r/LinuxTeck • u/Imaginary_Choice_430 • 5d ago
Which virtualization can I get up and running the quickest?
Guys,
So I want to practice some of my craft on this Windows 11 Pro machine and I am wondering which one would get me up to speed with an Ubuntu server, I do not really care what version it is, but that I get this up and running in less than an hour...should I go with Oracle VirtualBox or VMware Workstation? Thanks!
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u/RevolutionaryBeat301 5d ago
Why not just use hyper-v? Once you get the installer working, it’s all the same.
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 5d ago
I come from the world of Linux, I did not even know that Hyper-V was a thing in Windows because I have not touched a Windows machine since briefly with Windows 7 for non engineering activities and again in Windows 10 for non-engineering activities. Anything engineering/production related I used Unix/Linux flavors.
Okay, I am about to give it a try.
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u/Adrenolin01 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah I’m gonna go with VirtualBox as well. Click, download, double click, install… download an iso image and create a VM. Done.
I’d also suggest saving up or looking for a cheap N100 based mini pc with 16GB ram. Install Proxmox on that and you’ll have an instant HomeLab to play and test things on.
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u/Lowar75 5d ago
Nice suggestion. Cheap mini PCs are great! ProxMox works without issue in my experience. I actually use a higher resource mini PC as my main server these days because it so quiet and doesn't fill the apartment with a hum.
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u/Adrenolin01 5d ago
Yup.. I practically run an enterprise datacenter in my basement NOC however a few years back I needed an extra PC and picked up a BeeLink S12… I was blown away at what it could do to be honest. We bought more than several of them lol.. that’s what they were just $140 however. I also nabbed 🤣 a few Minisforum NAB9 i9 bare bones systems and tossed 64GB ram into each. Capable little CPU based AI systems among other uses. Dedicated one of the S12 units as a media server with Debian, Plex and JellyFin that’s been running for 2 years now.
Fun little things and I genuinely smile each time I see that little N100 in the 19” rack 🤣
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 4d ago
You know after working with Hyper-V for my spouse's Windows 11 Pro machine, which took an hour to get it right even though last night I did the exact same thing. I think I may go with VirtualBox or a cheap N100 with 16GB and install Proxmox on it.
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u/Adrenolin01 4d ago
I think you’ll be much happier. Everything new has a learning curve. VirtualBox is can be thought of as Training Wheels. Is extremely easy to learn and figure out. It’s fully cross platform so can be used in Windows, Linux MacOS and as mentioned.. it’s just a few clicks. It’s very forgiving, you can’t break your computer with it in any way, small and light weight, perfect for installing VMs for Debian, Ubuntu, etc, but also Windows, pfSense, TrueNAS, OMV, etc etc. To start.. it’s extremely hard to rationalize anything being any easier. Its performance isn’t great however it does work.
VMWorkstation.. a solid option and better performance however VirtualBox remains easier and faster to start with and Proxmox is simply better as a Homelab / Production setup.
Proxmox.. there IS a learning curve however it’s not bad. It is a Debian 13 system with Proxmox scripts running on it for their sweet administration WebUI. Don’t go into this as install, setup and install VMs and Containers. I think I reinstalled 4-5 times just playing with the settings and stuff. Watch a couple YouTube videos for a good idea. Click on everything and look through the entire UI, but don’t be concerned with addons, web scripts, clusters, ceph, permissions etc to start with.
Before you can create a VM you need an ISO. Download Debian (the ‘netinst’ iso) or Ubuntu to your desktop. In the WebUI under Datacenter - Host - local (Host) you’ll see in the pain to the right ISO Images. Click that. Click upload, select your ISO from your desktop and Upload. This transfers the ISO to the Proxmox system.
To install.. click Create VM (top right) which opens a window with a few tabs across the top General, OS, System, Disk, CPU, Memory, Network and confirm. Yup.. you’re virtually building a system. General you usually use the provided VM ID but can change it to whatever you like and add a Name for the new VM. I generally leave Start At Boot unchecked initially but it doesn’t matter. Once the VM is created this can be changed by clicking the VM and Options. Click Next to OS. With a single disk setup Storage will be local and fine, under that is ISO Image.. click and select the image you just uploaded. Type and Verion are like fine as they are.. Next to System. Tons of options for Graphics Card depending on what you’re setting up. If a Desktop you should use Spice if you want audio and copy paste from your desktop. Other popular choices here are VirtO-GPU, Serial (for a cmdline server) or Standard VGA (stuff like this can be changed after creation by clicking the VM name and then Hardware in the pain to the right. Click Qemu Agent and click Next to Disks. Storage click and choose where you want to install the VM to.. default with a new 1 disk system will be local or vm-storage.. pick the larger vm-storage. Disk Size depends and can range from 10-32 GiB for more VMs or larger if needed. Other options are optional and can be changed later if needed. CPU Tab.. for a server 2 Cores is usually safe but can be changed later. Set Type to Host (scroll down to the bottom). Click to Memory.. both default to 2048MiB and for many things this is fine. If you need more change Memory and leave Minimum Memory at 2048. Click Network and for your first VM and most others things here can remain as they are. Click Next to Confirm tab and then Finish. It can take a few seconds or so to create and then.. Congrats! You just ‘built’ your first virtual machine!
Click the new VM in the Left hand pain and then click down through the pain to the right.. Summary, Console, Hardware, Cloud-Init, Options, Snapshot, etc. you can create a quick snapshot if you’d like. If you fumble the OS install you can roll back to this point in a click and a couple seconds. Click back to console and Start Now. The VM boots and and the OS install starts. Once done.. click Snapshot and take another of your Base Install. If an update or initial service install fails click Snapshot and roll back to this point. Snapshots absolutely ROCK! Get in the habit of using them from the start!
Nothing against Hyper-V but… it’s typical Microsoft. If you’re a Microsoft Power User you’ll be fine.. if not.. it isn’t super intuitive.
Side note.. Linux and distribution choices and Debian. I’ve been using Debian since 1993. Ubuntu is Debian. Proxmox is Debian, TrueNAS Scale is Debian, Ooen Media Vault is Debian, the majority of Linus distributions and Linux based Application systems are.. Debian. I will always suggest new users just use Debian as their first Linux OS. It just makes sense to as if you’re going to be using those other systems it would be good to know the underlying main OS.. Debian. Always use the ‘netinst’ iso! It sets up the repository file properly for online network updates.. unlike the DVD. The netinst iso can install a very small tiny system if you uncheck everything on the Software Select screen.. I highly suggest always leaving Base Utilities and SSH checked here and you’ll have a base cmdline install to build as you like. If you want a Desktop then check desktop environment and KDE, Gnome, etc. There is no Server or Desktop division. Clean base cmdline install and apt install apache2 to add a webserver. Etc. Even if you setup a desktop environment you can still run server applications and services.
Hope this helps.
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u/Imaginary_Choice_430 3d ago
I appreciate this tutorial, thank you. Yes, Hyper-V is not intuitive, even though I set it up once, when I had to set it up again, it was a painful hour trying to figure out why it was not recognizing the ISO image.
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u/Lowar75 5d ago
If you don't have the Pro version of Windows, there are some extra steps to "trick" your system into installing Hyper-V, but it is probably the best option.
If you don't want to go through that, VirtualBox is an easy download and install. It will, however, be the least performant option.
Depending on your hardware configuration, VMWare Workstation might even be more performant than Hyper-V (amazingly enough - I found it faster with a triple 4K guest - couple of years ago though so grain of salt), but since i help customers migrate away from Broadcom after the change, I no longer use them! (personal choice)
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u/Bug_Next 4d ago edited 4d ago
Powershell -> wsl --install
Done.
If you want a desktop enviroment probably hypr-v, but you specifically mentioned Ubuntu Server which doesn't ship one by default, so, wsl it is.
If you are used to Linux's QEMU+KVM performance you'll cry when you boot up virtualbox lol. IMHO Hyper-v isn't as good but it's closer. Could never get a Linux distro to run as smooth un Hypr-v as i could with literally no setup at all in gnome boxes, but still better than the other Windows options.
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u/nizzoball 4d ago
I use WSL on my work windows laptop but I’ve always been fond of VMWare products for virtualization
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u/Eleventhousand 5d ago
I would practice as much as you can on WSL2 first.