Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels

Overview:

We have kept in mind all the features like flexibility, cost-efficiency, on-demand scalability, reliability, and portability to make our list of Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels.

Highly focused on real-world examples and we will discuss, how it will be helpful to you. It will clear the thought of which Virtual machine is best for your organization and which one is the best for personal uses. We have done some research by doing it practically and some with the help of internet. The goal is just to clear the confusion of which one is the best virtual machine. We have compared Hyper-V vs VMware vs Virtual Box vs Parallels in details.

We have also kept in mind to compare the price, security, tools, backup options, features and more. We have chosen the title Hyper-V vs VMware vs Virtual Box vs Parallels just to give the complete details and compare them. So, in the end, you should get the answer you were searching.  We have not put tables filled with numbers and difficult/technical words. We have tried to make it as simple as possible.

What are we going to discuss?

• What is a Virtual Machine?
• What is Hyper-V?
• What is Virtual Box?
• What is VMware?
• What is Parallels?
• Features comparison
• Comparision
• Bottom line

Virtual Machine:

You might question what is a virtual machine. A Virtual Machine is a software used to emulate different types of OS in your computer.

It is available for personal and industrial uses. You can use it to check the different OS, test different apps. With Virtual Machine you can have two or more than two (depends on your computer) computer/OS in a single physical computer.

Now you won’t need to possess two computers, a single computer can do that. For all the app developers and those who do things in networking this is a big deal. You can test your application on different platforms without changing your computer. Or can test any connection with even moving from one to another computer.

You can do all of these things just by any of the applications a named above. If you have already installed one of the virtualization applications than Wikicrowder can give you some simple guides on how it works.

Hyper-V:

Also known as Microsoft Hyper-V, is formerly known as Windows Server Virtualization. The Hyper-V is the product of Microsoft and can be created by systems like windows and many other of their distributions. The Hyper-V is designed to offer for enterprise call virtualization.

It was released with windows server 2008 on June 26. 2008. The Hyper-V had a beta version in Windows 8 and is an optional component of Windows 8.1. The price of the product was completely free at that moment as now.

Hyper-V uses the command-line interface to perform any work. A command-line interface also is known as a command-line user interface. It means the interaction of a user with any program by using text lines (command lines) to give certain orders to program. Things like Physical hardware, software, and hosting are used through command lines in Hyper-V. Hyper-V uses Remote Desktop Connection but the configuration of the host OS and guest OS virtual machine is done over the network either using Microsoft Management Consoles on another Windows computer or System Center Virtual Manager. Which helps to do the configuration like to “point and click“.

In terms of partition, Hyper-V implements completely isolation. In the partition, there will be a parent partition and a child partition. The Virtualization software uses parent partition while inside the parent partition child partition is done. The parent partition has direct control over the hardware while the child partition runs Guest Virtual Address. It means that the configuration done by the Hyper-V will be followed by child partition. Any command sent by the users will be sent to child partition. The child partition will take the command sends it to parent and it will do the rest of the work.

Using Hyper-V, you cannot get access to hosts root drives. So, in result you cannot do things like burning disks, audio CD and Video CD/DVD playbacks are not supported.

In Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V is officially supported by Microsoft and has access direct to VGA Drivers. Installing any other drivers will cause a dramatic drop in graphics. With VGA drivers being used, you are limited and can’t use your computer at its best condition. You can’t do things like windows aero, high resolution, multiple display, and rotation. However, the drivers’ problem won’t be caused by the NVIDIA driver. With Windows Aero being disabled no NVIDIA drivers will be harmed and you can your Graphics card smoothly.

With easy backups and lower price, the Hyper-V is becoming one of the favorites for many. There are two modes in Hyper-V and both of them are having the same structure and performs almost the same functions. It also has the snapshot option in it and is named as “Checkpoint”.

You have to remember that Hyper-V cannot be run on Windows XP. You run it on all other versions except for Windows XP. A Hyper-V can be run on both Windows Server and Hyper-V server.

Windows Server:

Hyper-V is an in-built windows server that can be enabled by the server administrator. And it can be used on Windows Server.

Hyper-V Server

Hyper-V also possesses separate servers with Hyper-V components. It was released on 1, October 2008 and the final version was released on 26, June 2008. The Hyper-V server is another version of Windows Server with limited functionality. The Hyper-V server 2008 R2 (second edition) was available on September 2009.

You can visit their official site by clicking here.

System Requirements:

The Hyper-V is available from Windows Server 2008 till now in every window. You can run easily 2-4 virtual machines at a time in a signal host machine. However, for running a single virtual machine you will need the following.

Operating System: Can be run on Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

Memory: Minimum of 4 GB

Hard drive: 32 GB (31 for guest and 1 for host)

Remember that Hyper-V can’t be run on Windows 10 Home, Mobile and Mobile Enterprise. You run them on Windows 10 Enterprise, Pro and Education.

To change your Windows 10 home into Windows 10 Pro, follow these steps.

Step1: Go to “Settings”

Step2: Open “Update and Security”

Step3: Click on “Activation”

Step4: Now you can either go to Store or Change Product key.

Now follow the instruction given by them. Choosing one of the above will change your old Windows 10 home into windows 10 pro.

Hyper-V can support the following as guest:

1) Windows Server 2012

2) Windows Home Server 2011

3) Windows Server 2008

4) Windows 7

5) Windows Server 2003

6) Windows 2000

7) Windows Vista

8) Windows XP

9) SUSE Linux Enterprise Servers

10)Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.5

11) Ubuntu 12.04 and18.04

12) CentOS 5.5 and 7.5

13) Debian 7.0

14) Oracle Linux 6.4

15) FreeBSD

How to install Hyper-V?

You can install Hyper-V on your computer by using Power shell as an administrator or without it. We are going to install Hyper-V without Power Shell.

Step1: Go to start menu and open Control Panel

Step2: Choose to Add or Remove Programs

Step3: Click on Turn Windows Features on and off.

A window will pop-up about-turn windows features on and off. Scroll down and find Hyper-V section and mark all the boxes.

Step4: Press ok and wait for the app to apply.

Now open the Hyper-V manager in the start menu. Now after opening the app, you can see at the top left Hyper-V manager and under that your computer name. You click on it and make a virtual machine. Remember your computer will reboot twice so it is not a major problem if it does.

There can be problems like when you make your virtual machine it won’t work. The reason can be because it was never enabled in your bios or UEFI. So you may have to restart, press the delete key.

Virtual Box

Is a powerful platform used to run different OS as a guest in your host OS? Virtual Box is a very powerful open-source app used to host different OS in your computer. OS like Windows, Linux, macOS and many more can be run with this. The app is developed by Oracle and was created by GmbH.

There are two different packages of Virtual box in the market. The first one is licensed under PUEL (Personal Use and Evaluation License), with commercial deployment purchasable from Oracle. The second package is Virtual Box Open Source Edition (also known as OSE) was released under GPLv2(General Public License Version 2).

The virtual box can run multiple guest OSes under a single host operating system. The Virtual box has the option to pause or stop any of the guest OS. A Virtual Box can be used on Mac, Windows and Linux OS.

There is great communication between the host OS and guest OS in a virtual box. You can easily pick and drop files between them. However, to do so you will need to configure that first. To configure it you have to click on “insert guest additions CD image“-Then figure out the rest by following the procedure by the app.

It has internal programming interfaces to make it more customizable for the users. With more advanced client/server design and command-line based user interface you can use it to its full potential. Now you can start and control a virtual machine from another computer by using GUI (Graphical User Interface) and command line.

The Ethernet network adapter will allow the guest to directly use it. There will be no need to find and install the drivers for the guest OS. For the sound, Virtual Box uses Intel HD Audio, Intel ICH AC’97, and SoundBlaster 16 devices.

Virtual Box also provides great graphics support. By using custom virtual graphics-card that is VEA compatible, you can increase the performance of your computer including features like automatically adjusting the guest resolution and resizing the VM windows. Virtual box has the seamless mode. The seamless mode will make the Windows desktop becomes invisible and that single windows app lives in its own frame. It will allow your computer to run virtualized applications side by side with normal desktop applications. You can run a single or multiple guest OS on your host computer in full-screen mode or in mini windows mode.

Virtual box is completely free and supports a wide range of OS. There will be no need to worry about things like purchase key, payments or go online find the crack version to use it. You can use the virtual box and won’t lose even a single data from your computer.

One of the bad things about Virtual box is that it has a very low transfer rate to and from USB2 devices. OS like macOS is not available at the moment for Virtual box. Same with some of the Windows distributions like Windows 95,98 and ME. Only the older versions of DirectX and OpenGL is supported by the Virtual Box. The videos quality is limited to 128MB for 3D and 256MB for 2D graphics. While using Virtual box we have faced some problems with Virtual Box. Using Virtual Box, you can face some problems but there is no solution to that problem. You cannot even find a solution on the internet. The only solution to the problem is that Oracle themselves should solve it. It will take lots of time to fix the simple problems on windows 10… It takes about $79.99 per year, to buy the license to use it however this is only for commercial uses. Or you can also visit their site.

System requirements

Here are things you should know about before running Virtual Box on your computer.

Processor: Any Intel/ AMD processor who runs Virtual Box.

Hard drive:  at least 10 GB

Host OS: Needs any OS that can run Virtual Box

Memory: at least 4 GB RAM

Note it down that, you will need more memory(RAM) to run the latest version of any OS as a guest OS on your computer. The newer and heavier your guest OS, the more memory it will consume. For running Windows XP as guest OS you will need 500MB of RAM just to run the guest OS.

How to install virtual box:

Step1: Open the Virtual Box app after the download

Step2: Click Next.

The files destination can be changed by clicking on “Browser” and you can choose between the full and partial installation of the app. For all those who are new, we would recommend you to put it to default and continue.

Step3: Select the option and click next.

Stpe4: A checkbox will appear. Select the options according to you and click on next.

Step5: Soon a warning window will pop-up. Click on yes.

Remember that in older versions a box will appear, where your permission is required. But in latest versions only the pop-up will appear just to configure the network settings.

If you are using the old version, then the app will try to install a driver. Install the driver and continue as directed by the app.

Virtual box supporting guest Operating Systems:

• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 8 and 8.1
• Windows 10
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2016
• Mac OS El Capitan
• Mac OS Sierra
• Mac OS High Sierra
• Mac OS Mojave
• Red Hat Linux 5
• Red Hat Linux 6
• Red Hat Linux 7
• OS warp
• Solaris 10
• Solaris 11
• Oracle Linux 5
• Oracle Linux 6
• Oracle Linux 7
• Ubuntu Precise Pangolin]
• Ubuntu Trusty Tahr
• Ubuntu Xenial Xerus
• Debian 6.0-8.0
• Debian 5.0
• Debian 4.0 and 3.1

The virtual box can be hosted on:

• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows 7,8,10
• Fedora Core OS
• Gentoo Linux
• Red Hat Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• CentOS
• Open SUSE
• Mandriva Linux

VMware

Third, in our list of Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels is VMware. It was founded about 20 years ago in 1998 in California, U.S. VMware provides cloud computing and platform virtualization. The VMware is one of the first who started vitalization. VMware is a bare-metal hypervisor (is a software used to run virtual machine) that runs on directly on servers. This is an open-source software used for virtualization.

VMware uses different instructions which are present in 64-bit Intel and AMD CPU that later boosts up your virtualization speed and optimized the performance. It can also replicate different platforms on different machines like a tablet, laptop, and desktop.

VMware Workstation, ESX, and server take more like a clear and optimized path to run the guest OS on host OS as compared to an emulator.

Most of the times the Virtual Machines run on user mode. However, for VMware workstation, you will need to install various other devices in your host. Virtual Box is having the best security-conscious settings. You can also backup your data easily by using snapshots feature.

VMware’s software is compatible with all major OSes like macOS, Linux, and Windows. And for each, they have made a separate base to run the guest OS.  VMware has VMware tools which are set of other utilities and drivers. Vmware possesses tools like VMware services, VMware Device Drivers, VMware User Process, and VMware Tools Control Panel. All of these tools will help you to do things like communication, doing pick and drop between the guest and host OS and many.

VMware has improved their client services in version 6.0 while in their current VMware version which is 6.7 has improved ultimately.  They have changed their standard client service into web client services.

Now a day in a single VMware software you can host above 128 V CPUs with four terabytes of VRAM a host can hold above 480 BC and 12 terabytes. This all is some simple numbers for VMware version 6.0 while in their latest version they have improved even more.

Another great thing about VMware is B Block. B Block helps to use the VMware as administrator across the country. It can cost you about $300-$4000, based on your location it can vary.

Features:

VMware Workstation:

It was introduced in 1999 and has the ability to run more than one OS in a single host. The latest version of Workstation is 15.0.2.

VMware Fusion:

This is one of the best Virtualization software used only to run on macOS. VMware fusion is for professional and expert uses only. To start it you will need an installation USB stick, CD or disk image for the host to emulate the guest OS. And to use the emulated system from your disk you will need to install VMware’s migration software on your host OS.

The Fusion is present in two versions. The basic version costs about 79.99$ and can be upgraded to pro with 49.99$ in addition. In the basic version, it lacks features like developing option.

VMware Workstation player:

It can be run both commercially and non-commercially. However, for commercial use, you will need license and permission but for non-commercial uses, it is completely free.

Requirements:

To run VMware you will need to complete the following requirements.

Processor: 1.3 GHz

OS: Windows Vista or better (any Linux distribution)

Memory: 4GB RAM

Hard-Drive: at least 1 GB for guest OS.

How to install VMware:

To install the VMware on your computer follow these steps.

Step1: Open the downloaded file.

Step2: A pop-up windows will open.

Step3: Click next and accept the License Agreement.

Step4: A custom setup will start. Tick the box of enhanced keyboard and click on next.

You can also click on change and change the file destination.

Step5: Check both of the boxes and click next.

Step6: Another will pop-up and click on next.

Step7: Click on finish

Step8: Put your product key. or press on skip to use the free version.

Now you have successfully installed VMware on your computer.

Can be run on:

• Any Windows OS
• Any macOS
• Any Linux distributions

Can support the following OS as a guest OS:

Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel Release 3 Quarterly Update 3

• Asianux 4 SP4
• Solaris 11.2
• Ubuntu 12.04.5
• Ubuntu 14.04.1
• Oracle Linux 7
• FreeBSD 9.3
• Mac OS X 10.10

Parallels Desktop:

If you have ever imagined of running window on your mac then this is the best option for you. This is a product of Parallels which is isolated with macOS. Is a hardware emulation virtualization software, using a hypervisor. It is used to host different OS and the host hardware is directly connected to virtual machine resources. The parallels are highly portable between computers. It means that you can host any OS, stop it and use the same and continue from that stop on another computer.

There is also, a shared clipboard and drag-drop support between the host and guest OS. At the start, the support for Direct X and OpenGL was not available. However, later on, they have added features to support these.

There is also called Modality feature which will help you to resize your current active guest OS windows. One of my favorite features is the Clips. The Clips will help you to take screenshots between the host and guest OS. You can also run your parallel with your voice command. Parallel has made it more clear and clean with a new update in his user interface.

In the newer version of Parallels, you have options like multi-monitor, icloud, better graphics.  Parallels have easy install and access complementary security.  With the latest update, it has been like 35% more faster as compared to other older versions.

Features and tools like snapshot will take 15% less space. You will need 79.99$ for home or student version and 99.99$ for pro edition. And this was the last comparing part in our discussion for Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels. As now you now each and everything about them the complete comparison is below.

Requirements:

You will need the following requirements to run Parallels on your Mac.

Processor: Any mac computer with an Intel Core 2Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i9, Intel Core M or Xeon Processor

Memory: Minimum of 4 GB RAM or 8 GB RAM is recommended

Hard-drive: At least 16GB for guest OS

Internet Connect:  It is required for the product activation

Hardware like SSD will help you to improve your application’s performance.

How to install Parallels Desktop?

We are going to learn how to install any OS on your mac. It depends on which OS you are using as a guest OS on your computer. If it is Open-Source than you won’t need to buy it from the store or else, you will need to use the purchased key.

Step1:  Open the downloaded file

Step2: A pop-up will appear on your screen. Click open.

Step3: Read and accept the license agreement.

Step4: Then enter your password.

Answer the question about the customer experience. Continue to the registration process. If you have already an account sign in or else create an account. To create an account, click on new user.

Step5: Fill the forms and create an account.

If you have already an account sign in or else create an account.

Confirmation will be needed, confirm your account with the email address provided. After confirmation return to the installer.

Step6: Put your Activation key.

You are now ready to create your first virtual machine.

Can be run on:

• OS X Tiger
• OS X Leopard
• OS X Snow Leopard
• OS X Lion
• OS X Mountain Lion
• OS X Mavericks
• OS X Yosemite
• OS X El Capitan
• OS X Sierra
• OS X High Sierra
• OS X Mojave

Remember parallel desktop 11 and 12 can be used on macOS “High Sierra” Partially. As you have guessed it can be run only on macOS.

Can support OS as a guest:

• Windows 10
• Windows 8 and 8.1
• Windows Server 2012, 2008, 2003, 2000
• Windows 7
• Windows Vista Home, Business, Ultimate, Enterprise
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000 Professional
• MS-DOS 6.22
• Boot2Docker
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7, 6, 5
• CentOS Linux 7, 6, 5
• Fedora Linux 29, 28, 27, 26
• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 17.10, 16.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS, 12.04 LTS
• Debian GNU/Linux 9.4, 9, 8, 7
• Suse Linux Enterprise 12 SP3, 11 SP3, 11 SP2
• OpenSUSE Linux 15, 42.3, 13.2, 13.1, 12.3
• Linux Mint 19, 18, 17
• Kali 2018.2, 2018.1, 2
• Elementary 5.0, 0.4
• Manjaro 17
• Mageia 6, 5, 4, 3
• Gentoo Linux
• Solaris 11.3, 11, 10
• OpenBSD 6
• FreeBSD 11.1, 10, 10, 9, 8
• OpenVZ 7
• eComStation 2, 1.2
• ReactOS 0.4
• Android OS
• macOS Mojave 10.14.x
• macOS High Sierra 10.13.x
• macOS Sierra 10.12.x
• OS X El Capitan 10.11.x
• OS X Yosemite 10.10.x
• OS X Mavericks 10.9.x
• OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x
• OS X Lion 10.7.x
• OS X Lion Server 10.7.x
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server 10.6.x
• Mac OS X Leopard Server 10.5.x

Feature comparison of Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels:

Remember that in comparison of features we have mentioned the name of each product in it. We have named the one with serious issues or the one who is best in that feature. You can compare two of them, three or even all at once. Now it is quite easy to compare Virtual Box vs VMware or Virtual box vs Hyper-V with ease just follow as written below.

Graphics:

For all those who are gaming lovers or doing work on graphics, we have some news. Both VMware and Parallel supports DirectX10 but Virtual Box supports DirectX 9. There is also a problem with fusion and the problem is that mac doesn’t support OpenGL (open graphics library) and it is the basic requirement to run DirectX11. The only way to install DirectX 11 on your mac is to install windows on a boot camp partition.

In graphics, while using Virtual Box we have used at in all three states like windowed mode, full-screen mode, and single app mode. But in the end, it got a problem like no display or freeze screen and many more. However, using Fusion, the same option is not available on OS X and macOS guest. Due to use of unity mode this option is not available on Linux. 

User-Interface:

There are files you cannot open while using the virtual box. While in Parallel you won’t face these kinds of problems. VMware and Hyper-V use virtual disk files. It means they will create a drive inside your host drive and uses that guest drive for virtual purposes.

Performance:

In any term, the Fusion can’t win the race for best speed in any chance. However, it is one of the most flexible and developer-friendly application. The fastest one in terms of speed is Virtual Box is in top of our list. The high performance is because it doesn’t set up printing and other integration function while booting. The parallels desktop is quite faster than virtual box because it emulates the fast start bios and also supports and interact with host hardware.

Small OS like macOS, Linux or older versions of windows can be guested on Virtual Box. For higher and heaver OS you will run them on Parallel or VMware fusion. However, in terms of speed fusion is way slower than parallels and virtual box. The parallels are one of the best ways to run different guest OS at a time for all those non-technical users. If you are not so familiar with programming or software than we don’t recommend you VMware fusion.

Easy installation:

VMware is having a very easy installation process as compared to other virtual software. During installation, you won’t need to log in your account or set up your software like downloading different parts. Once installed you won’t need any other thing to do.

Hyper-V is present only on Windows while Parallel is present only on macOS platforms. Whereas VMware needs to install each distribution like workstation, fusion or player for each OS (Windows, Linux or macOS). Whereas a single virtual box is enough to be run on each and every kind of OS. The easy installation is also an important part for us to include in discussion of Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels.

Updates:

There will be no official updates for all those open-source apps. No updates mean not being in the race or in easy words you cannot do well.

Rebooting:

Virtual Box is smooth in operating any system. We have tested Windows 8 and 10 and the result was impressive. The booting or rebooting of parallel, virtual box, and VMware is the same. VMware boot a windows 10 is quite slow compared to other virtual software. It takes like a minute for VMware to boot a guest OS on your host while the other virtual software takes half of that time.

There is also a problem with shutting down on Windows guest system using Virtual box. Unlike Parallel and VMware, the Virtual Box will shut down with many problems whereas the parallels and VMware will shut down smoothly without any problem.

Network/Host servers:

In Virtual Box you have to step your networking through one specific network. However, this kind of problems is solved in Parallels and VMware automatically. VMware has made significant changes in its new version. For starters, it has the option to manage numbers of account as individual host servers.

For corporation uses:

You can easily find experts in VMware as compared to Hyper-V. You will keep in mind that you will need experts to run and use the app at its peak. If you will interact will other companies using virtualization, then VMware will help you the most as compared to others. Due to the high number of experts in this platform.

For all those who are testing different applications on your Virtual machine then VMware might be the best option for you. VMware is one of the most isolated Virtual Machine where you have to configure each and every feature manually. You have to enable your printer-sharing and other integration manually. Parallels can do the same but in a certain lesser degree.

Availability:

Virtual Box is completely free but same with VMware player only for personal use while they can be, However, Hyper-V is present only in Windows OS and Parallels Desktop is available only on mac.

Pricing:

The VMware and Hyper-V both offer both free and trial version. Both of them lacks some features in these versions. Hyper-V ranges from free to $3,607 which depends on the number of processors, CPU and many more. While the license of VMware comes in range for 995$ to 4245$ with additional fees.

It will take 99.99$ for pro and 79.99$ for the base version of Parallels desktop while 79.99$ for base and 159.99$ for the pro version of VMware. It will take no money at all for Virtual Box and 50$ for corporate uses. Remember that Hyper-V, Virtual Box, and VMware is completely free. However, for corporation purposes, it will cost you whereas Parallels desktop will cost you for activation.

Conclusion:

We cannot recommend you or name any product from above. You will need to find out the best-suited option for your self. Each of the product discussed above is quality software and are pretty good in their own way.  Before deciding which to choose any of them you have to study all the features, pros, cons and complete details as given above.

You should keep in your consideration in your mind the most important part which is pricing and data protection/ security. And this was our discussion for Hyper-V vs Virtual Box vs VMware vs Parallels. Any doubts, arguments, suggestion or error correction will be appreciated. Feel free and use the comment section as much as possible.

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