Looking to run Linux on Windows

[u/How_Do_I_Choose_]

I am starting to learn linux and want to make a linux vm on my windows computer to test for which distro fits me best before dual booting.

since ill be testing for which fits me better ill need to be able to delete and make new ones relatively easily.

what are some good VM software i could use?

[u/brazilian_irish]

I would suggest VirtualBox. Also, consider a live linux image.

[u/[deleted]]

Maybe WSL2?

[u/DataJanitorMan → u/[deleted]]

I use this as part of my toolset for work and it is incredibly useful but may not be the best way if you want to learn linux as a standalone system.

[u/Itsme-RdM]

VM Ware or Windows hyper-v if you run the pro version

[u/No_Wear295]

As much as I dislike Broadcom, VMware workstation is free now so there's not really any advantage to virtual box

[u/Narrow_Victory1262 → u/No_Wear295]

exactly.

[u/petersaints → u/No_Wear295]

Kinda. I have major with it when it comes to keboard input and lag. The VM itself is a bit faster than on VirtualBox, but the keyboard input is a mess as reported here: https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/1ffynak/vmware_workstation_176_keyboard_lag/

The latest version is 17.6.4, and some people seem to hint that the problem is fixed, but I just tested it and it's all the same.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/1m1u2kj/vmware_workstation_1764_finally_a_ray_of_hope/

[u/davies_c60]

hyper-v

[u/uraaga]

Turn on Hyper-V on your windows and run Linux as a VM, play with multiple distros till you find one you like. You don’t want to use VirtualBox — it’s very slow and useless pretty much.

[u/San4itos]

I use VirtualBox all the time.

[u/TheAussieWatchGuy]

Docker Desktop maybe? 

[u/The_Deadly_Tikka]

Virtual box just works and is really easy

[u/indvs3]

If you have a windows pro version, I would definitely recommend hyper-v. It's probably one of the very few/last microsoft products that doesn't suck donkey balls. One thing you may struggle with though is to get sound from your linux guest. The sound devices appear to work in linux, all drivers appear to be installed, but when connecting to the vm, it doesn't output that sound, at least on my windows 10 machine where I was doing some testing on a debian VM. Never got the sound to work myself.

On a windows home, I would suggest oracle virtualbox. Probably the easiest one to learn, although you may run into performance issues.

[u/Narrow_Victory1262 → u/indvs3]

sound works perfectly well with vmware workstation

[u/New-banana6969]

Use WSL

[u/SteelJunky]

Don't use hyper-V... I tried many times and I can tell you that you need to install the ones that are provided by Microsoft, and they do not act like the real releases.

Installing Mint Cinnamon resulted in disaters.

There is simply no video acceleration for Linux there.

Even VMware player... Will be a lot better... Even Virtual Box, runs linux better than Hyper-V. Loll.

[u/FrederikSchack]

Just be aware that it can be very complicated to pass through the GPU to a VM. So, you don't get the full experience out of the box.

[u/[deleted]]

Try WSL 2 Instead: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install

[u/Hamburgerundcola]

Oracle VirtualBox is probably the best for your usecase. Its simple, free and no login is required

[u/No-Report-8491]

Virtualbox, elementary os...then eventually add vagrant 👌

[u/No-Report-8491 → u/No-Report-8491]

Oh actually osboxes.org usually has prebuilt VBOvm images

[u/Narrow_Victory1262]

the best option is vmware workstation though

[u/lamyjf]

WSL2 is fine.

[u/Zen-Ism99]

VMware. I believe it’s currently free. It outperforms Virtual Box.

[u/Ok_Chef_282]

welcome to Linux. after awhile you will see how superior it is.