Virtual PC 2007 or Hyper-V for personal desktop use?

Question

I'm running Vista on my laptop, but would like to virtualize Ubuntu so that I can boot it from time to time for my personal use (e.g. running code, testing Linux programs). I tried this with Virtual PC 2007 (I allocated 1G of RAM for Ubuntu), and it was very slow. Should I try Hyper-V instead? (Note: I know very little about virtualization, so I'm not sure this is the type of use that Hyper-V is intended for.)

Answer 1

I'm using the free Virtual Box and that's worked fine for me.

Answer 2

I like VMWare Workstation.

Answer 3

Virtual PC 2007 should be adequate for personal desktop use? Hyper-V has processor requirements that you would have to consider before using on your desktop.

Answer 4

If you don't need to have both Windows and Ubuntu running at the same time, you could try Wubi, the Windows-based Ubuntu Installer, a program that installs Ubuntu into a set of files on your Windows disk and sets you up to dual boot, without having to repartition or anything like that. The most recent version(s) of Ubuntu come with Wubi on the CD.

Answer 5

I've had really poor results doing Linux under Virtual PC 2007. VirtualBox has been much better for me.

Answer 6

Not so sure about linux but with windows you can get noticeable performance improvements if you run the VHD from an external hard drive.

Answer 7

I think i will switch back from Hpyer-V to Virtual PC / VMWare, or maybe even to Vista, because of the sluggish UI.

Only after removing the Hyper-V role, the system became more responsive. I had delays of up to 30+ seconds on logon/logoff, lock/unlock computer and other tasks.

It'seems to be a issue with "Video performance may decrease when a Windows Server 2008-based computer has the Hyper-V role enabled and an accelerated display adapter installed".

Please see also this discussion on MS Connect: Hyper-V made the machine unusable : SUPER SLOW.

PS: Yes, i tried every tweak mentioned in Convert your Windows Server 2008 to a Workstation.

[Using Hyper-V for web developement on Windows Server 2008 x64 standard edition on a Intel Core i7 with 6GB Ram and a ATI Radeon HD 3400.]

Answer 8

I consider VMWare the best solution with the best support for devices like USB.

If you use vmware player (free) in combination with a website that generates your VMWare image ( http://easyvmx.com/ ) you have an excellent free working solution.

Answer 9

To run Hyper-V you'll have to install Windows Server 2008 I believe.

I'm running Win2008 now and I can tell you having tried it Hyper-V is a bit slow, it has only limited graphics support.

Hyper-V

Slow needs Windows Server 2008, is a proper hypervisor (ie it sits underneath Windows (including Server 2008). It's a version 1.0 so treat as such. It being Microsoft's flagship virtualisation solution though it has a bright future. But at the moment steer clear. Magic Version 3 I think. It's also considerably behind the competition.

Virtual PC

I use this a work, but haven't virtualised Ubuntu with it. I think it's reasonably decent, XP guest runs quickly enough.

VMWare Server

Well made software current market leader. For me it just worked, though the management interface is a little heavy. Very good product would recommend it. Had no problems running 3 Ubuntu instances (2 server 1 gui) and a XP machine.

This is the bar against which to measure the others in my opinion.

Sun Virtual Box

I'm typing this now in a Ubuntu GUI running inside of Virtual Box on my Windows Server 2008 machine. I'm amazingly impressed with it, it's blisteringly fast, sound works had to install the tools package to get a decent screen resolution, but it was all really easy. It's definitely worth a look. Haven't tried it on Vista but I'm sure it'll work.

Running on Intel Quad Core, 4Gb Ram with Windows Server 2008 x64.