A virtual machine is a special program designed to emulate another operating system. Typically, a virtual machine is launched on an OS, while emulating a new physical computer.
The use of virtual machine technologies allows multiple operating systems to run on one physical computer at the same time. Sometimes it can be quite difficult to even install two different operating systems on one computer. This may require a fairly complex sequence of actions.
Virtual machines are often used to learn new operating systems. The user can quickly switch between different operating systems to obtain the desired information.
While working in a specific system environment, you may need to run an application developed for a different OS. It can take a long time to restart your computer and boot another system. Using a virtual machine can greatly speed up this process.
Another common use for virtual machines is to scan certain applications for threats. It is much safer to run a program in a virtual machine environment than in the host operating system. It should be noted that the use of a VM provides the ability to quickly exchange data between active systems.
Virtual machines are often used by developers of software designed to work with a wide range of operating systems. This allows you to almost instantly check the functionality of individual software functions on multiple systems.
Quite often, certain types of virtual machines are used to manage clusters. In this case, this word means a set of computers combined into a single scheme to perform common tasks. A virtual machine can be easily transferred from one computer to another. Installing and fully configuring a new operating system takes incomparably longer.
