By Sophia | Last Updated
How many do you know about the virtual machines? The virtual machine (VM) is said to be the emulation of a computer system. You can install it on a computer and run it as a physical computer. As more and more people prefer to install virtual machines on their computers and install systems inside the virtual machine, there is a growing problem: with a large number of virtual machines with different functions in the market, which virtual machine software should we choose? If you have no idea about it, VirtualBox and VMware are worth trying.
VirtualBox 5.2.20 and VMware Workstation 15 Pro are tested and compared in the following content.
Note: The host operating system is Windows 10 and guest system is Windows 7.
VirtualBox is an open source virtual machine software which is developed by Innotek of Germany and produced by Sun Microsystems. It's written in Qt and officially renamed "Oracle VM VirtualBox" after Sun was acquired by Oracle.VirtualBox is thought as the feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, which offers the professional services for users.
VirtualBox Extension Pack + Installation
VirtualBox Guest Addition + Installation
VMware is a computer software company which provides products as well as services about virtualization and its headquarter is in America.VMware Workstation Pro is the professional virtual machine, which users can build, test or demo software for any device, platform or cloud on it. This virtual machine allows users to run multiple Oss on a single PC and enables users to do what they want in a secure and isolate environment. And please note that the VMware which is compared with the VirtualBox is VMware Workstation 15 Pro of VMware company.
VMware Tools + Installation (Note: You can choose different types of virtual machines' manuals in the left panel of the website.)
| Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|
| VitualBox 5.2.20 | VMware Workstation 15 Pro | |
| Download-Size | 108MB | 511MB |
| Download-Speed | Quick | Slow |
| Compatibility-Guest system | Windows(2000,XP,Server 2003,Vista,Windows 7,Windows 8,Windows 10),Linux,Solaris and so on | |
| Compatibility-Speed | Quick | Slow |
| Compatibility-Operation | Both smoothly on Linux system (host) | |
| Usability-Intemet connection (mainly) | NAT,Bridged, Intemal and Host-only | NAT,Bridged and Host-only |
| Usability-USB device identification | VirtualBox Extension Pack | Detect directly |
| Usability-Share files between "Guest" and "Host" | VirtualBox Guest Addition 5.2.20 | Install VMware Tools |
| Usability-Copy | Slow | Fast |
| Usability-Installation | Slow | Fast |
| Usability-Snapshots | Free | Free |
| Price | $50 for enterprise version | $249.99 for official version |
1. Installation and Internet Connection
Both of them can be installed and used easily. What's more, it is easy to install Windows systems on these virtual machines without reading the guides. After installing the guest operating system, the virtual machine can be connected to the Internet automatically without manual settings.
2. USB Devices Detection
VMware is said to be the powerful tool that can detect & identify inserted USB devices directly. But it often failed to detect my USB device when I am using VMware Workstation 15 Pro. You can compare the host result and the VMware result with the screenshots below.
Besides, the users are informed that VirtualBox can detect as well as identify USB devices after installing VirtualBox Extension Pack. However, I have tried many times to identify my USB device with the pack installed but VirtualBox fails to identify my device in the end, which disappointed me a lot. You can see the result as below screenshot shows.
3. Drag and Copy Files
It is convenient to drag and copy files between VMware and host computer after installing VMware Tools, although there are failures occasionally. With VirtualBox Guest Addition, files can be dragged and copied between VirtualBox and host, but it is often failed. And I choose to copy files between VirtualBox and the host by "Shared folders" function of VirtualBox.
4. Play Videos and Music
They both do well in playing videos as well as music without need of installing the sound card driver.
5. User Interface
Comparing their user interfaces, I will prefer VMware to VirtualBox, because its user interface is used more conveniently and smoothly.
Which one do I like? Which one is better?
From my perspective , VMware is much better than VirtualBox in terms of usage. And it seems that it is matter of course, because VMware isn't a free software. I think that if you just use the virtual machine to make some tests, VirtualBox can be a good choice since it is free and can save your money . But if you need to use the virtual machine usually, I suggest to choose VMware, because it works more smoothly.
Score: VirtualBox 7 points ; VMware 9 points
More about the VirtualBox and VMware operations：
VirtualBox Extension Pack Installation
VirtualBox Guest Addition Installation
VirtualBox Drag/Copy Files Guide
VirtualBox Shared Folders Guide
Download VirtualBox Guest Addition
Open the virtual machine > Switch to "Devices" menu of the menu bar > Select "Insert Guest Additions CD image" > Choose the addition.
Download VMware Tools
Open the virtual machine Choose "VM" in the menu bar > Select "Install VMware Tools" > Choose the tools.
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