I use vmware and qemu
None, I use Docker for Linux, and Proton (Heroic) for Windows.
But if I had to pick a virtual machine: libvirt with virt-manager as a frontend, which uses KVM for virtualization.
Correct me I'd I'm wrong, but with docker you're limited to the filesyatems and the image of the OS you're installing. If you need to experiment with the pre-OS boot events, can that even be accomplished with docker? E.g., trying out different GRUB settings, setting up LUKS with dropbear etc. I think those things require a VM.
Yeah, you are correct. Docker shares the kernel with the host operating system, it doesn't use hardware virtualization. That's why it's so fast and simple, but it also means it's not a traditional VM and thus comes with some limitations.
But if I had to pick a virtual machine: libvirt with virt-manager as a frontend, which uses KVM for virtualization.
Its fair bcs vmware workstation does not support gpu passthrough libvirt with virt-manager is the only way
Absolutely, it's also made way easier with quickemu, allows you to spin up a properly configured Windows VM with pretty much no effort
GNOME Boxes because it doesn't require 5 academic degrees to set up and I'm a GNOME user.
Real for me it was problematic it was barely customizable and tracker3 randomly broke most of my apps
Qemu/KVM and Virt Manager. I have three VMs that I pass my GPU to: a Hackintosh, a Windows 10, and and Windows 7.
I never found a way to share a Public folder with VirtManager though, I need to move files between host and guest. How would you go about it?
I go to the host folder I want to transfer files from and run ‘’’python3 -m http.server’’’. Then (I can’t remove if I use ‘’’ip a’’’ to find the IP address of the host or if I used mDNS), I use the guest web browser to download files.
I use libvirt to do all my kvm/qemu stuff on my server. Using cockpit-machines web UI as a frontend. On my workstation if I ever need a VM I usually turn to Gnome Boxes for simplicity
VirtualBox (desktop for testing and development), KVM: libvirt, Proxmox (production stuff).
Currently virt-manager on top of qemu/kvm on Debian 12. It was the easiest to get to emulate a TPM on my ancient hardware (9ish years old, but still powerful).
I'm learning enough about the backend that I'm hoping to get off the Redhat maintained software and only use the qemu cli, maybe write my own monitor with rust-vmm when I learn enough rust to do so.
VMware, Virtualbox for OSes that hate VMware, and Qemu for emulating OSes that only run on obscure platforms.
