To run virtualization task on Windows, two of popular hypervisors that come to mind are Windows Hyper-V and Oracle VM VirtualBox. One of the problem is you cannot run both hypervisors software at the same time, and you cannot switch between them without a system reboot. 1
As users of both of these software, we have came out a list of pros and cons for Hyper-V and VirtualBox, so you can decide which hypervisor you would use.
Pros of Hyper-V
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Checkpoints can be created fast and efficiently.
- We use this a lot to revert our VMs to a previously saved state, when we are experimenting with something.
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It supports the differencing disk format which allows multiple VMs to share a base disk image.
- You could save some hard disk space here when you run multiple copies of the same instance, or when your instances share the base image of an OS.
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It can automatically save your VM state during host shutdown, and restore the VM when the host boots up.
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“Docker for Windows” runs on Hyper-V (note that the older “Docker Toolbox” still run on VirtualBox though)
- If you might want to run Docker, you should probably go for Hyper-V.
Cons of Hyper-V
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It is not available in some editions of Windows, such as Window 10 Home Edition.
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Limited and difficult networking configurations.
- Try configure NAT port forwarding for the internal network in Hyper-V ! 2
Pros of VirtualBox
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It can fallback to software virtualization if your CPU does not support hardware virtualization natively.
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It has better emulation of your hardware including graphics, audio, and USB.
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VirtualBox Guest Additions make things wonderful (when it is being installed in the guest VM).
- Host OS folders can be directly mount inside the guest VM.
- Screen resolution of the guest VM is adjustable on-the-fly just by resizing VM window.
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It supports many virtual disk formats, including VDI, VMDK and VHD whereas Hyper-V only supports its own VHD format.
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It has more networking options for the VMs.
Cons of VirtualBox
- VirtualBox might have a slightly slower performance than Hyper-V.
Both Hyper-V and VirtualBox are excellent software for virtualization, and there is no clear winner here. Happy choosing your own hypervisor!