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VirtualBox 6.0 is the no-cost, open-source virtualization app that can be used for your Windows or Linux on your Mac, especially if you're willing to get your hands dirty. Compared with the subscription-based Parallels Desktop and the buy-once use-forever VMware Fusion, Oracle VirtualBox offers the best automated solutions, uses less elegant menus, and lacks the many deep integration features. That said, this free utility makes up for these shortcomings with speedy performance, access to a vast third-party library of prebooted VirtualBox emulated systems, and all the flexibility that advanced users could want.
Price and Platforms
Like VMware Fusion, Virtual Box is available in Mac, Windows, and Linux versions, and supports almost any Intel-based system you might want, including ancient ones like DOS and OS / 2. As mentioned earlier, it's free to use. A license for Parallels Desktop, by comparison, costs $ 79.99 per year. VMWare Fusion also costs $ 79.99 (for the least expensive Basic version), but that gets you a permanent license to the software.
VirtualBox Basics
Like other virtualization apps, VirtualBox lets you run one of these virtualBox Manager menu. You can run a guest in a window, so that a full Windows desktop appears in a window on your Mac or you can run a Windows desktop full-screen on Mac, almost as if your Mac was a true Windows machine. Alternatively, you can run a single Windows application in what VirtualBox calls Seamless mode. In this mode, the Windows desktop becomes invisible and that Windows App lives in its own frame.
At least, this is the way VirtualBox is designed to work with Windows and the versions that I tried. At the time of this review, however, some of the VirtualBox features were not working properly with Windows 10 and the workarounds that I found on the web did not solve the problems. The problems, which I describe later in this story, were more likely than not, but until they are solved, you should probably choose a commercial alternative if you want to run Windows 10 on your Mac.
VirtualBox Set Up and Use
You can get started with VirtualBox by downloading any of the dozens of prebuilt Linux and Unix guest systems from the OSBoxes site. If you want to run Windows in VirtualBox, the safest method is to install Windows from an image that you can download from Microsoft. Unlike Parallels or VMware, VirtualBox does not automatically install Windows for you if you have an activation code. Instead, you have to go through the same manual installation procedure that you would have a real hardware system. If your Mac uses a retina screen, you'll be frustrated by the unreadably tiny size that Windows installed. You can solve this problem by going to the table for 200 percent-this is a typical example of VirtualBox's do-it-yourself methods. Parallels and VMware automatically adjust for Retina screens.
Parallels and VMware both make it easy to install an emulated Mac system on your Mac, which you might want to have for testing or development. Users can install macOS from their Mac partition recovery or download from the Mac App Store. It's possible to run an emulated Mac in VirtualBox, but it's not easy and you'll need to search the web for detailed instructions.
Unlike Parallels and VMware, VirtualBox will not automatically install the guest-system tools that let you drag and drop files between your Windows and Linux guest hosts. To install these, you have to click the "Insert Guest Additions CD Image" item on the Device menu-not exactly an intuitive choice-and then figure out how to find the CD in the guest system, and which of three different versions of the tools to install. Expert users will find this easy, but the users will be mostly lost.
I am impressed by VirtualBox's performance. It needed only 35 seconds to boot an emulated Windows 10 system, about the same as Parallels Desktop, and almost twice as fast as VMware Fusion. I am also impressed by VirtualBox's smooth operations with an emulated Windows 7 system. I found it simple to switch between VirtualBox's three display modes: fullscreen, windowed (which VirtualBox calls "Scaled Mode"), and single-application-window mode (which VirtualBox calls "Seamless Mode"). The same view options in a Windows 10 emulated system mostly did not work. For example, when I tried to switch Windows 10 to Seamless Mode, it continued to display the Windows desktop, only without a frame. Parallels and VMware keep their software tools updated Windows Systems, but VirtualBox users are doomed to wait.
Emulation Features
VMware and Parallels automatically provide two-way support for texting, and two-way support for dragging and dropping files between Windows and Linux guest and the Mac host desktop. VirtualBox offers the same feature, but you need to turn it on manually. However, VirtualBox offers more fine-tuned control over bidirectional sharing than its commercial rivals. In this virtualization apps, you can turn off your clipboard sharing and drag-and-drop, but only VirtualBox lets you configure the clipboard or drag-and-drop features to operate one-way only, or from the host to guest, or vice versa. This can enhance security if you're experimenting with a host of malicious software on the host, but you want to be able to get into the system.
If you want to print from a guest system, you need a network connected printer via USB cable. You may well be looking for help on the web before you can start printing. Briefly, use the VirtualBox settings dialog from NAT to Bridged (and also make sure that networking is enabled). Then, inside your guest Windows system, use the Settings app to search for a networked printer. You may need to install the Windows operating system if not available now.
Another potential problem is that VMware sets up your network to connect your network to your network. If you do not have access to fast Wi-Fi If you do this, you'll have to go to the Mac's networking. Parallels and VMware make the switch automatically and invisibly.
A similar glitch got in the way of shutting down Windows guest systems. Like Parallels and VMware, VirtualBox has a top-line menu item that lets you shut down the guest machine smoothly and easily, as if you'd rather click on the Start menu and choose Shut Down from the power options. In VirtualBox, this menu item does not work until you get to the Windows windows and windows when shut down when the Power button is pressed. With VirtualBox, you do not get convenience that you do not pay for.
One integration feature that VirtualBox lacks the ability to open your Windows system with Windows applications or open your Windows system with Mac apps. In Parallels or VMware, this means you need to buy a Mac version of high-powered software that you already own for Windows. Instead, you can tell your Mac to use the Windows application in your computer.
Virtualization Freedom
Although oftentimes annoying to use, VirtualBox is an impressive app that makes it so easy to use its rivals to make it worth considering-especially in security-conscious settings-instead of open-source software instead of proprietary apps. If you want to run Windows 10 apps on Mac, then Parallels Desktop is your best choice and VMware Fusion is a good second option. However, if you only need Windows or Linux from time to time and you are willing to put up with minor inconveniences and limitations, then VirtualBox can be an indispensable tool.
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