I am looking to run virtualbox as HOST OS on a ARM Processor.
Is it possible to run virtualbox as HOST on a ARM processor, like ( VMWARE ESXi can be installed on a intel processor PC/server )
I look forward to receiving some comments.
ARM processor
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loukingjr
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Re: ARM processor
The short answer is no.
VirtualBox is a Type 2 Hypervisor. It requires an OS to run in.
VMWare ESXI is a Type 1 Hypervisor, has its own Linux kernel and runs on bare metal.
The processor is immaterial. (I.E. it won't work).
VirtualBox is a Type 2 Hypervisor. It requires an OS to run in.
VMWare ESXI is a Type 1 Hypervisor, has its own Linux kernel and runs on bare metal.
The processor is immaterial. (I.E. it won't work).
Last edited by loukingjr on 6. Jan 2015, 13:27, edited 1 time in total.
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mpack
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Re: ARM processor
The long answer is no as well.
VirtualBox is a hypervisor, not a CPU simulator. Guest code runs natively on the host processor (only certain privileged instructions are trapped), and Intel code can't run on an ARM.
There are CPU simulators around, probably you can find an x86 simulator that can be compiled for an ARM target, but the speed decrease is like a factor of 1000 or more. Simulators are used for debugging, they're completely unusable for live code.
Nor could you run ARM code in a recompiled VirtualBox, because VirtualBox as a whole is designed for the Intel/PC architecture (paging, register contents, typical peripherals to be emulated etc).
VirtualBox is a hypervisor, not a CPU simulator. Guest code runs natively on the host processor (only certain privileged instructions are trapped), and Intel code can't run on an ARM.
There are CPU simulators around, probably you can find an x86 simulator that can be compiled for an ARM target, but the speed decrease is like a factor of 1000 or more. Simulators are used for debugging, they're completely unusable for live code.
Nor could you run ARM code in a recompiled VirtualBox, because VirtualBox as a whole is designed for the Intel/PC architecture (paging, register contents, typical peripherals to be emulated etc).
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loukingjr
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Re: ARM processor
Just to add, XEN has an ARM Hypervisor. However, as mpack explained, you can't run any Intel based software on it.
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Re: ARM processor
While you can't run VirtualBox on bare metal. You might run it on Windows 10 arm64 on one of those snapdragon Win10 laptops that are appearing in the market. there are some caveats. for starters you are limited to VirtualBox 5.2 (the latest that supports 32bit hosts) since the "x86 translation" built into both Win10 and the snapdragon cpu used on this devices doesn't support 64bit windows binaries. Then you have the fact that the "x86 translation" doesn't support device drivers, this may break virtualbox or make it less usable.
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socratis
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Re: ARM processor
That will definitely not allow VirtualBox to work, it's not even up for debate.Ptero-4 wrote:Then you have the fact that the "x86 translation" doesn't support device drivers, this may break virtualbox or make it less usable.
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