What is the best Virtual App in Mint to have Windows in it?

[DanRR]

Why VirtualBOX is still Ver 6 in approved Linux Mint software? Ver 6 is total sh!t even in opposite case when you are under Windows and running Linux there. It is total disaster, crashes, thousands of bug reports not moving, clueless forums...I am not sure Ver.7 of VBox is better but at least it is next version and i have not tried it.

Any other reliable way to have Windows under Linux ? I use Wine, it is not bad, almost perfect when works, but i changed processor recently and it does not like it. It works 1 day and then next day stops working. I reinstalled WINE on other computer and now lost the charm of total transparency i had before when Linux and Windows software were working shoulder-to-shoulder flawlessly as if they both were made in Windows or Android - you click on any file and it runs like in Windows. Now i click and nothing happening.

[deepakdeshp]

Best bet is have a dual boot of Windows and Mint.

[terry_dwyer]

An alternative is Qemu. In my experience it's better than virtualbox. Try it and see if it does what you want. There is a learning curve but do a bit of searching and you'll find everything you need to get started.

[RIH]

Why VirtualBOX is still Ver 6 in approved Linux Mint software? Ver 6 is total sh!t even in opposite case when you are under Windows and running Linux there. It is total disaster, crashes, thousands of bug reports not moving, clueless forums...I am not sure Ver.7 of VBox is better but at least it is next version and i have not tried it.

I am very surprised that you should say that.
I have been running Windows 7/10 & now 11 under VirtualBox with no trouble whatsoever.
Starting back with VirtualBox 3 - now 7.0.12.
You need a half decent CPU & the more RAM the better, but with my ancient i5 intel from 2014 & 16 GB RAM I have had no issues whatsoever.
OK, if you have a good GPU & want to use that for gaming, then VirtualBox is not for you.

The version in the repositories will remain as it started for the life of the release - that is what is meant by a stable release!!
There is nothing stopping anyone from downloading the latest version from Oracle it is simple for even the non-technical to do..

Gnome Boxes is available, as is VMware Workstation, although I don't think either has a major advantage over VirtualBox..
This may give you some clues..https://itsfoss.com/virtualization-software-linux/

[DanRR]

Am i right that all these suggestions for different VM will create virtual machines which will have their un-penetrable "wall" from the host OS and both Host OS and VM OS will not see files from each other? And if i will need to copy files i will need to open something like special two panel app, verify passwords and only then will be allowed to copy from one OS to another? And apps of one OS will not work inside another OS?

I will tell you - this might be more secure but this is way way inconvenient! This is like you rent part of your home to total stranger with separate rooms and keys. And both have different languages and currencies. And 10 meters high fences from each other And it is as if you lock the toilet on the key from yourself in the home where you live alone.

That is not how WINE is working. After installing WINE + Windows there you essentially invite Windows to be the second owner of Linux Mint "home". Invisible owner. And Linux will be able to see, copy, delete everything WINE/Windows has. And even more, Linux will run Windows created apps as if it is real Windows not Linux. And you will be creating Windows apps also inside Linux home like in your own Windows home. That amazing greatness and simplicity like in the ideal world what i had before my system broke after changing processors. If you program on both OS then compared to WINE all other VMs are just like kindergarten kid versus University student.

Now when my WINE+Windows becomes not responsive i need to reboot Linux Mint which brings Wine/Windows to its fresh state. Any temporal suggestions here how at least to "revitalize" WINE/Windows without Linux reboot? Stalls happen ones per few days. I just do not have time to experiment with numerous reinstalls of Wine until I succeed to return it back to its older greatness. Its authors clearly changed something i am missing. May be that was due to BOTTLES i also installed after WINE which created that freedom and transparency? Not very much information can be found on the net - people showing how to install but how all will look, what specifically you will get and how you will work under it almost no one shows

[RIH]

Am i right that all these suggestions for different VM will create virtual machines which will have their un-penetrable "wall" from the host OS and both Host OS and VM OS will not see files from each other? And if i will need to copy files i will need to open something like special two panel app, verify passwords and only then will be allowed to copy from one OS to another?

Not with VirtualBox - I have no idea about other Applications.
While the guest is isolated from the host it is quite a simple task to set up a "shared folder" that can be seen & used by both the Host & Guest just the same as transferring data to any other folder.

[DanRR]

Yea, I have read about that, tried and have not succeeded with that shared folder...

[RIH]

Then that was probably because you did not install Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack as that needs to be in place to make Shared Folders work.

It works, I have done it (& still do it) 100s of times..

[AndyMH]

Why VirtualBOX is still Ver 6 in approved Linux Mint software? Ver 6 is total sh!t

No it is not, I run VB6.1 (installed direct from oracle) and everything works with both win and linux guests. Suggest the problem is PEBCAK.

[Reddog1]

If you are running kernel 6.5, no VirtualBox version below 7.0.12 will work. If you use a kernel above version 6.4 you MUST use VBox version 7.0.12 or above.

That said, I haven't had a problem with earlier kernels and VBox in the later iterations of version 6. I've been using VBox since version 5 came out. Windows version 7 (32 and 64-bit), Windows 10, and W11 all work with VBox. W11 wants at least 8GB of ram, and 10GB is better. Mint runs fine as a VM with 4GB of ram allotted (Xfce will run with 2) unless the host is a newer macOS (Ventura for sure). Then linux needs 6GB and half the processors available, even on an I7. I mean it will work, but there will be sound issues. I run VBox, no matter the host OS.

[DanRR]

I installed extension pack of course. Without it VBox is a total utter sh~t which can not even scale its window size. Just with this fact I am lost to comprehend who are its user's base

I used it in Windows to run Ubuntu. VBox is OK if you do almost nothing in it. Like open browser. Edit your tax return spreadsheet ones a year.... Having old dead computer with few GB of RAM to work again...
But it was a disaster if you have latest hardware and run multi-core simulations in it with terabyte of memory, latest GPU cards and EPYC processors . Tried to fix all my problems, discussed them in forums, submitted bug reports and when saw 2000 bug reports there not moving for years i killed it and installed Ubuntu. After two Ubuntu died in a half of a year each i found Chris Titus post where he says -- all Linux distros sucks and you will destroy all of them in a year or so if you are an active user. He suggested Linux Mint which at least has TimeShift. After using it i will probably agree with Titus. But correct: all Linux DESKTOP sucks. Not desktop are all stable like rock ***if you install nothing on them*** . But again, terminal only non-desktop Linux sucks by itself even more

The only Linux which does not sucks is Android. I used it for 10+ years installed and uninstalled 10000 apps in it and it never had a single problem let alone crash or irrational behavior after installation. I would probably try Android for desktop...

[RIH]

I installed extension pack of course. Without it VBox is a total utter sh~t which can not even scale its window size. Just with this fact I am lost to comprehend who are its user's base

The is not the extension pack, that is Guest Additions..
Extension pack:
The virtual USB 2.0 (EHCI) and USB 3.0 (xHCI) device support
VirtualBox Remote Desktop Protocol (VRDP)
Host webcam passthrough
Intel PXE boot ROM
Experimental support for PCI passthrough on Linux hosts
Disk image encryption with AES algorithm

But as you have so little regard for any Linux Distribution I am puzzled as to why you even bothered to sign up to the Linux Mint Forum.
It pretty obviously wasn't because you had a question that you wanted answering..

[Reddog1]

Without it VBox is a total utter sh~t which can not even scale its window size

Vbox requires the Extension Pack and Guest Additions. If those are installed, and you are having problems, no offense meant, but it is operator error. These things you are complaining about actually work. I have a lot of virtual machines (I'm typing this in one now), and this complaint just isn't....

Install VB 7.0.12 (I hesitate to rec 7.0.14 just yet), using the file from the Oracle website, NOT the one in the Software Manager. Install the Extension pack, then make your VM. In the VM, install Guest Additions. I recommend a Windows 10 VM because it works with only 4GB of memory allotted. W11 needs twice that (and more).

Windows VM's will work just fine without registering. You won't be able to set your desktop eye candy, and you will be nagged about registering at boot up, but everything will work. As an aside, W11 doesn't give me the registration nag, and I have 3 W11 vm's (two are clones). Cannot set the eye candy, though--the default isn't bad. Everything works, including Windows update. Multi-tasking works (but why anyone would want to in windows is a question).

If you game, you need to run in an iron install of Windows. Install VB in Windows and then Mint as a VM (Mint runs extremely well as a VM). Game, and do video-intensive stuff in Windows, and for general usage and internet use the Mint VM. Clean and safe. I'm actually typing this in a Mint 21 vm guest on a macOS Ventura host. Everything works, and I do mean 'everything'. There is no noticeable difference between mint as a vm and as an iron install.

I also have a W10 guest on this machine. It works just fine, though I had to install the k-lite codec pac to get sound to work in the vm. No such problem with W11. YMMV, of course.

[DanRR]

Reddog1,
Again - if you do minor things on VBox all works fine. I even recommend all people VBox as a way to try Linux because that is almost ideal path for that. With it Linux for the first time became user friendly. But Windows as host and Ubuntu as VM on Ver6 is faulty if you try to run serious simulations there. The fact that Guest Additions and Extension Pack needed to install additionally and they are not installed by default tells that users base for VBox having really minimal requirements for anything and developers do not care to give them the best class experience. It is and if this continue it will be a toy.

Listening all the suggestions here and looking at all of them again i realized that for my particular usage (Linux simulations and Windows visualization of these simulations) even if i'd set VM ideally and all will work I will not reach the simplicity and convenience of WINE. Not even close. Above i explained that hopefully the best possible way on example of key locked against yourself toilet . So it will be better time spent on fixing my WINE installations asking WINE developers and experienced users there directly.

I will try to install Ver.7 possibly. Would be better though if it appeared in LM repository of approved software, it is 1.5 years since Ver7 appeared, what all still waiting for something? Use this - do not use that potentially tells that not everything is fixed there for LM.

As to W10 or W11 - I saw Youtube video where the guy explained that installing W11 requires additional tricks, while you do not mention anything like that. I could not find Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for my hardware(newest server motherboard) .

Did not get what do you mean by "You won't be able to set your desktop eye candy". And is it 8GB or 4GB it requires - who cares, people throw in trash 8GB sticks already, you can not find even cellphones with less that 12GB nowadays, even some watches use 8.

[axrusar]

Suggest the problem is PEBCAK.

+1 on the PEBCAK opinion here.

So many uninformed statements and far from real facts.
I like some of Titus tutorials and videos too, but then there are many trash talking ones, you can't rely on his opinions to be the ultimate truth.

My current Mint setup still on 20.3 is already 2.5 years old, i have installed a ton of extra stuff, i am an IT and can say i abused the heck out of my setup and so far it has not given up on me.
I still run Virtual Box 6.1, with about 15 or so VMS i use for testing, learning and playing with stuff, or working on Windows with Adobe graphics software and everything runs smooth here on my Thinkpad which is by no means a cutting edge machine anymore.
I did try running Boxes and had performance issues with it so i removed it.
Virtual box is the champion for me, everything works on it including shares, virtual devices, resizing windows, snapshots, networking and so on. If it does not work for you, you are most likely doing something wrong.
You may start posting your system information to get help, so far is a guessing game for everybody to figure why you are having issues with it.

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

Having compared Virtual Box and VMware Workstation Player for Linux, I can say that VMware Workstation Player is by far superior to Virtual Box:
- simpler installation,
- simpler creation of a VM,
- better 3D and acceleration graphics in Windows,
- much faster !

One inconvenience: though it is free for personal use, VMware Workstation Player is not OpenSource; but running a closed source Windows in a closed source virtual machine program is not a problem; note also that Virtual Box is not fully OpenSource.

Regards,

MN

[DanRR]

MikeNovember,
I see in LM Software manager 240 (!!!) versions of gFortran for all possible systems rarely who uses but not a single VMware Workstation Player of any version. What that could mean -- was thinking Average Joe scratching his head ... Probably it's indeed sooo damn good that no one wants to open this secret to anyone.

[AndyMH]

You have to download VMware direct from them:
https://www.vmware.com/content/vmware/v ... .html.html

Virtualbox is available in software manager, but I always download it direct from oracle.

One disadvantage of VMware compared to virtualbox - there is no seamless mode. This is where you get a windows taskbar above the panel in mint and your win applications open on the mint desktop. This was the reason I chose virtualbox over VMware. An old image:

[MikeNovember]

Hi,

That's right, seamless mode has been removed from VMware years ago, as soon as host or guest is Linux.

When I use it, I just run VMware in another virtual desktop (in Mate you can add extensions to the dashboard bar, and have four desktops; I guess there is something similar in Cinnamon).

However, Virtual Box is unusable as soon as you use some high demanding graphics or video apps: Google Nik Collection or On1 effects refused to work in a VirtualBox virtual machine, while they work with VMware (my tests were done a few years ago, this might have changed).

Regards,

MN

[ajgreeny]

There have been very few mentions in this thread of KVM/QEMU but as you are using a Linux host, ie Mint, I strongly recommend you look closely at using that as your hypervisor; it is, after all, the open source Kernel-Virtual-Machine system and in my experience is unbeatable. I tried it first about 3 years ago when having big problems running Windows as a VM in Virtualbox 6.1. Changing to VBox 7 helped a bit but performance was still poor.

So out of curiosity I installed virt-manager along with all its dependencies brought in as it installed and the difference in speed and smoothness of running other Linux distros and also Windows and Win10 as VMs in that was amazing. You can add a virtiofs filesystem while setting up VMs to give you seamless file sharing though I've not used that for Windows guests; I have run them just to update a GPS device which can not be done from Linux and other than that have no need for Windows at all.

There is a bit of a learning curve as someone above mentioned but it is not very steep and there are many helpful web pages around to assist you.
However, I can now install a new VM in minutes and don't have to think very hard about what I'm doing, just as I did in the past with VBox which I no longer use.