Virtual machines in general

pseymour said:

The standard user part is because, by default, standard user accounts cannot manage Hyper-V. You have to fiddle with permissions. If you run with an admin account, you don’t have to do anything extra.

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I'll go with the full version.

Tasmania Green said:

Given that I am learning about Microsoft Azure, which virtual machine do you recommend I install?

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While it certainly is true that Hyper-V plays together well (or usually...) with Azure and the Windows ecosystem (or the Windows ecosystem with or without Azure)—some ways similar to how Parallels Desktop can offer a whole list of key advantages if you're going to be running on macOS—you might also want to look into the free version of VMware vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi. Just like Hyper-V, it is a Type 1 hypervisor.

Both Hyper-V and ESXi have their own weaknesses and strengths. To give only one example of that, when compared to Hyper-V, ESXi has been in the nested virtualization game longer and offers broader compatibility with guest hypervisors. You can run ESXi inside ESXi, or even Hyper-V inside ESXi, with relatively smooth performance.

That said, I wouldn't rule out the Type 2 hypervisors category per se. They too can offer a lot of advantages (and that makes them unique). The sacrifice in performance commonly associated with using a Type 2 hypervisor (and also commonly associated with using nested virtualization on a Type 1 hypervisor) isn't necessarily always going to be among primary concerns. There can be several other important factors that you might or might not want to prioritize more heavily than performance. Modern hardware is often capable enough that slowdowns may be not noticeable (or barely), even though this still greatly depends on a lot of things.

Another excellent reason for using VM's is that you can often run old hard/software on them where the facilities you want still work ok and often trying to go through all sorts of hoops and whistles to get this stuff to run on current OS's is far too much of a hassle -- XP for example runs needing so little resources so why even bother to attempt to make an XP program you might still use "compatible" with W11 if it's even possible !!!!!

I have some older (license free") studo hard/software where I can create "bespoke" music on Vinyls plus labels for the discs too -- only works on XP - but still brilliant -- the hard thing was getting blanks for the Vinyls - but no probs these days !!!. Newer hardware would cost (plus with the new wretched subscription model for music access and the software licenses etc) would work out in the 1st year alone at over $US 30,000.00 -- Thirty GRAND !!!-- far too much for the small volume I do. !!! even with generous business tax write off's for capital allowances and ongoing costs.

Cheers
jimbo

Thanks hdmi and Jimbo. Good information. Looks like I have more research to do.

Tasmania Green said:

Thanks hdmi and Jimbo. Good information. Looks like I have more research to do.

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people like @hdmi can (and do) give excellent technical info -- my use of VM's is much more at a practical - less theoretical level -- that's what I like about these forums -- people with broad spectrums of experience and interests etc contribute -- but as always - due diligence is the watchword as a load just google something and think the ist answer that comes up is "Gospel Truth" !!!

Cheers
jimbo

hdmi said:

While it certainly is true that Hyper-V plays together well (or usually...) with Azure and the Windows ecosystem (or the Windows ecosystem with or without Azure)—some ways similar to how Parallels Desktop can offer a whole list of key advantages if you're going to be running on macOS—you might also want to look into the free version of VMware vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi. Just like Hyper-V, it is a Type 1 hypervisor.

Both Hyper-V and ESXi have their own weaknesses and strengths. To give only one example of that, when compared to Hyper-V, ESXi has been in the nested virtualization game longer and offers broader compatibility with guest hypervisors. You can run ESXi inside ESXi, or even Hyper-V inside ESXi, with relatively smooth performance.

VMware ESXi 8.0U3e Now Has a Free Version How to Get It

Broadcom brought back a VMware ESXi 8 free version now that you can download VMware ESXi 8.0U3 without subscribing

www.servethehome.com

That said, I wouldn't rule out the Type 2 hypervisors category per se. They too can offer a lot of advantages (and that makes them unique). The sacrifice in performance commonly associated with using a Type 2 hypervisor (and also commonly associated with using nested virtualization on a Type 1 hypervisor) isn't necessarily always going to be among primary concerns. There can be several other important factors that you might or might not want to prioritize more heavily than performance. Modern hardware is often capable enough that slowdowns may be not noticeable (or barely), even though this still greatly depends on a lot of things.

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Isn't that an overkill for most people?

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi ISO) image: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso

Additional Information
Boot your server with this image in order to install ESXi (ESXi requires 64-bit capable servers). This ESXi image includes VMware Tools.

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MisterEd said:

Isn't that an overkill for most people?

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Of course. But then, so is Hyper-V. Most people (myself included) have absolutely no need for Windows 11 Pro in any way whatsoever. What you see in my specs is just my hobby setup. One of the reasons why I use Sandboxie-Plus is because it lets me avoid having to simultaneously run more than one OS. My work setup doesn't use anything Windows related.

MisterEd said:

VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi ISO) image: VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3e-24677879.x86_64.iso

Click to expand...

Additional Information
Boot your server with this image in order to install ESXi (ESXi requires 64-bit capable servers). This ESXi image includes VMware Tools.

Click to expand...

Just about any modern PC with a compatible NIC (which almost all modern Intel NICs are) can suffice. A half decent 64-bit consumer CPU from Intel or AMD supports Intel VT-x or AMD-V, and having 16GB RAM installed in a PC has become mainstream.

You can use GRUB to chainload the ESXi bootloader so, you can set it up to allow dual-booting Windows 11 and ESXi (each installed on a separate partition or disk). You can't use native boot to boot ESXi from a VHD(x), but I don't see why you'd want that. If you're using a virtualized ESXi environment, you can use VMware Workstation or VMware Player to run ESXi as a virtual machine. With ESXi, nested virtualization also lets you run Hyper-V inside ESXi like I earlier said.

With the free version of ESXi, you don't get support from Broadcom, and the free version of ESXi was gone for some time so, many of the free version's users have moved to other hypervisors as a result. However, VMware remains the leading industry standard, which makes the free version of ESXi a viable choice to want to consider for personal use, like, setting up a home lab, for personal learning, and for hobby experiments, for example. Like I also earlier said, so is Hyper-V, especially if you're on Windows, but I will repeat that the same also holds true about many other choices.