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  3. Are there any VMs that aren't absolutely terrible?

Are there any VMs that aren't absolutely terrible?

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  • H Offline
    H Offline
    honey the codewitch
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

    Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

    N M T D J 10 Replies Last reply
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    • H honey the codewitch

      WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

      Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

      N Offline
      N Offline
      Nelek
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      honey the codewitch wrote:

      VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot.

      Never had these issues with VMWare. The mouse lock is only if you use it in full screen, if you use it within its windows frame then you can move the mouse whereever you want. You are within the frame, ALT+Tab changes apps in the guest OS, you move the mouse to the frame and press ALT+TAB, then the app change is on the host OS getting the VM in the background. There is a key combination too, for going back to the host... but I do not remember which one, since I use it always in window frame and do not need it. When I have the VM maximized, I have the Taskbar of my Windows 10 host, and then next by the taskbar of my guest OS. You have as bit less surface pixels available in the guest OS, but it works fine.

      M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

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      • N Nelek

        honey the codewitch wrote:

        VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot.

        Never had these issues with VMWare. The mouse lock is only if you use it in full screen, if you use it within its windows frame then you can move the mouse whereever you want. You are within the frame, ALT+Tab changes apps in the guest OS, you move the mouse to the frame and press ALT+TAB, then the app change is on the host OS getting the VM in the background. There is a key combination too, for going back to the host... but I do not remember which one, since I use it always in window frame and do not need it. When I have the VM maximized, I have the Taskbar of my Windows 10 host, and then next by the taskbar of my guest OS. You have as bit less surface pixels available in the guest OS, but it works fine.

        M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

        H Offline
        H Offline
        honey the codewitch
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        The hotkey is Ctrl+Alt, and all of what you wrote relies on the assumption that the software actually works. It doesn't on my machine. :(

        Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

        N 1 Reply Last reply
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        • H honey the codewitch

          The hotkey is Ctrl+Alt, and all of what you wrote relies on the assumption that the software actually works. It doesn't on my machine. :(

          Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

          N Offline
          N Offline
          Nelek
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          honey the codewitch wrote:

          It doesn't on my machine. :(

          I believe you. I just didn't have those issue in my life and right now between 15 and 20 years using VMware at home always the player, at work the playstation (but way less than in private).

          M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • H honey the codewitch

            WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

            Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

            M Offline
            M Offline
            Mircea Neacsu
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            I second Nelek's opinion about VMware - never had any major issues with it. Just to be on the safe side, before posting here, I went ahead and created an Ubuntu VM with 22.04LTS. Installation had a few hiccups but nothing major. If you want, I can pass you the VM files. Should work with latest VMPlayer and is an absolutely clean Ubuntu install.

            Mircea

            H 1 Reply Last reply
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            • H honey the codewitch

              WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

              Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

              T Offline
              T Offline
              theoldfool
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Never seen such and have been using Workstation since version 4 and ESXi since version 5. I have run Workstation on Windows, OSX (Fusion), and Linux hosts. I always run on mainstream systems with Intel processors. Mostly Dell servers or Precision workstations. We have hosted 4 and 5 Windows server systems, including Domain Controller and Exchange Server (ugh) on ESXi for some 15 or so years. Have we had some problems? Of course, most self inflicted. I would look to your hardware. VMware posts supported CPU's and system brand/models. If you want specific help, the VMware forums are a good source. If you just want to rant, this is as good a place as any. :)

              >64 It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.

              H 1 Reply Last reply
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              • M Mircea Neacsu

                I second Nelek's opinion about VMware - never had any major issues with it. Just to be on the safe side, before posting here, I went ahead and created an Ubuntu VM with 22.04LTS. Installation had a few hiccups but nothing major. If you want, I can pass you the VM files. Should work with latest VMPlayer and is an absolutely clean Ubuntu install.

                Mircea

                H Offline
                H Offline
                honey the codewitch
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Thanks, but I'm recompiling the WSL kernel right now to enable iSCSI support. If all goes well I'll be able to use my SD reader --bare and in the buff to mount ext4 partitions off the card. That will solve my issues.

                Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • T theoldfool

                  Never seen such and have been using Workstation since version 4 and ESXi since version 5. I have run Workstation on Windows, OSX (Fusion), and Linux hosts. I always run on mainstream systems with Intel processors. Mostly Dell servers or Precision workstations. We have hosted 4 and 5 Windows server systems, including Domain Controller and Exchange Server (ugh) on ESXi for some 15 or so years. Have we had some problems? Of course, most self inflicted. I would look to your hardware. VMware posts supported CPU's and system brand/models. If you want specific help, the VMware forums are a good source. If you just want to rant, this is as good a place as any. :)

                  >64 It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.

                  H Offline
                  H Offline
                  honey the codewitch
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  I don't know if it's entirely VM Ware's doing. It happens when a terminal is open in X, and I hit backspace too many times. It freaks the hell out. I haven't investigated fully because the constant beeping is maddening, and having to reboot or maybe at least sign out to stop it is no fun. Did it twice. Then I uninstalled VM ware and deleted my VMs. I finally got WSL talking to my SD card properly, albeit indirectly, and via some hand holding via a C# winforms application someone wrote that I use on the windows side. It's a Rube Goldberg contraption, for sure, but it works.

                  Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • H honey the codewitch

                    WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

                    Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                    D Offline
                    D Offline
                    DerekT P
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Many years ago I had a reasonably fully functional VirtualBox setup, but that was on XP. Since then I've tried multiple VMs and never succeeded in anything vaguely useable; mostly can't even manage to install a guest system! Probably don't have the incentive to put in the apparently massive effort required to do so. It shouldn't be this way.

                    Telegraph marker posts ... nothing to do with IT Phasmid email discussion group ... also nothing to do with IT Beekeeping and honey site ... still nothing to do with IT

                    H 1 Reply Last reply
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                    • D DerekT P

                      Many years ago I had a reasonably fully functional VirtualBox setup, but that was on XP. Since then I've tried multiple VMs and never succeeded in anything vaguely useable; mostly can't even manage to install a guest system! Probably don't have the incentive to put in the apparently massive effort required to do so. It shouldn't be this way.

                      Telegraph marker posts ... nothing to do with IT Phasmid email discussion group ... also nothing to do with IT Beekeeping and honey site ... still nothing to do with IT

                      H Offline
                      H Offline
                      honey the codewitch
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I finally got WSL to do what I needed it to. It's very roundabout but once it's setup it's smooth enough

                      Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • H honey the codewitch

                        WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

                        Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        Jacquers
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        What are OS are you trying to run and what are you trying to achieve?

                        H 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J Jacquers

                          What are OS are you trying to run and what are you trying to achieve?

                          H Offline
                          H Offline
                          honey the codewitch
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I was trying to simply run linux from windows. The goal was simple. I wanted a VM I could keep running that I could A) easily transfer files from the host machine. preferably one click or so B) easily transfer the files from the VM to an ext4 formatted SD card. It was a joke. I finally got WSL to do it but it's very roundabout.

                          Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • H honey the codewitch

                            I was trying to simply run linux from windows. The goal was simple. I wanted a VM I could keep running that I could A) easily transfer files from the host machine. preferably one click or so B) easily transfer the files from the VM to an ext4 formatted SD card. It was a joke. I finally got WSL to do it but it's very roundabout.

                            Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                            J Offline
                            J Offline
                            Jacquers
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            It's been a while since I used it, but VirtualBox has some shared folder functionality which works well enough. Sounds like your issue is the ext4 drive - I replied to your thread above :)

                            H 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • J Jacquers

                              It's been a while since I used it, but VirtualBox has some shared folder functionality which works well enough. Sounds like your issue is the ext4 drive - I replied to your thread above :)

                              H Offline
                              H Offline
                              honey the codewitch
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Yeah, and it would be fantastic if virtual box actually worked as advertised. It never has for me, on any machine I've ever used it on. That's why the only reason I tried it this time was because VM Ware was actually crashing my system.

                              Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • H honey the codewitch

                                WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

                                Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                                D Offline
                                D Offline
                                David Luca
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                I haven't seen any response mentioning but you need to install VM->VMWare Tools for integrating the guest with the host operating system, then you can move the mouse between the two windows like one of the replies mentions, also allows sharing a folder between the two. Similar in VirtualBox, I think it's called VirtualBox Additions, it mounts as an ISO.

                                H 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • D David Luca

                                  I haven't seen any response mentioning but you need to install VM->VMWare Tools for integrating the guest with the host operating system, then you can move the mouse between the two windows like one of the replies mentions, also allows sharing a folder between the two. Similar in VirtualBox, I think it's called VirtualBox Additions, it mounts as an ISO.

                                  H Offline
                                  H Offline
                                  honey the codewitch
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  Sadly, installing the host tools does nothing to prevent VMWare from crashing my system. I know, right?

                                  Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • N Nelek

                                    honey the codewitch wrote:

                                    VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot.

                                    Never had these issues with VMWare. The mouse lock is only if you use it in full screen, if you use it within its windows frame then you can move the mouse whereever you want. You are within the frame, ALT+Tab changes apps in the guest OS, you move the mouse to the frame and press ALT+TAB, then the app change is on the host OS getting the VM in the background. There is a key combination too, for going back to the host... but I do not remember which one, since I use it always in window frame and do not need it. When I have the VM maximized, I have the Taskbar of my Windows 10 host, and then next by the taskbar of my guest OS. You have as bit less surface pixels available in the guest OS, but it works fine.

                                    M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                                    P Offline
                                    P Offline
                                    Paul Sanders the other one
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    Agreed, VMWare all the way

                                    Paul Sanders. If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter - Blaise Pascal. Some of my best work is in the undo buffer.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • H honey the codewitch

                                      WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

                                      Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                                      S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      sasadler
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      I have a good one if your running your VM under Linux. I run MX Linux as my main OS and have a Win 11 VM (with GPU passthrough) to play games that won't work under Linux, TurboTax and Affinity Photo. All the rest of my computing is done in Linux. I went the KVM/QEMU libvirt route since it's supposedly the quickest VM (don't know if that's really true) and it allows GPU passthrough with the appropriate motherboards. I've been using it for over a year now with no real issues. It's probably more complex to setup but it seems to work just fine.

                                      H 1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • S sasadler

                                        I have a good one if your running your VM under Linux. I run MX Linux as my main OS and have a Win 11 VM (with GPU passthrough) to play games that won't work under Linux, TurboTax and Affinity Photo. All the rest of my computing is done in Linux. I went the KVM/QEMU libvirt route since it's supposedly the quickest VM (don't know if that's really true) and it allows GPU passthrough with the appropriate motherboards. I've been using it for over a year now with no real issues. It's probably more complex to setup but it seems to work just fine.

                                        H Offline
                                        H Offline
                                        honey the codewitch
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        I should have specified win11 If I was on Linux I'd have probably tried QEMU since I already use it for ARM Cortex emulation

                                        Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • H honey the codewitch

                                          WSL will not mount an ext4 SD card. It can mount ext4 hard drives. Not flash drives. Because MS sucks. but VMWare causes the most obnoxious repeating beep sound, gets itself locked up, locks the mouse cursor inside its window, and keeps beeping even after I kill the task, forcing me to reboot. VirtualBox will not share the clipboard from host->device, will not mount my remote filesystem, and will not function as though it was written by competent people. Surely there's a market out there for VM software that isn't awful. Am I the only one that wants a functioning VM out there?

                                          Check out my IoT graphics library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/gfx And my IoT UI/User Experience library here: https://honeythecodewitch.com/uix

                                          L Offline
                                          L Offline
                                          Lost User
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          They're only terrible when they don't work. I found VMBox less terrible than Hyper-V, when Hyper-V didn't work and it did.

                                          "Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I

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