Stop using Virtualbox, Here's how to use QEMU instead

In the first 60 seconds of this video I benchmark Virtualbox vs QEMU. Then follow my quick guide to get QEMU working on YOUR system!

[ChrisTitusTech]

Want my custom VMDK (VM Files)? Check out these Downloads that come with them!

[Hilol-nxwf]

Sure it's slow but if it wasn't for Virtual Box on Windows 10 I would have never gotten into Linux. It allowed me to experiment in a safe, virtualized environment.

[jabbawok]

Virtual box is fantastic! It’s not fast but for 99% of people being easy to use and requiring minimal prior knowledge makes it spot on. It has lost its edge a little now VMware is pretty much free. I do agree with you on the one point though. Getting a bare metal Hypervisor is the way to go. I use an old Cisco C220M3 with ESXi on and its great.

[CraftComputing]

Thank You! VirtualBox is good for starting out, but there are SO many performance issues. Great video Chris!

[meowcula]

I've always used VirtualBox just to quickly check out a distro or do some experiments. I've not yet had the need for the power that Qemu offers, but when I do - I got your guide to follow. Thanks again, Chris!

[canadianwildlifeservice]

KVM is a type 1 hypervisor, while Virtualbox is a type 2 hypervisor. The KVM hypervisor is part of the kernel. A type 2 hypervisor is also referred to as paravirtualization since it's not true virtualization. A huge benefit of KVM based virtual machines is that you can run them alongside the host OS and use the desktop of the host at the same time, just as you can when using a type 2 hypervisor such as VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation. With other type 1 virtualization such as ESXi and Proxmox, the entire machine is basically dedicated to the hypervisor and you are then managing it from a second device through web browser or other web based interface.

[mironovsan]

For linux-based hosts, yes, QEMU is better. For Windows-based hosts, it's still Virtual Box. Also, if you are looking to automate virtual machines spinning out using Vagrant, Virtual box is most compatible than any other virtualization system. Only Vagrant + Virtual Box combination lets you spin up a machine with additional custom volumes, for example.

[pavel]

I think there is an error in the methodology of this test. What are the chances some of the performance is due to disk caching? The machine was first started with Virtualbox and he mentions both tests use the same virtual disk image, so the second run with KVM/QEMU would be faster due to IO caching. Any additional suggestions?

[AgnisRoz]

For a quick install and run, Gnome Boxes is a great VM manager. Sure, not a lot of options there, but for a distro testing it's such a great plug and play experience.

[dhavidcg]

I love virtualbox. I agree the performance could be better, but it's really easy and fast to start up, it makes testing something in my windows machine quite a breeze. Less hassle and just works.

[treyquattro]

I use both. QEMU/KVM is preferable from a performance perspective, but - as you point out - VirtualBox is available on all platforms (the real issue as far as I'm concerned is lackluster VM support on Macs). As machines get more performant, VirtualBox's deficiencies fade somewhat.

[oldcodger]

Thanks for the setup video. I've been trying out Gnome boxes as well as QEMU to compare to the Vbox installs I usually use. Launch is faster, but overall performance of VBox seems pretty good once launch is done. The biggest hurdle for me in QEMU is dealing with shared folders. Very awkward compared to VBox GUI setup. I'm not a CLI guy, so it's tough. If there was something like Virt-Managers USB mounting GUI, that would be a great improvement.

[archmunky]

One nice thing about Virtualbox is that the VM settings are stored with the disk images. So adding that VM in Virtualbox on another distro is trivial. KVM/Qemu isn't as easy I don't think (please let me know if I'm wrong). The VM XML config is in /etc/libvirt/qemu - can that file just be copied to the new distro? What about VMs with snapshots?

[ScottMosier]

I used VB when I taught high school. The ability to create snapshots was invaluable to how I was designing labs for my IT and Cyber courses. I love QEMU and VMWare for my personal machines, but I am a Linux guy normally anyway!

[sebastiendube]

I always tried to make virtual machines and I just found up your video. It is really interesting to see what other softwares can do when we compare them to popular softwares.

[buzdi_dop]

I use virtualbox to run some windows only POS programs for managing my store. I would love to migrate to QEMU but what about guest additions that virtualbox provides, is there an alternative for that

[SumitBhardwaj]

For me, setting up sparse/grow as you use it type VHD is tad difficult with virt-manager. Other than that its absolutely breeze to use with no guest additions to be installed and upgraded from time to time.

[tireseas]

I find Virtualbox to have a niche in using some older OSes. Say I want to pop up XP for a legacy program, it's generally going to be a better experience for me on Virtualbox than qemu. Or if I need to set up a VM I can guarantee is going to be easy for a group to use cross platform.

[zacklytle]

Definatly gonna give this a try, I have been fed up with virtualbox for quite awhile. Thanks

[Madvicius]

Was wondering but, on VirtualBox isn't there in Paramters -> System -> acceleration: the combobox allowing you to choose which kind of hypervision interface you wanna use for your VM ? I see in this combobox it proposes KVM aswell. Is it the same ?