Virtual Duel

Life without Windows just doesn't work for many users. Some tools simply don't have a Linux equivalent, and other situations require Windows for compatibility with co-workers or clients. One easy solution is to run Windows applications directly on Linux using the Wine API. However, Wine doesn't support all versions of all programs. Another alternative is to dual boot, but a dual-boot configuration requires you to restart your computer whenever you want to switch systems.

The most popular alternative on today's networks is to run Windows in a virtual machine on a Linux host. VM technology is so mature that, in normal use, it is difficult to tell the difference between Windows on a virtual machine and on a physical system. (One exception is gaming, which tends to work better without virtualization.)

The biggest players in the market for Windows desktop virtualization on Linux are VirtualBox [1] and VMware Workstation [2]. I took a look at how these leading virtualization alternatives work with the latest Windows.

VMware

In September 2013, VMware published the 10th release of its commercial VMware Workstation software. The price for a new license is EUR 225, whereas an upgrade costs EUR 110. As a major innovation, the company advertises support for Windows 8.1; however, the matching device profile is still missing.

In this test, I used the profile for the 64-bit version of the 8.1 predecessor, Windows 8 (Figure 1). The subsequent installation of Windows completed without any problems in our lab. On a positive note, Windows 8.1 comes with rudimentary VMware support: The mouse and keyboard seamlessly move into the virtual machine, as soon as the mouse pointer touches the Windows pane.

Figure 1: Version 10 of the VMware desktop only comes with a profile for Windows 8 but worked well with Windows 8.1 in our lab.

Extensions

To leverage the full potential of the system on the virtual machine, you still need to install the guest extensions. After booting the system, select VM | Install VMware Tools. This tells the software to mount an ISO image containing the guest extensions on the virtual machine's DVD drive.

To start the installation, just click Setup. In the dialog that follows, you can define which drivers and features you want to install (Figure 2). The software includes specially adapted drivers for more or less all areas of the system that not only significantly improve handling but also promise a substantial performance boost, including dynamic resizing of the guest to the format of the surrounding window. To enable this feature, choose View | Autosize | Autofit Guest. In contrast, selecting Center Guest fits the size of the window to match that of the guest system.

Figure 2: The VMware guest extensions offer a range of additional drivers specially designed for cooperation between Windows 8.1 and the virtual machine.

If you want to work directly with Windows applications, you can do so in Unity mode by pressing the button of the program name in the menu bar. It isolates the running programs from the Windows desktop (Figure 3) and provides them on Linux. To let you access any program on Windows, VMware has created its own launcher, which appears top right when you enable Unity.

Figure 3: If you prefer to see your Linux desktop while you are using Windows tools, Unity will let you do so. Additionally, this mode offers an application launcher that Windows 8.1 now lacks.

However, this mode only works in the desktop view. If you run it in the Tiles view, it occupies the full screen. Unity doesn't work perfectly in desktop mode, either; for example, if you click on an image in Explorer, a full-screen app pops up and shows you the image. If you close it, you first go back to the tiles and only then back to the desktop.

Dragging and dropping files to and from the guest system worked perfectly. Data transfers in the opposite direction, however, did not work at all on openSUSE 12.3, and Windows 8.1 behaved well in cooperation with the shared clipboard.

VMware Workstation easily transferred both individual files and entire directory trees from the host to the guest and back. Text or URLs are exchanged in this way by copying and pasting between the virtual and real machines.

The World Outside

Integrating host folders on the guest system was also painless. You will find this function in the Settings for the virtual machine below Options | Shared Folders. When you specify the name, the desired folder appears in the guest directory.

However, VMware does not mount this as a drive directly, but as a vmware-host on the Network. To assign the share a drive letter, right-click and select Connect network drive from the context menu. For an even easier approach, enable Map as a network drive in Windows guests in the configuration described above. In this case, VMware itself assigns a drive letter to the share and mounts it directly.

Another important point for virtual machines is how cleanly the software passes through the physical USB interface to the guest. VMware Workstation works almost flawlessly here. The guest system immediately detected fairly exotic devices such as smartphones and allowed access to them, as with a physical PC (Figure 4).

Figure 4: VMware easily handled even comparatively complicated USB connections via MTP.

Of the five USB sticks tested, VMware immediately detected all of them and mounted them on the system, and the connected webcam was ready for use within just a few seconds. Only a DVB-T stick by Pinnacle refused to cooperate for want of an appropriate driver. VMware also supports a USB 3 interface.

If a plugged-in USB device is not directly available on the virtual machine – for example, because it is in use by the host – click on VM | Removable Devices. In the bottom half of this drop-down menu is an option that lists all the identified USB devices. To enable one of them, point to it and then select Connect (Disconnect from host) from the submenu.

VMware does not currently offer 3D video support for Windows 8.1, and integrated printer support that is supposed to let you print on network printers, for example, is also not too brilliant. After enabling the function, Windows lists all the printers on the network (Figure 5) and lets you print. However, the output in our lab was unusable plaintext Postscript.

Figure 5: Appearances are deceptive: Although the extension allows you to print from the virtual machine, it does not keep the original format. The printouts were plaintext Postscript code in each case.

VirtualBox

Even Oracle's free VirtualBox virtualization software for home use has been updated to include Windows 8.1 support in the latest version, and the developers have contributed a matching profile. In our lab, again the installation of Windows 8.1 with the specifications was a smooth experience, including mouse and keyboard integration.

You can set up the guest extensions in VirtualBox by clicking Devices | Install Guest Additions. Technically, the same thing then happens as in VMware: The software mounts an ISO image with the drivers in the DVD drive. Clicking on VBoxWindowsAdditions starts the setup.

The size of the extensions – just 16MB for 64-bit Windows – already suggests that VirtualBox comes with far fewer drivers than VMware, and this is evident in many places where the software is far less capable than its competitor.

Like VMware, VirtualBox also offers a seamless mode for programs, which you enable either via View | Switch to seamless mode or by pressing Host+L. (The Host key by default is the right Ctrl key.) You can exit this mode again in the same way, but unlike VMware, VirtualBox lacks an application launcher. In our lab, the software switched, but without displaying the open programs on the Linux desktop as expected.

Full-screen mode (Host+F) gives the impression that the virtualized system is running natively on the computer. However, because the video driver only supports a maximum resolution of 1280x960 pixels, higher resolution screens have a black border around the virtual desktop. The remedy both in this case and if the seamless mode display is faulty is enabling 3D acceleration in the Display properties of the virtual machine. One special feature is the scaled mode (View | Switch to Scale Mode; Host+C) option. It lets you change the aspect of the desktop to suit your own needs by dragging the borders.

Inside Out

The next obstacle on the course is exchanging data between guest and host. Although I enabled the matching switch in the virtual appliance setup, VirtualBox steadfastly refused to exchange any kind of file or directory between the host and the guest via drag and drop or copy and paste. The only kind of data that leaves the guest is copied text snippets or URLs.

However, VirtualBox also allows mounting host system directories on the guest. The approach is identical to that of VMware: The desired folder is provided as a network share on the guest (Figure 6). Exchanging data was possible via this interface but comparatively cumbersome.

Figure 6: Just like VMware, VirtualBox mounts shared host folders as network shares on Windows.

Wrong Number?

Unlike VMware, VirtualBox does not show a pop-up pointing to the new device and asking you to click to confirm when you plug in a USB device. After plugging in the USB device on VirtualBox, you instead need to right-click on the USB icon in the bottom bar to display the context menu and then select the desired device.

Although the previous version still had significant problems with the integration of USB devices, the current release behaved well. Whether USB sticks or smartphones that use MTP (media transfer protocol), VirtualBox identified all devices correctly and also mounted them correctly in the filesystem. (MTP is used to transfer files via USB to a PC or printer; in contrast to its predecessor, PTP (picture transfer protocol), it requires device-specific drivers.)

Sound playback on the virtual machine was annoying because of constant clicking. Switching the audio infrastructure from PulseAudio to ALSA Audio Drive in the Audio section of the settings almost fixed this problem. Although the noise did not disappear completely, the clicks were much less frequent than before. The use of the ICH AC97 virtual sound card under Audio Controller removed this phenomenon entirely in the previous version, but because Windows 8.1 no longer supports this device, you have to live with some pops and crackles in the playback.

Conclusions

VMware and Windows 8.1 interact reliably with each other for the most part, blurring the boundaries between the guest and host. The unreliable sound reproduction, unusable printing, and the non-functioning drag and drop from the host to the guest tarnish the otherwise satisfactory results.

VirtualBox is a different story. Many features functioned poorly or not at all, from the pop and crackle in sound output to the completely functionless drag and drop. Of course, it must be taken into account that vendor Oracle offers this software free of charge for home users.

Thus, if you prefer a system with fewer issues, you are well advised to pay the EUR 225 price tag for VMware. That said, if you can live with a few drawbacks, you might be just as well served with VirtualBox for free.