Total noob question regarding 'Virtual Machines'

[Euphoria]

First off, sorry to the mods if this is in the wrong thread, I couldn't find a thread that mentioned VMs.

Hey everyone, I have a question or two regarding VMs. I think I get what VMs are but I have zero knowledge of how you use them, what for, how to set them up... complete noob in other words. So anyone that answers please explain like I'm 5yo.

 

The Question/s: I need to know if it's possible to use a VM on a windows system to log into an app (which connects to the web) using separate accounts at the same time? Example: on the main OS I would be logged into an app with account A, then using VM1 I would be logged into the same app but using account B, and again with another VM and using account C. Does that make sense? If it does make sense, is this possible and would it be simple enough for a noob to set up or would it require something complex?

Reason for asking; I use an app every day but I have to switch accounts a lot depending on which project I'm working on. As I use 2-step I sometimes need to go find my phone, plus I use ridiculously complex passwords that are impossible to remember so I store them on a tablet next to the system that doesn't (can't) connect to the web and then have to type them in by eye. Therefore it takes a good 5+ minutes sometimes to switch accounts and when I might have to switch 2 or 3 times in the space or 30 minutes it gets really tedious. So I'm hoping VMs might be the answer.

[Levent]

yes you can do that, depends on what you are doing, I have friends who use VM's in order have multiple game clients of some mmo games, Process is not complex at all you just gotta install whatever OS you plan on using inside the virtualization app you use.

[AngryBeaver]

Depending on the app you might be able to just open it multiple times at once and put in the credentials for each app... that would me much less resource intensive.

[Euphoria]

15 minutes ago, Levent said:

yes you can do that, depends on what you are doing, I have friends who use VM's in order have multiple game clients of some mmo games, Process is not complex at all you just gotta install whatever OS you plan on using inside the virtualization app you use.

OK, that's great that's actually similar to one of the scenarios I want to use it for.

 

I have my main Steam account and 2 admin accounts for servers I run, plus my youngest is now getting into little basic games too, so he uses my rig to play them. Every time I have to sign out and change accounts which again it only takes a few minutes, but once you've done that 10+ times a day it adds up.
So one of my uses was going to be having my main Steam account logged in on the system, then a couple of VMs running with Steam logged into my youngest's account and one of my admin accounts, so I can quickly swap and check whats going on in a server and if my little one wants to play while I'm doing something else he can use his Steam account on a VM as well.

Is that possible to do?

[Levent]

well it depends on the game and hardware virtualization you use BUT I can easily say that gaming inside virtual machines is not a pleasant experience (unless you do something LTT's 1 computer 5 gamers or whatever that was called), thats about where my knowledge ends with VMs. 

[Euphoria]

Right, I understand. If he was gaming in a VM it would only be super basic games, at the moment he is playing my childhood retro games like Sonic (Mega Drive/Genesis) that sort of thing.

I'll do some reading into how you set one up and configure it then go from there. If you have any suggestions on where to get started I would be very grateful as I don't know if there are lots of different types of VMs or different software to use, easy and basic VMs or complex ones... I literally know nothing.

[Euphoria]

Also, sorry for the one question turning into many, can you have VMs running in the background so they're ready to use instantly or when you boot a VM does it effectively switch you to it and you're in it until you boot back into the main OS?

[Mira Yurizaki]

29 minutes ago, Euphoria said:

Also, sorry for the one question turning into many, can you have VMs running in the background so they're ready to use instantly or when you boot a VM does it effectively switch you to it and you're in it until you boot back into the main OS?

Yes. When you boot up a VM, it's effectively like any other app.

[Electronics Wizardy]

20 hours ago, Euphoria said:

Right, I understand. If he was gaming in a VM it would only be super basic games, at the moment he is playing my childhood retro games like Sonic (Mega Drive/Genesis) that sort of thing.

I'll do some reading into how you set one up and configure it then go from there. If you have any suggestions on where to get started I would be very grateful as I don't know if there are lots of different types of VMs or different software to use, easy and basic VMs or complex ones... I literally know nothing.

You want accounts here. That way you can easily switch and then other people can't access all your other files. Just make another account in windows and give that to the other user.

[Brenz]

This doesn't require VM's. If its just a web app in a browser open a Private session to get an additional login or use a different browser. If its something you need to install and run just create multiple Windows users and use the Switch User functionality to switch between them.

 

Using VMs for this is massive overkill and the performance will suck.

[Euphoria]

OK, I hadn't thought of user accounts. To be honest, the last time I bothered with user accounts was probably Windows XP so I'm not familiar with them at all.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try.

[Euphoria]

So I was just about to set up a couple of extra Windows user accounts when it hit me, I don't think it will work. I need to have a few apps actually running and logged in on different accounts at the same time, so switching from one Windows user account to another will stop these processes, right?
I just did a quick Google and found a lot of threads on the Microsoft community forum asking about this and it seems, from what I've read, the feature to switch user accounts and still maintain apps and programs running one each account was removed some time ago

Someone please tell me if this is incorrect??