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please recommend some good virtual machine software under Windows like Parallels Desktop under Mac

I really like Parallels Desktop under Mac. However they don't have a PC version. I need a good virtual machine software under Windows for software development and other daily usage. I'll confine a lot of daily usage of my PC inside one or more VMs.

VMware Workstation 12 Pro seems good, but it's kind of expensive. VMware Workstation 12 Player is cheaper, but is it sufficient for the purpose that I mentioned? Or should I go with VMware Workstation 12 Pro?

VirtualBox is free, but is it good enough?

Please kindly give me some advice.

Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Virtualbox for FREE is good enough!

or why not try and use VMware Player 7.0, free and cut down version of VMware Workstation.

VMware Workstation Pro 12 does perform better, and is a polished top product, not a copy!

condor888

ASKER

But is VMware Player 7.0 able to create VMs? Or it just can run the VMs created by other software?

It looks like VMware Workstation 12 can only run the VMs...

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rindi

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dgalvin0609

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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)

Older versions long ago, could only PLAY, not create.

That changed years ago, after version 2.0/3.0.

I would opt for Workstation Pro 12. (you can then also manage ESXi later, migrate to vCloud Air), if you have a need. - very feature rich, and has a long pedigree and support!

Philip Elder

Windows 8 Pro and up has Hyper-V built-in. That's "free". :)

rindi

VirtualPC is something you should forget. It is very old, if anything you can run Windows XP mode on it, but it won't support 64 bit OS's, and besides that you won't get it to run on a host OS after Windows 7.The other options that have been mentioned are far better.