Good virtualization software?

[ZcanKal]

Hello, I'm looking for a Virtualization program to mess around with (just 1 VM, I only have 4c/8t), I've already used VirtualBox, and while nice, it is very limited by the 256MB VRAM cap, and the apparent inability to have a 16:9 screen with it.

[SamelDaCamel1]

I know what you mean, I have the same issue. I know this doesn't quite answer your question but you can fix the screen issue in the settings to make it more bearable. My friend uses VMware Workstation Player, its expensive for a license but he somehow got a student edition of it. Its meant to be used by large companies for IT purposes so it's very customizable. 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Why do you need more than 256mb of vram? 

 

What host os?

 

For virtualbox, don't use the viewer, use remotedesktop or ssh for remote sessicons. You can also set a custom res if you want. 

[Razor Blade]

VMware workstation player or hyper-v (windows) if you're wanting type 2 hypervisor options. If you want to turn your computer into a tier 1 hypervisor there a quite a few options out there.

[sazrocks]

What host OS? What kind of VM are you trying to run and what are you hoping to achieve?

[unijab]

Since when has virtualbox limited vram to 256MB?

[Snipergod87]

And I'm here running a full system @ 1080p with 16MB (yes MB) of VRAM on the built in GPU...

VRAM is not your limitation,  If you are running a Windows host use Remote Desktop connection, or try some VNC software.

[ZcanKal]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why do you need more than 256mb of vram? 

 

What host os?

 

For virtualbox, don't use the viewer, use remotedesktop or ssh for remote sessicons. You can also set a custom res if you want. 

For messing with, I may only have 2 gigs of VRAM but 256MB isn't enough for anything at this point.

 

I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit, of course)

 

Idk what either remotedesktop or ssh are...  But thanks for the advice.

[ZcanKal]

2 hours ago, Snipergod87 said:

And I'm here running a full system @ 1080p with 16MB (yes MB) of VRAM on the built in GPU...

VRAM is not your limitation,  If you are running a Windows host use Remote Desktop connection, or try some VNC software.

Is it such an outlandish idea that I want to run Crysis on a VM just because I can?

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, ZcanKal said:

For messing with, I may only have 2 gigs of VRAM but 256MB isn't enough for anything at this point.

 

I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit, of course)

 

Idk what either remotedesktop or ssh are...  But thanks for the advice.

Vms like this aren't made for gpu power, the virtual gpu is just so you can configure stuff with a gui. If you want graphics performance you need anouther solution

 

Look into remotefx in hyper-v(enable it in windows)

 

6 minutes ago, ZcanKal said:

Is it such an outlandish idea that I want to run Crysis on a VM just because I can?

Yea, vms aren't made for gaming like this, esp without a good hardware solution like vgpu or gpu passthough.

[beyonddc]

On 7/4/2018 at 1:34 AM, ZcanKal said:

Is it such an outlandish idea that I want to run Crysis on a VM just because I can?

Like @Electronics Wizardy said, VM is not designed for running games.  The virtual GPU in the VM is no where at the capacity to run any modern games.  A VM is more designed to run as a server or running desktop applications.

 

If you want to host VM on a Windows host, typically you have 3 options

• VirtualBox (free) https://www.virtualbox.org/
• VMware (free) Workstation Player https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-player.html
• VMware (paid) Workstation Pro https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro.html

If you want to turn your PC to a dedicated VM server aka bare-metal hypervisor aka type 1 hypervisor then you typically have 3 options (there's more options available but these are just the common choices).

• VMware ESXI (free with limited features) https://www.vmware.com/go/get-free-esxi
• Xen Project (free) https://xenproject.org/
• Microsoft Hyper-V (paid) it will requires a Microsoft Server OS license

None of these options would satisfy your need to run a modern game on a VM though. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 hours ago, beyonddc said:

If you want to host VM on a Windows host, typically you have 3 options

dont forget hyper-v ,included in windows 10 pro and above and works well.

 

7 hours ago, beyonddc said:

If you want to turn your PC to a dedicated VM server aka bare-metal hypervisor aka type 1 hypervisor then you typically have 3 options (there's more options available but these are just the common choices).

how about kvm on linux? used in proxmox and ovirt and others(like unraid)

[beyonddc]

3 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

dont forget hyper-v ,included in windows 10 pro and above and works well.

 

how about kvm on linux? used in proxmox and ovirt and others(like unraid)

I was just listing out common choices for bare-metal hypervisor.  My common choices probably going to be different than your common choices.  I personally prefer ESXI since that's what I am most familiar with.

[Fleetscut]

11 hours ago, beyonddc said:

I was just listing out common choices for bare-metal hypervisor.  My common choices probably going to be different than your common choices.  I personally prefer ESXI since that's what I am most familiar with.

is there a free license version of ESXi? Right now im using xenserver but always wanted to try ESXi

[NelizMastr]

37 minutes ago, Fleetscut said:

is there a free license version of ESXi? Right now im using xenserver but always wanted to try ESXi

ESXi has had a free option since 6.0 iirc, yes.

 

15 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

dont forget hyper-v ,included in windows 10 pro and above and works well.

Hyper-V is actually part of Windows since Windows 7 as long as you have Pro or higher

 

On 7/4/2018 at 7:34 AM, ZcanKal said:

Is it such an outlandish idea that I want to run Crysis on a VM just because I can?

Yep. It defeats the purpose of a VM. Crysis runs fine on Windows XP through 10, so there's no need for virtualization for that