install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at all?

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Hanan
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install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at all?

Post by Hanan »

install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine powers? Is it possible at all?..
I mean such programs like Photoshop and stuff.. As I found out recently, those virtual machines are not really good at running such soft, they are too laggy…So I wonder, is there a way to run such soft with the power of my hardware, while it is installed to my virtual machine?
Your reply would be greatly appreciated..Thank you in advance) :)
scottgus1
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by scottgus1 »

Regrettably, no. The VM will always be less powerful than the host for any task. Some tasks will show this more than others, especially normally-video-card-dependent tasks.

For some things, the performance hit is barely if at all noticeable. For other things like games and intensive painting & video editing, there's nothing like bare metal.
BillG
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by BillG »

A "virtual machine" which used the host's hardware wouldn't really be a vm, would it? It would be an app in the host.
Bill
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by Hanan »

thanks
Oh, my problem really is that I have an editing program that potentially may be contaminated with some malware, that’s why I’m so cautious to install it to my pc directly… I tried to install it to “Windows 10 virtual machine”, but it hardly keeps working without lagging..

So I wonder whether there is a way to detect virus activity within the virtual box?

Or maybe there are faster virtual machines than “Windows 10 Virtual Machine” that are made especially for some heavy editing software?
mpack
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by mpack »

Hanan wrote: So I wonder whether there is a way to detect virus activity within the virtual box?
A VM is just a PC. You can install virus scanning software as with any other PC.
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by Hanan »

mpack wrote:
Hanan wrote: So I wonder whether there is a way to detect virus activity within the virtual box?
A VM is just a PC. You can install virus scanning software as with any other PC.




Yeah sure, but unfortunately those pirate programs “cracks” are most often detected by antiviruses as malware programs, when in reality most often they are not.

What I meant is whether it’s possible to detect virus activity within vm, to see what folders it opened during the day or two and etc.. ( to see whether it behaves like a virus )
mpack
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by mpack »

The fact remains that you should stop thinking about a VM as something other than a PC. A VM is a PC and does not include any additional weapons for dealing with malware, so if you have any concerns then you deal with it as you would on any other PC.
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at

Post by Hanan »

mpack wrote:The fact remains that you should stop thinking about a VM as something other than a PC. A VM is a PC and does not include any additional weapons for dealing with malware, so if you have any concerns then you deal with it as you would on any other PC.
Oh, I didn’t mention that those “additional weapons for dealing with malware” as you call it, must be inside my current vm ( “windows 10” ) that has similar operating systems with my pc

I didn’t even mention that those “weapons” must be inside other vm like “Linux” and etc.. ( that I mentioned above ) that don’t really simulate my “os”

All I asked is wether it’s possible to detect virus activity in vm? Any recommendations of software that can detect virus activity in such way ( meaning showing virus activity during the day ) would be really appreciated =)

I’m asking exactly because I have no idea how to deal with it on my PC, since I didn’t install that potentially unsafe soft directly to it. ( if you had such an experience of installing potentially unsafe files like “crack” to your pc and you know how to deal with them-distinguish them from a real virus, it would be really nice of you to share how deal with it)
mpack
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at

Post by mpack »

Hanan wrote: All I asked is wether it’s possible to detect virus activity in vm?
Only if you install guest software that detects it. A VM isolates the host from the malware, but it can't isolate itself from itself.
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at

Post by Hanan »

mpack wrote:
Hanan wrote: All I asked is wether it’s possible to detect virus activity in vm?
Only if you install guest software that detects it. A VM isolates the host from the malware, but it can't isolate itself from itself.

As I said, I don’t really mind to install any useful external software as far as I install it to VM.

why should VM isolate itself from itself ? What Do you mean by that?
mpack
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by mpack »

I think I've already said it as many ways as I know, so I'm not going to try to explain further.
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by Hanan »

mpack wrote:I think I've already said it as many ways as I know, so I'm not going to try to explain further.

“A VM is just a PC. You can install virus scanning software as with any other PC.” Yeah, it’s a virtual pc right

“A VM isolates the host from the malware” yes it does

“ but it can't isolate itself from itself.” right it can't


Hope you are proud of yourself declaring all of this generally known stuff, but it doesn’t really help much with my search of virus detecting software..sorry
scottgus1
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by scottgus1 »

Viruses that get into a VM can only infect the VM, provided you don't facilitate the virus getting out of the VM by allowing executable files in shared folders.

The VM's files are on the host. As such the host antivirus can scan the VM's files and if the host finds a virus in the VM's files (specifically the VM's drive file) then the host can quarantine the file. This will kill the VM, as the host will not dig in and find the specific file within the VM containing the virus. The host will quarantine the whole VM drive file.

To keep the VM from being killed while having antivirus looking for bad guys, run AV on the host and inside the VM. Host AV should not scan the VM's drive files (set exceptions in the host AV to prevent this). Then run AV inside the VM OS as well.
Hanan
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by Hanan »

scottgus1 wrote:Viruses that get into a VM can only infect the VM, provided you don't facilitate the virus getting out of the VM by allowing executable files in shared folders.

The VM's files are on the host. As such the host antivirus can scan the VM's files and if the host finds a virus in the VM's files (specifically the VM's drive file) then the host can quarantine the file. This will kill the VM, as the host will not dig in and find the specific file within the VM containing the virus. The host will quarantine the whole VM drive file.

To keep the VM from being killed while having antivirus looking for bad guys, run AV on the host and inside the VM. Host AV should not scan the VM's drive files (set exceptions in the host AV to prevent this). Then run AV inside the VM OS as well.

Thank you for advice :)
I didn’t really know that the host antivirus can kill my VM
BillG
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Re: install program to a virtual machine but open it with your hardware machine, is it possible at a

Post by BillG »

Hanan wrote:

Thank you for advice :)
I didn’t really know that the host antivirus can kill my VM
You seem a bit vague about what you think a vm is and does. VirtualBox is just another application which runs on your host. It can emulate a PC. All of that pc's devices (except the CPU) are emulated by software.

All of the files which make up the vm, including its virtual disks, are stored as files on the host PC, and malware (or aggressive antivirus software) on the host will see them as such.
Bill
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