Lightweight Virtual Machine Suggestions

Xplorer4x4 · Jun 7, 2026

pseymour said:
Ok then do that?

Well, since qemu is cross-compatible, it's lighter weight than VirtualBox, I really hoped someone could recommend a good GUI to control QEMU from Windows. Instead, I keep getting asked to repeat the same exact thing over and over and over again. It gets frustrating having to repeat the same thing over and over because people choose not to read the thread.

pseymour · Jun 7, 2026

QEMU for Windows – Installers (64 bit)

QEMU Binaries for Windows

qemu.weilnetz.de

Marie SWE · Jun 7, 2026

So the third OS is the most important OS as it need to run more or less 24/7 while the other two OS's is only for when needed.

For less headache I suggest you try to get hold of a second hardware system to run that third OS on, as that is the most important one in your priority list.
I dont know what OS it is.. but if it is capable of running a hypervisor on that third OS, run that as Host and then run Windows and CatchyOS as VM's as they are less important in the priority list. This will be the most stable and less headache solution if you only have one hardware setup.

But as for a GUI for QEMU in windows... Perhaps @Bree in here have some ideas as i know he is using VM's on windows... even if he uses Hyper-V he still have the foot in the windows hypervisor world.

or if solving it by running QEMU under WSL

Bree · Jun 7, 2026

Marie SWE said:
as for a GUI for QEMU in windows... Perhaps @Bree in here have some ideas as i know he is using VM's on windows... even if he uses Hyper-V he still have the foot in the windows hypervisor world. or if solving it by running QEMU under WSL

Sorry, no experience of QEMU. I stick to using Hyper-V in Windows for most of my VMs and VirtualBox in Windows for a few old OS (eg Win '95) that Hyper-V cannot support. @cereberus may have some ideas.....

cereberus · Jun 7, 2026

Bree said:
Sorry, no experience of QEMU. I stick to using Hyper-V in Windows for most of my VMs and VirtualBox in Windows for a few old OS (eg Win '95) that Hyper-V cannot support. @cereberus may have some ideas.....

I think it is a bit unclear what the objective is.

I like @Bree mostly use Hyper-V.

Hyper-V can run pretty much any windows or Linux guests in Basic Mode.

The main problem with Basic mode is you cannot get audio.

Only guest OSs that can run an RDP servers can run in enhanced mode and get audio.

Trying to run Qemu in Windows is a bit cack handed as it kind of acts more like a type 2 hypervisor acting more like Vmware or Virtualbox, and unlikely ro give any real benefit. It cannot act as a type 1 hyervisor.

However, if you install Linux on a PC, it has an underlying KVM type 1 hypervisor component which integrates with Qemu.

So it creates a sort of hybrid virtual machine i.e. the underlying engine is type 1 but the gui is sort of type 2 (this description is a simplification but shows the principle).

So afaik, if you want to use Qemu with KVM with type 1 efficiency, you need Linux as the host OS.

Once you are running Qemu/KVM, it is fairly easy to install Windows as a VM which should be almost as fast as a native Windows Host.

The slightly tricky part is installing Windows 11 as a qemu/KVM VM. You need to setup vm so it has an emulated tpm2 and secure boot etc. There are several guides on web for this.

So realistically, there is no one size fits all solution.

Marie SWE · Jun 7, 2026

Hi @cereberus

Not a question for me, but for the thread.

What would be easier.. trying to get QEMU and find a GUI to work native in windows, or just use WSL for an easy solution so virt-manager can be the GUI...

pseymour · Jun 7, 2026

I want to run a bare metal VM using a Linux distro. I want it run Emby Server and Emby Server only.

PhilB · Jun 7, 2026

jimbo45 said:
One area where I still use physical W11 machines BTW is to have them as "physical vhdx" files so they can run on external media -- that way I can test out all sorts of new builds etc - with different apps / languages etc etc and all keep the same activation !!

@jimbo45

I may be reading too much into your post here. Hope not.
Are you saying that create and run Hyper-V VM on your physical Win 11 system? Multiple VMs using just one Windows license?

Xplorer4x4 · Jun 7, 2026

Ok I am going to break it down real simple:

CachyOS Installed on NVME Drive
+
Win 11 Installed on NVME Drive
=
Dual Boot
+
VM (Useable under linux and Win 11)
=Desired Outcome

I have explained myself multiple times over. At this point, I don't know how to explain it any clearer. I appreciate the efforts to help, but it has left me more frustrated than when I came here. Out of 28 posts, the only useful suggestion I can see is to use VirtualBox in Linux/CachyOs and Windows 11. This is not ideal but I guess it is going to have to work.

Oh and for whoever asked, CachyOS is my primary OS. Not sure what gave you the idea Windows was. I'd ditch Windows completely if literally everything ran in Linux. 2026 has been a huge step forward, but we aren't all the way there YET. Once that time comes, I can ditch Windows and the VM and return to just good ol CachyOS.

Xplorer4x4 · Jun 7, 2026

x509 said:
@jimbo45

I may be reading too much into your post here. Hope not.
Are you saying that create and run Hyper-V VM on your physical Win 11 system? Multiple VMs using just one Windows license?

That's exactly how I understood it. I just wonder if these are personal keys or volume licensing keys.

pseymour · Jun 7, 2026

It's not very complex. You have two choices: type 1 and type 2 hypervisors. You either find a type 1 that works in both OSes, find a type 2 that works in both OSes, or, what I would do, use kvm under Cachy, since that's your primary OS, and run Windows and whatever else as VMs.

jimbo45 · Jun 8, 2026

A VM will run on both Windows and Linux -- provided the disk format is readable on both systems AND the "Virtual hardware" i.e the paravirtualised bits of hardware runs. These days that's not normally a problem.

Note though if you use the "emulated" TPM running a Windows 11 VM on Linux then you might need to use the Real hardware on the VM when running on a Windows Host although (I'm not sure) I think HYPER-V has the facility to support an emulated TPM.
If the OP wants a truely "Bare metal" VM on his Linux Host -- provided there is sufficient hardware then you can "Pass thru"some physical hardware enabling the VM to run at almost native speed. You need to set some conditions in the physical BIOS of the Host though.

This Youtuibe video is quite good

I'm not sure on a Windows Host using HYPER-V whether pass thru is possible though. Nor is it possible with Vmware workstation / player or virtual box. Remember unlike Linux Windows is a SINGLE USER system which puts all sorts of restrictions on running VM's is if the W11 user logs off - I believe if you use Windows IOT though you can get it to operate in "Kiosk" mode which could be another option.
A Windows SERVER Host will be OK -- you can get 120 days free trial with several "re-arms" so that's another solution. You can then set up a "Virtual desktop infrastructure" to access the VM you've created and it will run in the background if nobody is logged on to the W11 server.

Finally do note that HYPER-V is more limited in certain ways as it really can't dynamically attach devices and only USB devices e.g disks can be handled -- and these have to be allocated in advance and become unavailable to the host. Linux KVM allows for dynamic pci and usb re-direction which is infinitely more useful to home computer users. HYPER-V was originally designed for commercial servers / cloud services so a different market entirely.

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 · Jun 8, 2026

In addition to my previous post here's even more added flexibility for W11 VM's on Linux KVM/QEMU. You can easily add more disks dynamically especially if they were "physical vhdx" files -- here I've added disk "H" by attaching a windows virtual disk via disk part -- no need to have this disk in the VM's parameters !!

Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 · Jun 8, 2026

Xplorer4x4 said:
Well, since qemu is cross-compatible, it's lighter weight than VirtualBox, I really hoped someone could recommend a good GUI to control QEMU from Windows. Instead, I keep getting asked to repeat the same exact thing over and over and over again. It gets frustrating having to repeat the same thing over and over because people choose not to read the thread.

I think this is what you are looking for !!.

Try installing cockpit on your Linux machine and then from Windows access it via a bog standard browser
Then on Windows in the browser simply type https://<your Linux machine>:9090

"Seemples" -- nice GUI - runs from any browser !!! IN WINDOWS too Then edit the virtual machines / control at will !!!!. NOTHING needs to be installed on Windows !!!.

Here's a remote (real W11 laptop) connecting to a Linux server via cockpit. Couldn't be easier. Ensure though when the cockpit service is installed on your Linux system the service gets started automatically and on Windows allow port 9090 in firewall to allow access.

Cheers
jimbo

Hopachi · Jun 11, 2026

I read the thread...

I want to dual boot CachyOS and Win 11. Both are installed and good to go. I want to run a third OS in a VM.I don't believe it will require any heavy use.

As I have stated many times, i need the third OS/VM to run 24/7 regardless of which is I am using.

Best way: the third OS/VM would need to run on a separate PC/server for 24/7 runtime.
Use QEMU/KVM host here.

On your dual boot machine, use virt-viewer client to connect to the other PC VM. This client is known in Linux but it also has a Windows release. Hence you should be able to connect to QEMU/KVM server like this. I use virt-viewer a lot, it is the lighter cousin of virt-manager. But honestly I have never tried it under Windows.

Note: qemu is cross-compatible, but you won't be able to run it under KVM under Windows host so that part is Linux only.
A Windows QEMU binary is just a bare version of the hardware emulator part and will lack hypervisor and CPU acceleration so it will run (much) slower. This is not type 1 hypervisor!

If you need Linux host, go KVM. If you need Windows host, use Hyper-V. If you plan to jump-test and don't mind turning things on and off between reboots, use VirtualBox as it is cross-platform.

Xplorer4x4 · Jun 12, 2026

jimbo45 said:
In addition to my previous post here's even more added flexibility for W11 VM's on Linux KVM/QEMU. You can easily add more disks dynamically especially if they were "physical vhdx" files -- here I've added disk "H" by attaching a windows virtual disk via disk part -- no need to have this disk in the VM's parameters !!

View attachment 173695

Cheers
jimbo

This seems reasonable. It would be a little more self-explanatory if drive F were shown once mounted.

jimbo45 said:
I think this is what you are looking for !!.

Try installing cockpit on your Linux machine and then from Windows access it via a bog standard browser
Then on Windows in the browser simply type https://<your Linux machine>:9090

"Seemples" -- nice GUI - runs from any browser !!! IN WINDOWS too Then edit the virtual machines / control at will !!!!. NOTHING needs to be installed on Windows !!!.

Here's a remote (real W11 laptop) connecting to a Linux server via cockpit. Couldn't be easier. Ensure though when the cockpit service is installed on your Linux system the service gets started automatically and on Windows allow port 9090 in firewall to allow access.

View attachment 173697

Cheers
jimbo

This seems very solid.

Hopachi said:
I read the thread...

Best way: the third OS/VM would need to run on a separate PC/server for 24/7 runtime.

This right here tells me you did not.

Prose · Jun 13, 2026

WSL is quite awesome to work with.
I've not tested that but it should possibly work:
qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b /path/to/ext4.vhdx -F vhdx overlay.qcow2
sudo qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 overlay.qcow2
then bind-mount proc,sys and chroot into it

That could allow to use a WSL root (or data dir) and have a thin bootable linux as wrapper to load it.
So it can be used in WSL and booted into natively

Xplorer4x4 · Jun 13, 2026

Prose said:
WSL is quite awesome to work with.
I've not tested that but it should possibly work:
qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b /path/to/ext4.vhdx -F vhdx overlay.qcow2
sudo qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 overlay.qcow2
then bind-mount proc,sys and chroot into it

That could allow to use a WSL root (or data dir) and have a thin bootable linux as wrapper to load it.
So it can be used in WSL and booted into natively

Interesting theory but wouldn't I need to point it the source iso somehow?

Lightweight Virtual Machine Suggestions

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