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**ZDNET Key Takeaways:**
If you rely on Linux and find yourself frequently spinning up virtual machines, Virt-Manager deserves serious consideration. This tool proves to be remarkably robust—offering a level of reliability that surpasses VirtualBox—and, as an additional advantage, it is entirely free and open-source.
For many years, I’ve been one of VirtualBox’s most vocal advocates. Throughout my career as a technology writer, I have authored what must now amount to hundreds of pieces discussing VirtualBox’s functionality, features, and quirks across numerous platforms and publications. I have also used it to create thousands of virtual machines, which played a pivotal role in enabling me to test, review, and write comprehensively about the Linux ecosystem. VirtualBox had long served as a fundamental part of my workflow—until recently, when my loyalty finally reached its breaking point.
### Why I Abandoned VirtualBox
A few weeks ago, and without any prior warning, a critical malfunction forced me to confront a hard truth: VirtualBox was no longer dependable. At a moment when I urgently needed to create virtual machines for a project, the software simply refused to cooperate. Having encountered a similar situation just a week earlier, I initially attempted the same remedy that had rescued me in the past—a complete purge and reinstall of VirtualBox. Unfortunately, this time that solution failed entirely. No amount of tinkering, reinstalling, or manual configuration could restore the tool to proper working order.
This was not a one-off annoyance. Over the years, VirtualBox has repeatedly presented inexplicable errors, forcing me to perform time-consuming uninstallations and reinstallations just to regain basic functionality. On more than one occasion, even those efforts were insufficient. To make matters worse, the cryptic error messages provided no useful information, leaving me to troubleshoot blindly. After so many recurrent breakdowns, my patience had worn thin. It was time to move on.
Years back, I had experimented with another virtualization stack that had left me somewhat ambivalent. In certain aspects, that toolset surpassed VirtualBox, though it also required a steeper learning curve. This alternative involved a combination of two elements: **KVM** (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) and **Virt-Manager**.
### Understanding KVM
KVM, which stands for *Kernel-based Virtual Machine*, is an open-source virtualization infrastructure that resides natively within the Linux kernel. Unlike VirtualBox—which exists as a separate, user-space application that must be installed and configured—KVM is intrinsically embedded in the operating system itself. It leverages hardware virtualization extensions such as Intel VT and AMD-V, enabling virtual machines to achieve near-native performance. In practical terms, this means that Linux users are already equipped with KVM out of the box: there is no separate installation required. Because KVM is integral to the kernel, it inherits Linux’s inherent stability and efficiency, making it a more reliable foundation for virtualization than VirtualBox could ever be.
### Introducing Virt-Manager
Where KVM provides the underlying framework for virtualization, **Virt-Manager** supplies the graphical interface that enables users to manage and control those virtual machines. In essence, Virt-Manager is a GUI front-end for KVM and the associated libvirt library. While it might not boast the most cutting-edge design aesthetics, its practicality and user-friendliness compensate for any visual simplicity. The interface offers a comprehensive and intuitive means of interacting with KVM, thereby eliminating much of the complexity of handling virtual machines directly through terminal commands.
It’s worth clarifying one point that sometimes causes confusion in the community: although Red Hat deprecated Virt-Manager in favor of its own management tool, Cockpit, that decision applies primarily to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) environments. Outside of RHEL, Virt-Manager remains fully supported and actively developed across major Linux distributions. Personally, I find Cockpit less approachable—it requires several extra steps to configure correctly—whereas Virt-Manager continues to provide a straightforward, effective, and efficient solution for virtualization management.
### Ease of Use: Virt-Manager vs. VirtualBox
Comparing the two tools reveals a nuanced picture. VirtualBox’s well-known advantage lies in its simplicity—when everything works as expected. Creating virtual machines under normal circumstances is quick and relatively effortless. However, when errors occur, the experience rapidly deteriorates. Users may find themselves puzzling over which video driver to select or uncertain whether UEFI should be enabled or disabled. Those small uncertainties can easily snowball into major frustration.
Virt-Manager, by contrast, introduces a different set of initial challenges. Its concept of **storage pools**, for example, requires some acclimation. By default, Virt-Manager stores virtual machines on the same disk as the primary operating system. For users who, like me, regularly create large numbers of VMs, that arrangement is impractical. Setting up dedicated storage pools becomes essential. At first, the process can feel cumbersome, but with a bit of experience it quickly becomes intuitive, providing far better control over how and where your virtualization resources are allocated.
Networking presents another critical comparison point. In VirtualBox, ensuring that a VM could communicate with other devices on my local network required manually switching to a bridged network adapter each time. Forgetting that step meant that the virtual machine was effectively isolated. Virt-Manager, impressively, handles this out of the box: it uses bridged networking by default. After the VM launches, all that remains is to verify its IP address—no extra configuration necessary.
When I first encountered Virt-Manager years ago, I considered it markedly less accessible than VirtualBox. Today, that impression has changed completely. With each refinement, it has matured into a remarkably stable and user-friendly application. In contrast, VirtualBox’s reliability has declined to the point where it often consumes far more of my time. Virt-Manager spares me the frequent troubleshooting sessions that VirtualBox once demanded, freeing me to focus on actual work instead of fighting software instability.
### Weighing the Learning Curve
Admittedly, Virt-Manager does require users to invest a few additional minutes of learning. Its interface and terminology—especially concepts like storage pools and networks—may be unfamiliar at first. However, the payoff is substantial. Once acquainted, users gain a virtualization environment that delivers near-native performance, integrates seamlessly with Linux’s kernel, and functions consistently without unexpected breakdowns. In my experience, that trade-off more than compensates for the comparatively minor inconvenience of initial setup.
### How to Install Virt-Manager
Another significant benefit is that Virt-Manager is both **free of charge** and **straightforward to install**. Given that KVM already resides within the Linux kernel, users merely need to add a graphical front-end and supporting packages. The process varies slightly depending on your Linux distribution:
– **Ubuntu or Debian-based systems:**
`sudo apt-get install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils virt-manager -y`
– **Fedora-based distributions:**
`sudo dnf group install –with-optional virtualization`
– **Arch-based systems:**
`sudo pacman -S –needed qemu virt-manager dnsmasq iptables-nft`
Once these components are installed, enabling and starting the libvirt service ensures that everything runs smoothly:
`sudo systemctl enable –now libvirtd`
You may also need to associate your user account with the libvirt group:
`sudo usermod -aG libvirt $USER`
After logging out and back in, those changes take effect, granting full access to virtualization management. From there, creating and running your first virtual machine with Virt-Manager and KVM is just a few clicks away.
In short, Virt-Manager represents the logical next step for Linux users seeking a reliable, high-performing, and truly integrated virtualization solution—one that not only matches but, in crucial respects, decisively surpasses VirtualBox.
Sourse: https://www.zdnet.com/article/virt-manager-better-more-reliable-vm-manager-than-virtualbox/
