Virtual Machine
From Hacktolive.org
A Virtual Machine is one of the coolest things in computer science, without getting into complicated details, it is like having a "Virtual" computer "inside" your own real computer...
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How does it work?
A Virtual Machine creates a virtual environment for the operating systems to run, isolated from the real operating system in the host computer, so all the problems/virus/Blue screens that may affect the guest will not affect the host (at least in theory!)
What is a Virtual Machine usefull for?
- Trying many Operating Systems without having to format or re-partition your Hard Drive, and with no risk of breaking your "real" system...
- Run older versions of Operating Systems, for example, lets say you have a computer with Windows Vista installed, and you need to run some older software that only supports windows 2000 or XP... the solution? just create a Virtual Machine with Windows 2000 (or XP), and then run the old program "inside" the Virtual Machine!
- Testing many software without installing it on a real computer
- Running/testing Live CDs and Live USBs
- Many other cool stuff!
Current limitations of this type of Software
- Since a Virtual Machine is an isolated environment, you can only acess some real hardware, wich does not include, for example, a built in wifi adapter (see note one for details)
- You can't run programs with advanced 3D Technology (because of the above)
- Other various limitations... (see the page of each program for additional details)
Notes
1. VMware Workstation can connect some (real) Hardware to a Virtual Machine, being at the moment: USB devices, CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, Hard Drives, SCSI devices and devices that use a serial or parallel port
