MacOS – Virtual machines to install for OS+Ubuntu+Windows

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I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Lion 10.7.2, and I am going to install VMware to run virtual Windows.

I would like to use Ubuntu at the same time; is it technically possible? Do I need to install another virtual machine for that? In this case, which virtual machine is a best choice?

So ideally, I would like to use OS+Ubuntu+Windows, with a shared folder. Is it possible to adjust frequently the memory that a machine occupies?

PS: some info of my hardware:

Processor: 2.5GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Best Answer

Yes it's possible. You don't need to install multiple virtualization software to run multiple virtualized systems.

You can use one virtualization software (VMware, Parallels or VirtualBox for example) to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.

You can edit the Virtual Machines.

Virtual Machine settings

You can change the amount of memory and the number of cores used by each virtual machine among other things, but it requires shutting down the VM you will edit.

Memory and Processor settings

For non Bootcamp virtual machines, you can also change the settings of virtual hard drives by creating new drives, removing existing ones or even resizing existing virtual hard drives (which are just files on your hard drive).

Virtual Drive settings


Getting the best of both worlds.

I would recommend you install Windows in Bootcamp first. Then back in Mac OS you create your Windows virtual machine from the bootcamp install. Follow this procedure.

This way you will be able to either launch Windows from Mac OS and run both systems at the same time and restart your computer to boot into Windows natively for better performance (for video games or power hungry applications).