Virtualization options with a non SLAT CPU

Question

I am working on a machine with an older Intel CPU (core 2 duo 2.4 GHz E6600) that doesn't have SLAT and does not support Hyper-V.

It is running Windows 8.1 (64 bit) with 4GBs of ram. What software options do I have if I wanted to run a virtual machine, in this case, another instance of Windows (ex. Win 7)?

Am I SOL? Will speed of VM be limited more by RAM, CPU, or hard drive in this case?

Solution

Will speed of VM be limited more by RAM, CPU, or hard drive in this case?

Speed of the VM depends on what you do inside the VM. If you are going to run dnetc in it then it will be only solely limited by the CPU power. If you run a large database in it with large complex joins then it will be IO limited. Etc. etc.

As to options: There are more virtualisation programs than just Hyper-V.

E.g.

• Vmware workstation 9 runs on machines that do not have SLAT capable CPUs. Source.
• vmware player (regular and plus).
• Qemu.
• VirtualBox

Comments

[Ramhound]

You can use some other virtual machine software. You will be unable to use Hyper-V

[user2969359]

Right, so hyper-v really is really about supporting MS implementation then?

[Ramhound]

Hyper-V had features the other options do not have which is the reason for the hardware requirements.

[user2969359]

Thanks, I'll give those a spin. Any of them particularly known for responsiveness given the above?

[ganesh]

The responsiveness depends on what you do. Vmware seems very good in raw CPU speed. Hyper-V has good IO. Qemu can emulate and hypervise (so you can also create a VM with a different emulated CPU than the host). Etc etc.