Andy "Krazy" Glew is a computer architect, a long time poster on comp.arch ... and an evangelist of collaboration tools such as wikis, calendars, blogs, etc. Plus an occasional commentator on politics, taxes, and policy. Particularly the politics of multi-ethnic societies such as Quebec, my birthplace.
The content of this blog is my personal opinion. It is not that of my employer. See Disclaimer.
By the way, also started using Microsoft Virtual PC on the same laptop.
Mainly to get Windows XP mode. Which is a Windows guest that I know I am licensed to.
(Really, I want to install a Windows 7 guest. But I don't have install media and am unclear on licensing: can I use the same license both as host and guest on the same physical machine?)
Would like to use Virtual PC and Virtual Box at the same time.
... It seems that if I start up Virtual PC while Virtual Box is running, then Virtual Box gets a "Guru Meditation" critical error.
I.e. it doesn't look as if I can run both of these different virtual machine managers at the same time.
...
Unsurprising, if they are competing for the same hardware VMX and VT-d support.
TBD: if I disable hardware VMX acceleration, can they coexist?
...
People have often asked me why I am so much an advocate of user level virtual machines, as opposed to hypervisors.
(Note: I want to say Type 1 (native, bare metal) versus Type 2 (hosted) hypervisors - but that's not quite right.
well, here's an example: I have two nice bits of software, each convenient to a different VMM.
Perhaps I can get Ubuntu to run under Virtual PC. Perhaps. But I have them both running in their respective VMMs *now*.
It sucks that the VMMs fight.
We have already shown that user level virtual machine managers can run. And, for that matter, coexist. Even while using the same hardware acceleration, aka VMX mode. Possibly not system level I/O acceleration, VT=d.. But VNX, nested page tables - that SHOULD be doable.
Here's one reason why I find virtual machines a hassle: disk space. Resource fragmentation. I'm quickly running out of disk space as I configure two guests to run on top of my host.
VB Seamless Windows mode only works on the primary Windows display. Now, let's see, I have 4 displays attached to my puny laptop...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, also started using Microsoft Virtual PC on the same laptop.
ReplyDeleteMainly to get Windows XP mode. Which is a Windows guest that I know I am licensed to.
(Really, I want to install a Windows 7 guest. But I don't have install media and am unclear on licensing: can I use the same license both as host and guest on the same physical machine?)
Would like to use Virtual PC and Virtual Box at the same time.
... It seems that if I start up Virtual PC while Virtual Box is running, then Virtual Box gets a "Guru Meditation" critical error.
I.e. it doesn't look as if I can run both of these different virtual machine managers at the same time.
...
Unsurprising, if they are competing for the same hardware VMX and VT-d support.
TBD: if I disable hardware VMX acceleration, can they coexist?
...
People have often asked me why I am so much an advocate of user level virtual machines, as opposed to hypervisors.
(Note: I want to say Type 1 (native, bare metal) versus Type 2 (hosted) hypervisors - but that's not quite right.
well, here's an example: I have two nice bits of software, each convenient to a different VMM.
Perhaps I can get Ubuntu to run under Virtual PC. Perhaps. But I have them both running in their respective VMMs *now*.
It sucks that the VMMs fight.
We have already shown that user level virtual machine managers can run. And, for that matter, coexist. Even while using the same hardware acceleration, aka VMX mode. Possibly not system level I/O acceleration, VT=d.. But VNX, nested page tables - that SHOULD be doable.
Here's one reason why I find virtual machines a hassle: disk space. Resource fragmentation. I'm quickly running out of disk space as I configure two guests to run on top of my host.
ReplyDelete