VirtualBox 1.6.2 was released last week. This Open Source desktop virtualization tool lets you run other operating systems (such as Microsoft Windows or Linux) simultaneously with the host OS. It is functionally similar to the proprietary Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMware Fusion virtualization software for the Mac. Sun Microsystems purchased VirtualBox's creator, Innotek, this past February. Although the source tarball is free for download, the pre-compiled binary installers are designated as: Free of charge for personal and evaluation use. Ready-to-install binaries are available for many different versions of Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X for Intel-based Macs. More information is available at both the original web site as well as a Sun web site.
I was, however, very impressed with the long list of supported Guest OSes in the Create New Virtual Machine wizard. And, unlike VMware Fusion, VirtualBox let me adjust the amount of RAM provided to the Guest OS in the Wizard. VMware Fusion forced ridiculously small (by today's standards) 128MB RAM which wouldn't even let me install current generation Linux distros like Fedora. I chose to start with a small lightweight (again by today's standards) OS called Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. No, really, I'm not kidding. Win2000 Pro's installer fits on a single CD (not a DVD). And, my copy is so old that it doesn't even have an authentication key to deal with.
The Windows 2000 installation went very smoothly. I didn't run into any issues during the process. You can see the completed installation configuration in the screen capture near this paragraph. The actual disk usage on my Mac was less than 2.5GB after installing Service Packs and Guest Additions (discuused next). The default NAT router settings provides web access. But, for some reason, I could not ping anything outside of the virtual NAT.
The VirtualBox Guest Additions solve two annoying issues with Windows installed as a Guest OS: The maximum screen size is limited to 800x600 (with 256 colors) and you need to press the left command key to escape the Guest OS screen to get back to Mac OS X after the initial installation (no Guest Addition installed). Installing the Guest Additions for Windows resolves both of these issues.
VirtualBox does have some polishing issues on the Mac, however. For example, I run into this error (see screen capture near this paragraph) everytime I shut down Windows 2000. I do not, however, see this message when I shut down Fedora 9 (Linux).
My final VirtualBox test was to migrate a Guest OS created on a Windows PC to the Mac. I installed VirtualBox on a PC running Windows Vista Ultimate Edition and installed Fedora 9 (Linux). The installation under Windows went relatively smoothly. The biggest problem (literally) was that Fedora 9 decided the virtual machine's graphics display was capable of something beyond the 1920x1280 the physical screen could actually display. I had to adjust that down from Fedora itself after the installation was completed. The Guest Additions for Linux are not compatible with the X11.org X11 windowing system that comes with Fedora 9. So, you are stuck with pressing the left-command key to escape the Fedora 9 Guest OS window.
I copied the VDI file containing Fedora from the PC to an external hard drive and then sneaker-netted over to the iMac. As you can see in the screen capture near this paragraph, the transplanted Guest OS ran fine after moving from a Windows Vista host to a Mac OS X host.
VirtualBox doesn't have all the bells and whistles found in VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop. On the other hand, it is free (for personal/evaluation use at least) and Open Source. And, it seems to run the target systems I'm interested in (Windows and Linux) on my Mac. The fact that I can transport its VDI files between host systems running Linux/BSD/Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X is a real win for me. On the other hand, I would like some clarification on whether or not it actually supports Intel-VT and AMD-V hardware virtualization assist.
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Mac
Comments (4)
Read More Entries by Todd Ogasawara.
Todd,
You're right - today, VirtualBox may be not ready for prime time or replacement for other solutions, like Parallels Desktop or Fusion. But thanks to rapid development of this app and support from Sun, in future it may become a real competitor on virtualization area. Personally, I think that it's worth to keep an eye on VB.
Todd,
Good article but to clear up a few things:
1. VirtualBox and Fusion don't rely on VT-x because their own virtualization is faster.
2. Coherence - VirtualBox supports what is called Seamless Windows.
To use this, ensure you have enough Video RAM (16 or 32Mb is more than enough) and then simply press Cmd-L on the Mac, CtrlR-L on Windows/Linux, or choose Machine...Seamless Mode from the menu to toggle in and out of this mode.
3. Bells and whistles - VirtualBox has all the usual like shared folders, suspend/resume, networking choice and many more. For example:
- which other desktop virtualization platform supports so many host platforms? (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris and OpenSolaris)
- who has a built-in RDP server for remote access?
- who else sports an iSCSI initiator built-in so your guests can have central storage?
- who offers command line interfaces for scripting solutions and customization.
- who offers COM/XPCOM and web service APIs so it can be embedded into a bigger solution?
- and who else has all this for free?
Cheers,
-FB
Robert: Parallels and VMWare Fusion have a number of features (such as Coherence) that VirtualBox does not provide. Moreover, I am still in the dark regarding VB's documented lack of support for hardware virtualization assist. VB seems a bit slower than Parallels or Fusion to me. But, not as slow as I would expect if it actually lacked hardware virtualziation assist. VB is NOT a complete replacement for Parallels or Fusion.
Hi,
Thanks for this detailed information about VirtualBox. Now, I'm using Parallels Desktop with Win2K but I'll keep my eye on VB (and think twice before pay for next upgrade).