Three Free VM Utilities

Virtual machines can be very useful and very fun to use, but many programs require paid subscriptions to use them. These are my favorite free virtualization programs, each of them have some pretty cool features.

Oracle VM VirtualBox

VirtualBox runs on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris operating systems.
Runs on and fully supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems.
VirtualBox contains built-in DHCP servers and NAT protocols for use in creating virtual networks or linking virtual machines to the host’s network.
Cool Features:
- Supports virtual 3D hardware acceleration inside virtual machines.
- Full host USB pass-through, shared host clipboard, and host drag & drop capabilities after installing VirtualBox Extensions.
- Easy to set up guest operating systems that are not officially supported yet, such as Windows 10.
- Freely available as Open Source Software under the GNU General Public License.
- Full snapshot capabilities, you can save and manage tons of snapshots to save machine states in case of future issues.
- Ability to make full machine clones and choose whether or not to link them together.

VMware Player

VMware Player runs on Windows and Linux operating systems.
Latest version (7.0) runs only on 64-bit host operating systems. Earlier versions (such as 6.04) support 32-bit with some hardware restrictions.
VMware Player also contains built-in DHCP servers and NAT protocols for use in creating virtual networks or linking virtual machines to the host’s network.
Note: VMware Player will not run on a system that has Microsoft Hyper-V enabled.
Cool Features:
- Supports virtual 3D hardware acceleration inside virtual machines.
- Full host USB pass-through, shared host clipboard, and host drag & drop capabilities after installing VMware Tools.
- Perfect as lightweight VM software, good for using a small number of VMs.

Microsoft Hyper-V

Hyper-V runs on Window Server 2008 / R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions; Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter edition; Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 Professional and Enterprise editions.
Runs only on 64-bit Windows operating systems listed above.
Hyper-V running inside Windows 7 or 8 does not have options to gain internet access through NAT while being isolated from the outside network. Internal virtual networks do not have built-in DHCP server, the DHCP server must be created.
Cool Features:
- Any machine with Hyper-V console installed can connect to the host and manage the current virtual machines.
- Out performs other leading virtualization software in terms of speed and virtual hardware utilization.
- Supports dynamic memory allocation across multiple running VMs, meaning memory space is given to machines that need it and taken away from those that don’t. Hyper-V also supports changing the maximum and minimum amount of memory that will be given to a machine while it is still running.
- Supports “smart paging” which creates virtual memory when there is no physical memory left available, then removes the virtual memory once space is available on physical memory.
- Full snapshot capabilities, you can save and manage tons of snapshots to save machine states in case of future issues.

As you can see, these pieces of software all have their own advantages and useful features. The decision on which virtualization software to use all comes down to what you plan to do with virtual machines. If you plan to run multiple machines with officially supported operating systems (mainly Windows) on a Windows machine, Hyper-V is a great solution that has many useful powers to maximize the hardware you have available. If you want to just run one or two virtual machines at a time in a lightweight and simple to use environment, VMware Player is a perfect choice. If you are running a Linux or Mac machine but also want great features like snapshotting, cloning, and 3D hardware acceleration; VirtualBox is exactly what you’re looking for. You can get VirtualBox here and VMware Player here as free downloads, if you have Windows 7/8/8.1 Professional or Enterprise you can enable Hyper-V inside Windows Features to gain full access to it.