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Originally Posted by 1016
I have no experience w/ Hyper-v and very little w/ Windows 8.
Windows 8 is a PITA to get used to, for me at least, but it is the first Windows operating system that is actually good at virtualisation, imo.
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Is it fairly easy to set up and understand?
Very easy Hyper-V and VMware are both very similar to use and understand.
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I would still see improved performance if I used Windows 7 for the guest operating systems, yes?
Yes, I have a couple of Windows 7 guest operating systems on a Windows 8 hyper-v that work well.
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The main functionality is always the same for any virtual machine regardless of the app I use, right?
Oh yes, the functionality of the host and guest OS are pretty much identical. Sometimes VMware does something one way, Microsoft do it another way and other Virtualisation apps do it a third way - but essentially they all give the same result.
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Everything is locked into the virtual machine/nothing within the VM can ever interact with the host or my other VMs?
I can go to givemeavirusdotcom, or screenshare within one of my VMs w/ a horse to walk through something w/ them and they won't be able to see anything else, etc?
It depends. With virtual machines (VMs) you have a lot of choices in how you set them up, so you can provide them with full access to a shared drive / host OS or completely isolate them from everything else around them. The default configuration for a VM is isolation, so if you don't specifically enable access to the host system, it is isolated. But note, there are several ways of setting up the network for the guest operating system (Bridge / NAT / etc.) - some allow communication to the host and other VMs, some don't - so ensure you test whether you can see the host from the guest (a simple ping command will be sufficient).
But don't forget that you need to secure the
guest operating system too - ensuring you have a firewall running on the guest operating system will go a long way to doing this.
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I was looking at VMWare Workstation 9 as another possible option.
Other suggestions appreciated.
The VMware suite of apps for virtualisation are great too. VMware have been the leader in virtualisation for years, Microsoft have only just caught up to them with Hyper-V in 2012 / Windows 8 - I suggested Win8 with hyper-v as it is what I have been using a lot of lately.
I have friends that swear by VMware, by Hyper-V and by open source virtualisation (which leads to really boring, repetitive arguments kind of like the PC vs Mac debates) - it really is just a matter of personal preference, so have a play with each of them and see what you prefer.
One other thing - if your laptop / desktop / whatever supports hardware virtualisation, make sure it is turned on in the BIOS! That can make a huge difference to performance for VMs.