What Is A Virtual Machine?

Date First Published: 3rd March 2024

Topic: Computer Systems

Subtopic: Computer Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 4/10

Learn about what a virtual machine is in this article.

A virtual machine (VM) is an emulated computer system created using software on a physical computer often used for testing purposes and backing up data. It is isolated from other software on the computer, meaning that it can easily be modified or destroyed without affecting the main computer.

Virtual machines use physical system resources, such as the CPU, RAM, and disk storage, but they do not directly run on the hardware. A piece of software, called a hypervisor allows different operating systems to be run on different virtual machines at the same time. Since virtual machines are independent of each other, they are also very portable. This means that a virtual machine on a hypervisor can be moved to another hypervisor on a different computer almost instantly.

Uses Of Virtual Machines

Virtual machines are often used for the following purposes:

• Testing - Virtual machines can be used by software developers to test their applications in different environments. Instead of testing on several different computers, virtual machines can be used to run applications in various operating systems in one computer, which is more efficient.
• Running software designed for other operating systems - A virtual machine can run software only available for a certain operating system. For example, a Windows user who wants to run software designed for macOS can run a macOS VM on their Windows computer.
• Running outdated software - Users who want to run outdated software that is incompatible with modern operating systems can run an old operating system on a virtual machine.

Benefits Of Virtual Machines

The benefits of virtual machines are:

• Improved security - Using a virtual machine allows users to protect their main operating system and is often used to safely study computer viruses and malware, isolating the viruses to avoid risking their main operating system.
• Improved system stability - Virtual machines are more suitable for testing software because testing software on the main operating system can lead to unexpected crashes and leave some files behind after uninstalling the software. A virtual machine can be fully reset as needed.
• Scalability - Virtual machines allow users to scale apps more easily by adding more physical or virtual servers to distribute the workload across multiple virtual machines.
• Reduced costs - Running multiple virtual environments from one computer eliminates the need to use multiple computers to test applications.

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