Virtual PC 2004 Or VMware Workstation 4.5?

VMware Workstation and Virtual PC are two familiar virtual machine software but for easy selection you need to find similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses among them.

Introduce & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp;

Virtual machine is definitely not a universal 'game' and is not suitable for users who do not need to run multiple operating systems on one machine and are afraid of the ' risky.

Three virtual machines run 3 different operating systems

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So who is the virtual machine suited to? Assuming you are a programmer, you want to test your program in a variety of environments. In the traditional way, you have to install all the experimental environments and try each one on a single environment. Every time you want to test, you have to shut down the operating system and start the operating system test ... It's a lot of time and waste! The task will be much simpler if you install virtual machine software and have some virtual OS on the server. In this case, you can easily switch between virtual operating systems with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Even if you are not a programmer, you probably need a virtual machine. For example, your OS is Windows XP and you need to run a program that only works on Linux or BeOS. Or, suppose, after upgrading to Windows XP, you discover that your favorite game can not work in the new OS.

For more information about virtual machines and the installation of virtual machines on the virtual machine, you can refer to the article 'Installing multiple operating systems on a virtual machine' posted on A6 2002.

Currently, two popular virtual machine software are VMware's VMware Workstation and Microsoft's Virtual PC. VMware Workstation is based on Windows or Linux. Virtual PC currently only supports server based installation from Windows 2000 and above. However, both software allow to install different operating systems on virtual machines. Although there are some distinctive features, both software are quite effective to meet the requirements of users.

It should be noted that Virtual PC was previously owned by Connectix, but was acquired by Microsoft in early 2003. Connectix is ​​well-known for its Virtual PC 5.0 support for both Windows and Linux servers, but when purchasing the software From Connectix, Microsoft has just released a new Virtual PC that supports Windows 2000 or higher.

In this article, we tested the performance of Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 (VPC) and VMware Workstation 4.5 (VMW) on servers running Windows XP Professional. Both of these software are commercial software and their prices are very high. VPC (18.9 MB) of & nbsp; Microsoft has an expected price of $ 129; VMWriter 4.5 (33.3 MB for Windows) costs $ 510. Fortunately, both of these software packages offer full-featured trials: 45 days with VPC and 30 days with VMW. If only in the need to test this time satisfactory. Register for a trial and download the software from both Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/virtualpc/) and VMware ( http://www.vmware.com/

overview

Both VMW and VPC all work the same way, but each software has its strengths and weaknesses. Generally speaking, VMW is faster, with better graphics support but more CPU over VPC. In contrast, VPC is easier to use and more friendly. On the VPC, all guest operating systems and related applications are installed quickly and easily. Although in the introduction, Microsoft only mentions the new Windows family of supported on the VPC virtual machine, in fact VPC 2004 still supports other operating systems such as Linux or OS / 2. In VPC 2004, all non-Windows operating systems are called 'Other'.

In our opinion, the way VPC simulates hardware is simple but quite effective. For example, this software simulates the host PC's video card, the S3 Trio 32/64, and the Sound Blaster 16 sound card. This makes it easy to install guest operating systems on a virtual machine as well as later configuration. It's much easier to find drivers for common devices. VMW's solution to this problem is to provide a separate device driver, which does not emulate the VPC. Normally, after completing client OS installation, this software will suggest that you run VMware Tools to optimize various components, including graphical controls.

Experiment
Microsoft vitual & nbsp; PC 2004

In general, VPC is very stable and installing virtual clients on virtual machines is very simple. Even installing a guest OS on a virtual machine is as easy as installing a regular Windows application. Before starting, you should note the following combinations of keys (by default):

- Alt (right) + Enter: Run client operating system in full screen mode or window mode.

& nbsp; Alt (right): transfer control to the host operating system (when in the guest operating system)

Video card and sound card on virtual machine running Windows 98

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When you run VPC for the first time, the program asks you a series of questions related to the operating system that needs to be installed and its associated configurations. You can increase or decrease the amount of memory available for each virtual machine. VPC allows you to shorten the installation time of your guest OS if you have a Ghost backup of your OS.

We installed three guest operating systems: Windows 98, Vietkey Linux 3.0, and Mandrake 9.0 on three different virtual machines in a traditional way (clean install from a CD). Of course, the three systems that are simulated on three virtual machines are not as powerful as the host PC, but we're pretty comfortable running basic applications on these virtual machines.

In terms of sound, VPC has simulated sound systems very well on Windows systems. We did not have any problems with the SoundBlaster 16 or AWE-32 or compatible emulator on Windows 98. However, Vietkey Linux 3.0 and Mandrake 9.0 did not recognize the sound card.

On the screen and graphics card, Windows 98 does not have any problems. After installing Virtual Machine Additions, the speed and graphics capabilities of the OS improved significantly. However, these devices are not well emulated by VPCs in the Linux family. While Vietkey Linux receives a Samsung PC monitor (the Samsung Syncmaster 450Nb) and the video card is 'S3 Trio 64' in general form, Mandrake can not manually set up the monitor and graphics card to display properly. We had to configure these devices manually. Because Virtual Machine Additions are only installed on Windows operating systems, the Linux operating system does not take advantage of the support features that this add-on provides.

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Surf the web from the Mandrake virtual machine

VPC provides two methods of network connection: Shared Neworking with Network Address Translation and Local Only. In particular, Shared Neworking is a good fit for ordinary users and relatively easy to configure. You can easily configure it to connect to the Internet or LAN from the Windows or Linux client. If you use Shared Neworking, you only need to connect to the Internet from your home PC and then open a browser on your guest OS and surf the web.

VPC supports cut-and-paste and drag-and-drop between the server and the Windows client as long as you add Virtual Machine Additions. To get these features, go to the Windows client PC menu and select 'Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions', then on the client to start the installation process. VPC 2004 does not support cut-and-paste and drag-and-drop operations between servers and clients running Linux operating systems. Using Shared Folders only works well in Windows environments, which can not be performed between Linux OS and Windows XP-based virtual machines. Also note that if you shut down the operating system on the client computer from the VPC menu, then you have unplugged the computer. Consequently, when booting next time OS will have to check the disk for a long time. In our opinion, you can choose 'Action - Close - Save state' or disable the OS from the guest OS.

You can grant or remove the privileges of using the CD or floppy disk for guest operating systems on the virtual machine by clicking the 'CD' or 'floppy' menu. When the guest OS uses a CD or floppy disk, the host OS will not recognize the two drives and vice versa.

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VPC offers quite an interesting feature, which is 'Undo Disks'. This feature works similarly to 'System Restore' of Windows ME, XP. When 'Undo Disks' is enabled, a separate 'undo' file will be created to record every change of the virtual hard disk, so that you can return to a secure location when the system Virtual trouble.

You can access most of the features mentioned above in the main menu of VPC. Alternatively, you can also use the VPC toolbar at the bottom of the program window. This toolbar shows the status of your virtual hard drive, CD drive, floppy drive, shared folder or virtual LAN. This toolbar is hidden if you set fullscreen mode for the virtual machine.

In general, you can not expect a virtual machine to run as fast as a real machine. In many cases, the speed on the virtual machine is only half the speed on the server. However, we tried running some applications on the VPC virtual machines and found they all work well, meeting the basic requirements. In our tests, applications running on Windows 98 were the fastest and most stable. The applications on the virtual machine Vietkey Linux 3.0 running the slowest.

VMWare Workstation 4.5

Installing VMW is simple, and configuring does not require a lot of experience. In general, you should follow the suggestions of VMW.

By default, the size of the VMW partition needed for each virtual machine is 4GB. You can also change the amount of RAM available for virtual machines to increase or decrease the performance of the operating system on the virtual machine. VMware sells OS images for installation on virtual machines. If you have these images, just copy them to the newly created virtual partitions and you can use them immediately. However, the way to manually install the operating system on the virtual machine is still the most popular.

To begin, you need to note the following keyboard shortcuts (by default):

- & nbsp; Ctrl + Alt + Enter: Run client operating system in full screen mode or windows.

- & nbsp; Ctrl + Alt: transfer control to the host operating system (when in the guest operating system)

Like with VPC, we installed Windows 98, Vietkey Linux 3.0 and Mandrake Linux 9.0 on servers running Windows XP Professional. The installation of all three operating systems from the boot CDs smoothly, without problems.

Sound card and video card in Mandrake

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Unlike VPC, VMW offers a separate graphics driver. When you install a guest OS (eg Windows 98), you only have 640 x 480 resolution with 16 colors. VMW will always display a message telling you that you have not installed the graphical driver for the guest operating system. VMware calls this driver 'VMware Tools'. For Windows 98, after installing VMware Tools you will have 16 bits of color or higher and a resolution higher than 640 x 480. In the case of Vietkey Linux 3.0 and Mandrake Linux 9.0, the graphics capabilities are excellent. No need to install VMware Tools to enhance graphics capabilities.

As for sound hardware emulation, unlike VPC, VMW does not perform well for Windows 98. The OS does not recognize the sound card itself, while the Linux OS does very well. We found that VMW was quite keen on providing its own graphical driver, independent of any specific hardware. However, with the sound, it seems that the virtual machine software is more in favor of Linux.

While the VPC does not yet support USB ports from the client, VMW does a good job of simulating the USB port. All three operating systems recognize and accept devices attached to the virtual machine through this port.

On the internal network, VMW provides up to four connection methods: 'Bridged Connection', 'Network Address Translation', 'Host Only' and 'Custom'. 'Bridged Connection' allows virtual machines to connect directly to the LAN or the Internet. 'Network Address Translation' allows virtual machines to connect to the network by sharing the server's IP address. 'Host Only' creates a private network in which the server is treated as a separate computer. With 'Custom', you can create a virtual network according to specific requirements. We used the 'Network Address Translation' method and found that the network connection had no problems in both Windows and Linux environments.

VPC requires two program windows: one for managing virtual machines, one for each virtual machine. In contrast, VMW combines both windows into one. However, VPC offers a simpler menu menu than VMW's. Both software allow you to do all the detailed configuration tasks through the main menu, but you can also directly perform some settings through the icons in the status bar.

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Similar to VPC, cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop between servers and clients works very well in Windows environments, but not in Linux environments. You can also use 'Shared Folder' to share files between client and server, but this feature is not supported on some guest operating systems (for example, Windows 98). In addition, the use of 'Shared Folder' also depends on the host operating system: you can not share files without permission from the owner. While VPC offers the option of allowing you to grant or remove the use of a CD or floppy disk drive for the operating system on the VM, VMW defaults to the guest operating system that controls the device from the host operating system. Of course, when the guest OS uses a CD or floppy disk, the host OS will not recognize the two drives and vice versa.

As with the VPC, it is important to note that if you shut down the OS on the client from the VMW's menu or icon, it's likely that you shut down the computer's power. In our opinion, you can choose 'Power - Suspend' (similar to Windows XP 's Hibernate) or switch off from the main guest OS.

In general, applications on the VMW virtual machine run pretty well, meeting the basic requirements of the user. As with VPC, do not expect the VMW to be as fast as the server.

Conclude

Despite their advantages and disadvantages, VPC and VMW perform well in general. In general, if you need a reliable virtual machine software and good support for the Windows family, VPC is the number one choice. And if you love speed, flexibility and full Linux support, VMW deserves to be the first choice.

These are basic but not comprehensive tests on the two virtual machine software Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 and VMware VMware Workstation 4.5. Hope the conclusions we draw can help you in choosing a virtual machine software to suit your work requirements.

Nguyen Viet Khoa
Hanoi Polytechnic University