Need to work with multiple operating systems for testing, comparing, or quick access without having to reboot? Take a close look at VMware 2.0 (US$299 direct; upgrade, US$99). This clever program lets you run multiple operating systems on your computer without the need for drive repartitioning or even rebooting. You continue to run Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 as usual, launching the other OSs in a virtual machine.
Virtual machines use the physical hardware of your PC, but they function as separate PCs and can be rebooted, reconfigured, and even crashed all on their own. You can create a virtual machine to launch any operating system that is already installed on your PC, or set up a true virtual system by installing a new operating system on a virtual disk created by VMware's configuration wizard. All virtual disks are stored as VMX files.
You can create virtual machines running DOS, Linux, FreeBSD, or any flavor of Windows (including separate instances of the Windows 2000/NT 4.0 system in which VMware is running). We successfully ran three virtual machines simultaneously from our Windows 2000 desktop--one each for Red Hat Linux 6.0, Windows 98 Second Edition, and a beta version of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows Millennium Edition. Networking took far too long to set up (as did installing the VMware SVGA driver in the guest OS), but eventually we were able to bridge the networking between the various VMs and the Ethernet adapter that networked Windows 2000 to our LAN.
Version 2.0 offers several enhancements. First, the product now offers a suspend-to-disk feature that lets you close the virtual machine and restore it to its former state when you start it again. Second, the virtual machines run faster, although they're still not close enough to native speed to make you consider running a heavily used OS this way. The product now supports SCSI drives and some sound cards, allows file sharing with Linux systems via Samba, and lets you shrink a virtual disk if you don't need all its space. Installation is also enhanced, but getting a virtual machine as functional as your PC takes time and patience.
Its price is too steep for casual use, but VMware 2.0 pays for itself if you need what it offers.
Product:Ã,Ã, VMware 2.0Rating:Ã,Ã, 4 Star
Direct Price:Ã,Ã, US$299; upgrade, $99.
Company:Ã,Ã, VMware Inc. www.vmware.com
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