Is it possible to create Portable VM

portabilityvirtual machinevirtualboxvirtualizationvmware

I want to know that is it possible to create a fully portable virtual machine using any of the VMWare like products? My objective is to create a virtual machine (XP as guest OS), install some app in it, put the vm in a usb2 drive (performance is not a matter), and run it in any windows os (xp, vista, 7) without installing anything in host, using any host account (admin, guest, limited).
Is it possible to do that using any vmware like product? If possible then which one is my best bet?

Best Answer

Can't be done if you want to take advantage of Hardware assisted virtualization. Basically you need admin rights in order to access all the nifty features that make modern, hardware assisted virtualization so fast.

QEMU can run in a few different modes. When run as an emulator the processor is replicated in software, so hardware assisted virtualization is not necessary. This emulation is slow, but very useful if you're developing for embedded hardware that is different than your main PC.

Related Solutions

Python – portable way to get the current username in Python

Look at getpass module

import getpass
getpass.getuser()
'kostya'

Availability: Unix, Windows

p.s. Per comment below "this function looks at the values of various environment variables to determine the user name. Therefore, this function should not be relied on for access control purposes (or possibly any other purpose, since it allows any user to impersonate any other)."

Postgresql – Portable PostgreSQL for development off a usb drive

Here's how you can do this on your own: http://www.postgresonline.com/journal/archives/172-Starting-PostgreSQL-in-windows-without-install.html

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Python – portable way to get the current username in Python

Postgresql – Portable PostgreSQL for development off a usb drive

Related Topic