Is using a Virtual Machine safe?

Meet8939 · May 28, 2018

I am learning Ethical Hacking from Youtube and was going to install Kali Linux OS on a Virtual Machine through VirtualBox, but my brother and everyone are scared that me doing so will cause the computer to get hacked or damaged if my virtual machine gets hacked. I want to know that if my Virtual machine does get hacked does it affect my real machine?

Also I wanted to know how VirtualBox allocated RAM to Virtual Machine because I checked my RAM after setting up with the first step my main PC is still showing my original RAM i.e. 3GB and can I move the slider completely to 3GB for my Virtual Machine too and what effect does it have on my actual main machine?

Ansuex · May 28, 2018

You are not 100% guaranteed, but at least yes. It adds a another layer of security.

If you use 3GB of Ram for your virtual machine, you can multitask more in the VM, but you will lose this 3GB of your normal memory, until you close down the VM

NelizMastr · May 28, 2018

Just having a Kali VM won't get you hacked. That's nonsense. Unless you put the VM in the DMZ of your network, you won't be open to all kinds of attacks. If your PC only has 3GB of RAM, I wouldn't even consider running a VM. Your entire system will become unusable once all memory is used as it'll start swapping between disk and RAM on and off. Keep in mind RAM is 300-500x faster than a harddisk.

Master Disaster · May 28, 2018

50 minutes ago, Meet8939 said:

I am learning Ethical Hacking from Youtube and was going to install Kali Linux OS on a Virtual Machine through VirtualBox, but my brother and everyone are scared that me doing so will cause the computer to get hacked or damaged if my virtual machine gets hacked. I want to know that if my Virtual machine does get hacked does it affect my real machine?

Also I wanted to know how VirtualBox allocated RAM to Virtual Machine because I checked my RAM after setting up with the first step my main PC is still showing my original RAM i.e. 3GB and can I move the slider completely to 3GB for my Virtual Machine too and what effect does it have on my actual main machine?

I personally would question whether you should be trying something like this at all.

If you don't understand what a VM is or does maybe it's not such a good idea you start trying to hack anything, ethical or not.

Most tutorials teaching things like this assume a certain amount of experience from the user, being able to use and understand a VM would rank very high up the expected experience list.