Edward Mendelson The Best Virtualization Software of 2018 Virtualization software lets you run Windows and all its apps on your macOS or Linux system. Here are the best options to make your Mac Windows PC–compatible. Virtualization is not the buzziest tech term, but that's probably because most people don't really understand what it means. Virtualization software does for your computer what picture-in-picture does for your high-end TV, but a lot more powerfully. Virtualization let you run a complete Windows system on a Mac or Linux machine, or one version of Windows inside another version. The virtual machine created by the software acts like a real desktop or laptop computer for the guest operating system to run on, except that it doesn't require extra hardware.

VMware Fusion: Powerfully Simple Virtual Machines for Mac. VMware Fusion gives Mac users the power to run Windows on Mac along with hundreds of other operating systems side by side with Mac applications, without rebooting.

Everything in the virtual machine—the CPU, video card, RAM, hard disk, network adapter, and everything else—exists only as bits and bytes. The Windows, Mac, Linux, or other system running in the virtual machine acts exactly as if it were running on real hardware.

So you can run a Windows app on a Mac running. Or that old Windows XP-only app that you need for your business can run in a window in your new machine. Or you can run multiple versions of OS X on your Mac. Virtualization Use Cases. For large organizations such as corporations and, virtualization makes it easy to run identical copies of a virtual machine on a hundred different desktop machines and, at the end of the day, restore every copy to its original pristine state, without any of the malware or clutter accumulated over the course of use. Or you can configure a virtual machine so that it's isolated from the Internet and the rest of the network and then use that virtual machine to test any software that you suspect might be dangerous. When I'm working at a Mac, I use virtualization software to run that doesn't have any OS X counterparts, or when I prefer to use the keyboard-friendly Windows version of Microsoft Office instead of the mouse-friendly OS X version.

Under Windows, I use virtualization software to run old apps that have served me well for years but that don't run under modern Windows versions. One limitation of these apps: You can't run a guest OS X system on a Linux or Windows machine, because OS X is licensed to run only on Mac hardware, and virtualization apps won't launch an OS X guest under Windows. Hackers have found ways around this system, but they're as unstable as they are illegal, and we don't recommend them.

You can install multiple virtualization apps on the same machine and use different apps for different purposes. For example, you might choose Wineskin Winery to run an old on a Mac, but use Parallels Desktop to run the latest version of on the same machine. Vmware horizon client for mac os. Keep in mind that there are two kinds of virtualization software out there. On the one hand, you can choose full-scale apps that work by running a complete operating system such as Windows or Linux. The full-scale apps include Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, and Oracle VirtualBox. On the other hand, you can choose Wineskin Winery or other software based on the WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) project.

WINE doesn't run a complete copy of Windows or anything else, but instead provides a minimal environment that lets a single Windows app run in OS X or Linux. Virtualization Requirements and Features Before you get started, think about the amount of RAM and disk space you have on your machine. Virtualization software tends to hog memory and CPU cycles, and every virtual guest system that you create is likely to need 10GB to 30GB of disk space, and probably more as you continue to use it. The new Veertu Mac virtualization app outclasses older full-scale apps by using the built-in virtualization resources of OS X to reduce its own footprint. Wineskin Winery (like other WINE-based software) doesn't need to install a full Windows system, and uses far fewer resources than apps like Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Oracle VirtualBox, which always run a full Windows system even if only a single app is visible. Also consider the depth of integration that you want between the virtual guest system and the actual host system.

All virtualization apps offer varying degrees of cross-system integration. The champ in the integration sweepstakes is Parallels Desktop, which can optionally make all the files and folders that you have on your actual Mac desktop also appear on a virtual Windows desktop running under Parallels. You may or may not want this level of integration—I always turn it off because it adds to clutter and distraction—but you'll almost certainly want the ability to drag and drop files between the host and guest system and to copy text in the host and paste it in the guest, or the reverse. All the full-scale virtualization apps offer these features. WINE-based software like Wineskin Winery lets you share text via the clipboard, and lets you share folders between the OS X or Linux host and the guest Windows app. But setup can be tricky, and it uses an interface that looks like something out of Windows 95. The full-scale commercial apps, VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, offer further integration features like an option to add shortcuts in OS X that open specific Windows apps so you don't have to start Windows and then manually launch the Windows app you want.