What’s the easiest way to run a Linux virtual machine on a Linux host?
Asked by
MellowCedar42
I want to run Linux virtual machines on a Linux computer mainly for testing and experimenting with different distributions. High performance isn't essential, though support for running containers inside the guest would be useful. I'm considering VirtualBox, QEMU/KVM, or a simpler desktop tool such as GNOME Boxes. I've only previously used virtualization to run a different operating system, so I'm wondering whether running Linux inside Linux provides any meaningful performance advantage. What setup would you recommend for a desktop or server host?
Answers
KVM with QEMU is generally the best-performing and most flexible choice on Linux. Virtual Machine Manager gives you a graphical interface for managing it, so you don’t have to build every command by hand. Make sure hardware virtualization is enabled in your firmware, and install the appropriate KVM/libvirt packages for your distribution.
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VirtualBox is also perfectly reasonable for occasional testing, especially if you already know its interface. Put the VM storage on an SSD or NVMe drive if possible; a hard disk will work but can make booting and installing noticeably slower. If this is a dedicated server rather than a desktop, a virtualization platform such as Proxmox may be a better fit.
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Containers can run inside a Linux VM as long as the guest has a working kernel and enough resources. For example, Docker or Podman can run normally inside the guest. If you only need isolated user spaces rather than a separate kernel, containers directly on the host will be lighter, but VMs are better when you want to test complete operating systems or kernel behavior.
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Running a Linux guest on a Linux host does not automatically make it faster just because both use Linux. The important factors are whether the guest and host use a compatible CPU architecture, whether hardware-assisted virtualization is enabled, and how much CPU, memory, and disk I/O you allocate. With KVM and a same-architecture guest, performance can be close to native, but there is still some virtualization overhead.
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For a Linux desktop, GNOME Boxes is probably the easiest option if you’re using GNOME. It uses KVM/QEMU underneath while providing a much simpler interface for creating and managing VMs. Virtual Machine Manager is another good graphical option if you want more control over the VM settings.
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CopperLynx88: That’s been my experience too. Boxes is much less intimidating than configuring QEMU manually, and it works well for quickly trying different distributions.