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I want to try Google OS. For that purpose I am planning to install virtualization software. I have the option to use VMWare Palyer or VirtualBox. I am absolute beginner, and even though I understand the concept of virtualization, never used it. Can you please suggest which of the two option (i.e. VMWare Player or VirtualBox) is easy option for beginner.

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4 Answers

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Vmware Player is much easier to use as there are fewer controls, however it is only really designed to run VMs that already exist and not create them from scratch.

VirtualBox gives you a lot more options but it would be my choice between the two if you want to install from scratch.

Why do you say Google OS if you are talking about the desktop version? (I know it is out of the rumour stage, but I didn't know they had released anything). If you are talking about android on the other hand, if you download the SDK, they have an emulator that runs out the box and may be much simpler if you just want a play with it.

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Thanks. The download as free virtual appliance of Chrome OS is available (sites.google.com/site/chromeoslinux/download). I plan to try out this version which requires VMWare Player or VirtualBox. Regards – kobra Sep 28 '09 at 21:36
Can't believe I missed this! thanks... already given +1 to your question, shame I can't do more!... well, +1 to your comment! – William Hilsum Sep 28 '09 at 21:50
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OHhhhhh, it's not made by Google. Some dude just put Chrome OS on Suse: lifehacker.com/5369361/…. Deliberately misleading, wish I could downvote his whole website. – hyperslug Sep 28 '09 at 22:08
Lol, that's more like it! – William Hilsum Sep 28 '09 at 22:09
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Sorry about Chrome OS. It's not by Google. As usual did not read the fine print. Regards – kobra Sep 28 '09 at 22:35
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up vote 9 down vote

VirtualBox is dead simple, and it's free. Use it.

VirtualBox is a powerful x86 and AMD64/Intel64 virtualization product for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.

Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Solaris hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista, Windows 7), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), Solaris and OpenSolaris, OS/2, and OpenBSD.

VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while Oracle ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria.

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+1 also no issues with unsigned drivers on x64 Windows that VMWare has/had. – kerchingo Sep 28 '09 at 21:16
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up vote 5 down vote

VirtualBox.

VMplayer is aimed solely at "playing" existing virtual machines. While there are hacks and interesting work-arounds to use Player to create VMs, I don't think that would be a great choice for a beginner...

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ah see, I didn't realize you already had a pre-built image in mind... – Chris_K Sep 28 '09 at 22:37
Side Note: Current version of VMware Player now has the ability to create new VMs built-in. No more hacks or work-arounds necessary. – Chris_K Feb 4 '10 at 21:47
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up vote 3 down vote

VBox is free and does pretty much everything VMWare does. It's easily more capable than the free VMWare player.

If you have budget, I still prefer VMWare workstation for the flexibility of its disk snapshot mechanism. It's getting increasingly hard to justify the cost in the face of recent versions of VirtualBox though.

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