently I discovered a free, non damaging way to try out other operating systems on my Windows 10 PC. It is called Virtualbox. I presently am trying out Linux in it and Mac OS. I am curious to see who has heard of this program and if you have good or bad experiences with it?

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I don't use Windows apart from at work. At home I am exclusively a Linux user.
Not sure how Virtualbox works, but I expect it is similar to Remina and Gnome Boxes which I run on my home system.

I have been exploring a Linux distro called EndeavourOS. Currently have it installed in a VM using Virtualbox.

I use it quite frequently to try Linux distributions. It lets you try out a distro without the need of a USB drive. I've had great results with it. It's easy to use and does the job. I keep several OS's at the ready, including DOS, which has my BBS set up as a time capsule.

Once you learn how to use it, it's a great tool to have. You don't need a retro system to relive old operating systems or old software. A valuable free tool that I've had very little issue with that I couldn't fix using settings.

Happy Sabbath!

It's pretty nifty, I've used it on and off for ages; handy for quickly testing out things. Before I got into using Proxmox I used to use it to make and capture Windows images for deployment.

Also if you have Windows 10 Pro, it has Hyper-V built in, which is Microsoft's virtual system.

I use it.

I'd definitely recommend it for those who want to get their feet wet with a harder distro to install and run, like Arch. It likely won't be the same as on a legit dual or multiboot, but you'll have been through it before. That, and you probably will want to consult the Arch Wiki during setup, and running it in a VM allows you to do both.

Jesse, I might have to try it.

A few years ago I went whole hog on Linux, but it couldn't play the high-end games I like. However, it surfed the web just fine.

I will also say this: If you're going to experiment around with Linux in a virtual machine, use an LVM for your disk. You'll love the flexibility that comes with being able to dynamically resize the virtual disk. There are caveats to this, and you should probably do a VM with a normal partition first, but you want to get to LVMs, trust me.

JesseBassett said:

Hello all,
Recently I discovered a free, non damaging way to try out other operating systems on my Windows 10 PC. It is called Virtualbox. I presently am trying out Linux in it and Mac OS. I am curious to see who has heard of this program and if you have good or bad experiences with it?

Click to expand...

I used such a program, I was satisfied.

I use Hyper-V Manager for my VM's on my box, few development tools I need just don't run well anymore on Win 10, so I've got a few older Win Boxes for when I need to spin up stuff like VB6 / VC6

JesseBassett said:

Hello all,
Recently I discovered a free, non damaging way to try out other operating systems on my Windows 10 PC. It is called Virtualbox. I presently am trying out Linux in it and Mac OS. I am curious to see who has heard of this program and if you have good or bad experiences with it?

Click to expand...

I used Virtualbox for years - very mature product. Lately I have switched to Hyper-V, which is a lot faster. One downside of Hyper V, is that there's no way it will run on Linux, where Virtualbox runs on Windows, Redhat, Ubuntu, MacOS etc.

I'm just about to the point now where I'm leaning toward running Linux as my primary OS and Windows 10 in a virtual environment to support the last software packages keeping me on Windows. Windows 11 doesn't look promising.

JesseBassett said:

@Knothat,
Glad to hear that. Welcome to the forums by the way!

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Thank you very much