Is there any disadvantage to using Windows as VM only?

[Sparky]

I have it installed on 1 of my VMs and it runs great. Why would someone choose a physical version? Are there disadvantages in functionality in a VM given enough resources (I mean Windows 10)

[AVLinux]

Hi,

I need direct hardware access for my Windows 10 partition as I use it for GPU intensive Photo and Video enlarging so unfortunately a VM isn't an option for that type of workflow but I would agree on modern 4 core CPU's or greater Windows 10 performs pretty efficiently in a VM if you only require it for Office kind of work.

[pianokeyjoe]

I agree with @AVLinux on this one. I wanted to run Windows XP or 7 or Windows 98SE to run MUSIC making software with actual music making hardware made specifically for MUSIC AUDIO and MIDI recording and playback with dynamic soundfont and wav file sample loading(Soundblaster Live), and pro audio interfaces like M-Audio Delta 1010LT, EMU Studio 0404 and so on, and using a VM with Windows will NOT work for that type of workflow either.. Hence, why AVLinux exists, why MXLinux and Ubuntu Studio all exist.. These distros have actual drivers for those interfaces and more! Not to mention you CAN install and run some windows only audio/midi apps in LINUX with Wine and Winetricks and KXSTUDIO repos enabled! So at least now in 2021 with music and midi and 3D GPU intensive work, you can use LINUX and some trickery with Windows apps in LINUX. Also, running a VM with a different OS will bog down the system no matter how many CPUs and ram you have because you still only have ONE motherboard with ONE chipset. In the past there were single board computers as PCI and ISA cards that you could install as multiple computers in a back plane that allowed you to run multiple REAL OS installations on multiple REAL computers but in ONE box.. In SUN workstations you could even run a Windows OS session in a window running on real x86 hardware parallel with the SUN microsystem Sparc based hardware(UNIX and WINDOWS side by side). This said, you can gather I have tried all the above and in the end, for real hardware access intensive work, you have to either choose WINDOWS or Linux or run Windows apps in WINE in LINUX. VMs will not work for that creative work.. Maybe in the near future though!!

[manyroads]

I have used Windows in VBox only for 5+ years without problems

[Katie Boundary]

Gaming.

Go ahead and try to play Quake II or Far Cry in a WinXP virtual machine.

[Pierre]

if you don't have any serious needs, then running the Windows System in any VM,
will work, just fine .. this would be most folks, in fact.

however, as mentioned, above, if you do need any direct interface access,
then that is an little tricky, but not impossible in any VM scenario.

it would seem, that I've got an copy of win 5 / 7 / 10 in an VM,
and all of those, are on the same machine.

[figueroa]

I've run Windows XP as a VM since at least 2006.

[radonrose]

I'm not surprised AVLinux was the first to chime in. I am doing audio engineering on Windows 10. Luckily, my DAW is available for Linux, and there are at least three more great DAWs for Linux (two of them being free software). Unluckily, the plugins I use are not. So far, neither VMs nor Wine are as fast and reliable as a local Windows install.

[Geek3579]

Using Puppy Linux as a host OS to run virtual machines has substantial speed benefits, but there will be tradeoffs for access to CD/DVDs, shared filesystems. Its easier, if you can, to use WINE for certain apps you can't do without.

On that note I am a big fan of WINE, although there are occasional hiccups with almost every program, they are usually not enough to get in the way of excellent productivity. For example, I need to run Faststone image editor (check it out in portableapps.com) in the wine console to make the menus function better and even then there are some glitches for which have to use a workaround.

In recent times, I have installed a Nexus cutdown version of legacy Win 8 64bit on a USB using VirtualBox, which I then boot under QEMU. It runs quite well and is essentially not part of the host OS, but easily accessible - just plug it in and run a short script to start QEMU! Not sue if I have any real use for it...but its a learning experience.

[Gaer Boy]

I have been running XP on VirtualBox for 10 years. Since I disconnected its online access, it is very snappy. I have no problems with hardware - printers, scanners and camera all work smoothly. I have access to all filesystems and can copy or move files using either Thunar or Windows Explorer, although I almost always use Thunar because it's quicker to access (I haven't been able to make the Windows key work in XP). A shared clipboard allows me to cut and paste between OSs in either direction. Overall, Virtual XP behaves like another Linux application. CD/DVD access is straightforward and I have installed pre-2000 versions of programs to get full access to some old files saved on CDs.

Unless you have specialist requirements, a virtual Windows is as good as an install. If you don't need it to go online, it can be faster.