which distro and virtualization sw for a local host and a few win11 VMs
 

Hi all.

After a week of headache with win11pro, it's time for me to swith to linux.

I need an host with 3 to 6 vm that will run in my laptop - core ultra 7, 32GB ddr5, 1 TB.
The VMs will be win11.
The key - from which the headache in windows host - will be to share single internet connection per VM, provided by 1 smartphone per VM via usb.
One smartphone will be an iPhone.

This will be a personal work environment, not a pro one but I need it to be very reliable.

So, I'm not a beginner in virtualization, but not a pro at all.
My previous experiences were to virtualize anything but one distro/os per time.

My questions are:

1 - is it doable and reliable? (I think yes, of course);
2 - i would prefer ubuntu or manjaro, but if there are better choices i have no problem to switch. But maybe better an lts distro instead of a rolling one.
3 - gnome box vs kvm/qemu, or...?
4 - the most difficult to me: which network manager to chose? Are they dependant by the virtualization sw?

I saw that is possible to tether usb via iPhone, and of course the other smartphones will be android.
My biggest problems with win11pro were to assign one connection per vm, I saw too many issues and conflicts with hyper v, vmware, virtualbox.
It did work the first time and then, every time i reboot, it didn't work anymore and i had to re-do everything.
In the end i realized the problem was not the sw but the os...

Any tips and suggestions will be much appreciated.

Bolded two things above for emphasis only, because nothing you've posted makes much sense. You first say you're having 'headaches' with Windows 11, so you want to run Linux. Then say your entire goal is to run virtual machines on Linux for the sole purpose of *RUNNING WINDOWS 11*??? Why bother?? Just run Windows and run VirtualBox on it with your other Windows systems.

Pretty much any distro of Linux can run virtual machines, but if you're trying to run (minimum) of 3 Windows 11 instances plus Linux on a single core 7 with only 32GB of RAM, have you thought about that?? Even if you only allocate 8GB to each Windows instance and only run 3, you're using 24GB just for those...not including the virtualization software, plus Linux.

Hi!

Thank you for your answer.

I focused on what I need.
I need Win11 as guests, and 4GB per vm will be enough because i know they will be enough.
The point is with windows as host, as I wrote in my message, is a nightmare to route the various tethering via usb and I think linux is a better way to do it.
I'm asking for a suggestion about a virtualization sw and a network manager.

I think everything i posted makes sense, actually.

On the other hand, if i was an expert of virtual machines, maybe i wouldn't even posted a question.

Peace.

No, it's still going to be problematic no matter what. Windows 11 on 4GB?? Good luck, especially trying to share ONE Core7 CPU for at least 4 machines.
Again, you can use any Linux distro for this. You can use VirtualBox, QEMU, or any number of other virtualization platforms, and a 'network manager' is fairly pointless, since the VM's are only going to have the interface to the host (unless you set more up), which means that if you have an outgoing connection from the host to the Internet you're done. This is EXACTLY the same in Windows.

And again, what makes zero sense is going FROM Windows 11 to Linux, for the SOLE PURPOSE OF RUNNING WINDOWS 11.

At the same time the running vm will be 3, but i need 6 in total, hence i need 6 different internet connections.
Intel core ultra 7 has 16 cores and 22 threads.
I need win11 because of a proprietary sw i need.


I don't understand if you carefully read my post, since i said there will be 1 smartphone per vm fisically connected via usb to share one unique connection per vm.
And yes, is possible even with windows because i did it, but windows is a nightmare about bugs and conflicts and infinite threads about azure, powershell, hyper v manager and a different setup per different version of the same program.

I would need a tip about a way to do in linux 6 bridge connections.
I don't like virtualbox because it emulates, I prefer an os running through the kernel.

And yes, the best way would be hyper v in windows, but is superbuggy.


Edit:
anyway, i will find a way.
Thank you.

Great; and running 6 VM's plus the OS is still going to be a bit much.
So, AGAIN...USE WINDOWS. Why on earth are you going to run Linux for the sole purpose of running Windows, so you can run a proprietary Windows application??? Makes zero sense.
Again, fine...doesn't matter one single bit, since you'll have to share the USB/bluetooth/whatever connection from your cell phone through the host to the VM. So again: each VM is going to see *WHAT YOU TELL IT TO*, which (in this case) will be whatever device you have attached to it. If you connect USB port 1 to VM 1, then you're going to have that device available. Repeat as necessary.
Again, you can use QEMU (mentioned before), along with other Linux solutions.

And this entire endeavor makes no sense...you're wanting to run Windows-only applications under Windows, you have a Windows only solution...yet somehow you think Linux is going to be a good fit??? Sorry, no.

I understand your point, and this is why i never tought to go with Linux to run such a system, and i did with windows.
But it doesn’t work.

In the end, your suggestion is ‘go ask in a windows forum to make it up and running with windows’?

Again: you want/have-to run a Windows only application...that means you need Windows. You (somehow) think that your system is going to be able to run 6 instances of this, and that Linux is somehow going to make it 'easier'. It won't....you want Windows, then you need to run Windows. There is literally zero reason for you to run Linux, at all, for this.

If you want to run Windows, then you DO NOT NEED LINUX, period. So yes, go ask on a Microsoft/Windows forum if you have problems like "doesn't work" with a Windows application running on Windows.

If I understand well you want to have all the VMs independent smartphone based net.
I think your problems will be the same on linux, the solution would be more or less similar on windows and linux.

Agree 100%...especially since the OP wants only Windows 11 to run a Windows-only application, and to work with an iPhone. Not sure what kind of application needs to use an iPhone based Internet connection, but it certainly sounds sketchy.

I also agree the host OS it not necessarily the problem. With USB passthrough (depending on virtualization software) the phone is connected to the guest so Network Manager on the host should not be a factor and your not sharing an internet connection. I have not played with tethering on guests. I also do not know why you would need 6 separate internet connections.

Hi all.

Thank you for your answers.
In the end, i did follow the suggestion and solved with vmware and Windows host.
The problem as you pointed out was to assign single connectiin through usb per vm.
I solved assigning priority to the networks in windows host, so it was independant by the virtualization sw.

I ended up assigning 8GB and 4 cores per vm and it works flawlessy.
As i said, only 3 vms will run at the same time.

Thank you for have pointed me in the right direction.

Edit:
Just to clarify, every vm has a bridge connection, all the connections are active in the host, but i assigned priority to the wifi in the host, so the host will run with wifi and every vm with one single usb tethering.
This system will assign single public ip to the vms and to the host, and this was my goal because of the special need of me being connected in the same website with 3 different users at the same time, everyone with different ip.

Double post.

good to hear that. In that case you might want to mark the thread as solved