VM recommendations please

[treesurf]

It looks like I may need to give in and run some Windows applications for work (already checked, won't run in wine), and rather than dual booting I've become curious about running Windows7 in a VM. My brief research has turned up VMware Player and Virtualbox as the two main options to do this. I'm hoping to get a recommendation as to which one is easier and more reliable to use, along with any other suggestions you great folks on the forum here might have.

[TNT1]

I've always used XP in virtualbox, and recently added a win7 vmware player. I am totally sold on VMwareplayer now. Just seems to be a better interface. (oh, and win7 beats the **** out of XP:p)

I also used qemu and kvm in Fedora, and they work great, but not, I think, so good for a desktop user.

[Spice Weasel]

I recommend using "Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legacy_PCs) in a VM because it is much faster (but legit copies are fairly rare). Virtualbox works great in my experience and I have never had a reason to use anything else.

[TNT1]

I recommend using "Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Fundamentals_for_Legacy_PCs) in a VM because it is much faster (but legit copies are fairly rare). Virtualbox works great in my experience and I have never had a reason to use anything else.

How different is that to tinyxp?

[Spice Weasel]

How different is that to tinyxp?

For one, it's legal with automatic updates and support.

[wgarider]

It looks like I may need to give in and run some Windows applications for work (already checked, won't run in wine), and rather than dual booting I've become curious about running Windows7 in a VM. My brief research has turned up VMware Player and Virtualbox as the two main options to do this. I'm hoping to get a recommendation as to which one is easier and more reliable to use, along with any other suggestions you great folks on the forum here might have.

I use Virtualbox to run Win7, XP, Ubuntu and CentOS at work....simple, easy and quick to setup......

[KdotJ]

I used to use VMware when I used Windows, but since my switch to Linux in 2009 I decided to have a go at Virtualbox. I must say it is great, and I've never had any issues with it and has done everything I need from a VM. It runs Windows7 just fine

[GabrielYYZ]

Virtualbox here too, i use it for windows XP. i don't use it a lot, but it's great for those times when i see a messenger pop up saying "hey, can you help me with X? i'm using XP"

it's easy to setup and works pretty good.

[The Real Dave]

I love Virtualbox, and how versatile it is. For instance, I'm currently using it to install Windows 2000 onto a CF card on a powerful machine, which will be replaced to a much less powerful computer.

Windows 7 has behaved perfectly for me in VB :)

[CharlesA]

I've used VirtualBox and VMware. Either work fine.

[treesurf]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It's much appreciated.

[BigCityCat]

I have never used anything other than virtualbox. I like it alot and I use win7, but I have a dual core processors and I am getting very high cpu spikes. I have googled it. I have seen no real solutions and I see that it is an issue for a lot of people a cross platforms. I have used sevral versions including the latest. All have the same problem.

[perspectoff]

VMWare is a bit more powerful, but with a complexity price. For real power users with niche needs, it does more.

But Virtualbox is elegant, simple, nice, and useful for 95% of needs. It's better for beginners.