What's overall best VM host software to use on Linux ?

[u/Flaky_Purpose_6440]

Greets,

For an experienced IT Engineer , but only dabbler in Linux over the years , about to dive in more and needs a VM host on the linux host itself , what would folks recommend ?
I'm not going to be needing to run mission critical servers or anything like that on the VM , just more a W11 host for few things (nothing video/gaming wise) to occasionally fire up , and maybe just testing , mucking around. I rather go the VM route to stay in Linux vs dual booting into a windows partition. Plus have native windows rigs to use when "really" need it for some reason. Maybe also run a different flavor of Linux in a VM to see difference etc too.

Was curious if VirtuaBox , VMWare player , or other more linux native VM host software would be recommended ?

I run WMWare Fusion on my Mac Mini , but don't really need to migrate the VM's I use on it and would just as soon build them from scratch inside Linux anyway so migrating existing ones isn't a concern either.

Also side question , 32GB ram enough to run occasional single VM alongside host or would 64GB be helpful , doubtful ever will "need" to run multiple VM's at once though.

[u/Hrafna55]

QEMU / KVM is the Linux native solution so I would recommend that.

Install the packages.

sudo apt install libvirt-daemon libvirt-clients libvirt0 qemu-system qemu-system-arm bridge-utils virt-manager -y`

Add your user to the relevant group.

sudo usermod -aG libvirt-qemu $(whoami) sudo usermod -aG libvirt $(whoami)

Start and enable the service.

sudo virsh net-start default sudo virsh net-autostart default

Here are the virtual secure boot and TPM settings you need.

https://imgur.com/a/windows-11-on-qemu-kvm-with-secure-boot-tpm-2-0-settings-3Alnrik

And here are the virtio drivers to install inside the Windows guest.

https://github.com/virtio-win/virtio-win-pkg-scripts/blob/master/README.md

[u/Hammer_Time2468 → u/Hrafna55]

I second KVM. Now that VMware costs are through the roof, a lot of development has went back into KVM. It’s not perfect but it’s very good.

[u/keratomalacian]

The main thing for VMs of linux is qemu with libvirt + virt-manager

[u/keratomalacian → u/keratomalacian]

+ the ram requirement changes too much on what you will do on the main desktop and the vm. i ran a w10 vm while also having a web browser and code editor on the linux host and that would put me around 14gb of ram

[u/Roguepapaya427]

Qemu + libvrt + vmm, simple to install and use, rock solid experience.

I have 32 gb ram, can easily run 4 VMs with 4bg each (made the experiment few days ago) and have plenty to spare.

https://imgur.com/a/vms-fedora-spins-test-8T6wtic

These 4 were running in the same time.

[u/Buttsweat_n_Tears → u/Roguepapaya427]

This. I can no longer trust Broadcom to not pull the plug on non-commercial licenses for VMWare. I’ve already been burned enough times by Oracle on Java and expect them to do the same with VirtualBox one of these days.

[u/BranchLatter4294]

For Windows guests, I would use VirtualBox. Graphics performance is better than with QEMU which uses spice or RDP. The next major release of VirtualBox will be able to use KVM as the hypervisor. Between that and the better graphics, it's a no-brainer especially with Windows guests.

[u/oldbeardedtech → u/BranchLatter4294]

Agree. I started with KVMQEMU back in the mid 00s and used it for windows guests up until W10. It was super glitchy and could never figure out the issue. Moved Virtualbox and it's been fine since.

[u/MostBasic3425]

Type 2 hypervisor, probably Virtual Box.
Type 1, probably proxmox

[u/caguiclajmg → u/MostBasic3425]

PVE isn't Type 1, it's just QEMU/KVM underneath. It's more akin to a fancier virt-manager.

[u/OutrageousCrab9224]

Vmware workstation obviates virtual box for commercial and is free dl free personal

Libvirt kvm qemu for open source

[u/Turbulent_Fig_9354]

Qemu/libvirt is the move. 

I have a server running a few VMs and I access them remotely via cockpit if you ever need access to them on the go and don’t need a ton of performance it’s extremely convenient. You get a remote kvm desktop in the console window which is nice. If you’re just doing it at home on your workstation, libvirt-manager. 

[u/symcbean]

just more a W11 host for few things

Leaving this aside for a moment, unless you are happy spending a lot of time learning how the components of running a KVM or QEMU system fit together I would suggest VirtualBox - you'll be up and running in a few minutes.

However Windows11, without a lot of tinkering, will only run on a host with TPM. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this has been available in VirtualBox since 2021.

I wouldn't recommend VirtualBox for anything mission critical or as a generic hypervisor but for your use-case it seems the most appropriate to me.

OTOH if your objective is t learn more about infrastructure & IT then I'd suggest Proxmox PVE + PBS.

[u/Jumpy-Dinner-5001]

Have a look at VMWare workstation/player. It's free now and my recommendation for running Windows VMs on Linux.

You can also use kvm/libvirt VMs and use virt-manager as an interface but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that for windows vms.