What do I use?

Joe123456 · 25 Apr 2021

I'm not sure if this topic belongs in the networking forum or here, but as far as I searched, there's nothing that can be done on the networking level, so I think it belongs here. So here's the thing:

My employer wants me to use vpn to connect to his local network so I can do my job (I work from home, benefits of working on a pc heh)

But, he uses open vpn. And as far I saw, there's no way on the client side, not for windows anyway, to make it to only pass the traffic of some programs instead of the entire computer traffic through the vpn. And I have 2nd monitor that I usually have a stream in discord or twitch (1080p 60fps) that I check from time to time while I work. Or a youtube video. And if I have to connect through the open vpn my employer gave me, well all the traffic would go through there... So that wouldn't be good. So i told em, hey why not make it so that only the programs that we use go through the vpn, other programs will be unaffected, this way u will have to handle less traffic on the server! And the guy said, oh that's a great idea! And he still hasn't done it... Even tho it prob takes like 20 mins. So now I have to do this on my side. So I got an idea. What if I use windows sandbox and use open vpn in it? I tried it but for some reason, when I open testufo.com the refresh rate of the sandbox is only 32 hertz... Yes I enabled vGpu with config file. My monitor is 144hz so that's a big deal. 32hz is laggy. And even tho I gave it 8gb memory and I got a good cpu and gpu, it did not feel responsive at all. It's also using my hdd for some reason.

So now, what options are left? Virtual Box, VMware? I need something that will work with open vpn and I can do my job in the VM, while on 2nd monitor I will have video/stream running. So thus I need something that I can give a lot of my pc resources to and it will be smooth and responsive, just like my pc. Not a laggy vm with lower refresh rate... Or maybe another sandbox like sandboxie? But I don't know if sandboxie can be configured to work with a vpn inside it. Idk how that would work.

We also tried teamviewer and anydesk, me connecting to the pc there which is in the local network, but those programs are laggy. Not ideal when u are constantly doing stuff on the pc, it slows down work by at least half.

Hopachi · 27 Apr 2021

Sandbox or VM is a good idea.
For work, depending on what you do, you usually don't need 144 hz.
Do you see any real graphics issues as you tested this? Or just the 'number 32'.

Don't bother looking at virtual monitor refresh rates... they're not real. The sandbox still uses your monitor indirectly in its own window. If your real graphics isn't passed trough then it can show anything.

Sandbox, VirtualBox, VMWare... all run on your host pc.
If your real screen is 144Hz then you're good to go. 32 hertz is a good joke.
I've seen beter: 1 hz (ONE) in one of my VMs and all was crisp and clean. So no worries.

pparks1 · 27 Apr 2021

What OS are you running on your main machine? If you are running Windows 10 Pro...you could use Hyper-V. Performance in your VM should be speedy except for something like gaming.

If you aren't on 10 Pro, and rather 10 Home. I would then suggest using Oracle Virtual Box. You will just want to install the Guest Extensions in the VM to get significantly better video performance.

jbcarreon123 · 29 Apr 2021

I would suggest VBox or Vmware if you have Windows 10 Home. Hyper-V if on Windows 10 Pro.
Make sure you have a Guest Tools in every VM.
And I suggest not to go with Windows 10.
Use Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is pretty sluggish to have in VM.
I used Windows 8.1 VM (IE11 VM) in 2 weeks and Windows 10 in 2 days.
Same Ram and CPU number.

Now I using a ancient Windows version (95 and 3.1) and MS-DOS (6.22) and it's pretty snappy. With 1 CPU core and 128mb of ram. Using Vmware bacause of VBox Guest Additions is not available in Windows 9x.
The problem I had is Sharing files and the Vmware SVGA II driver not working.

<off topic question>

Why the text is black? I can't see it in Dark Mode.

What do I use?-screenshot_2021-04-30-09-04-36-49.jpg

Garyw · 13 May 2021

jbcarreon123 said:

I would suggest VBox or Vmware if you have Windows 10 Home. Hyper-V if on Windows 10 Pro.
Make sure you have a Guest Tools in every VM.
And I suggest not to go with Windows 10.
Use Windows 8.1. Windows 10 is pretty sluggish to have in VM.

Windows 10 Pro runs very nicely on Hyper-V, with modern equipment. I have been running my main setup as a virtual machine for several months, and I don't notice any difference between VM and bare metal performance. I'm running 10 Pro, version 20H2 as the VM. The host is Windows10 Pro, running on an Intel i5, 8500. The VM is set to use 2048 Gb of memory, and up to 3 cores. I usually have 2 VM running concurrently, but sometimes as many as 4.

I used to dual or triple boot, but with the modern hardware, I think running Virtual machines is the better choice.

jimbo45 · 14 May 2021

Garyw said:

Windows 10 Pro runs very nicely on Hyper-V, with modern equipment. I have been running my main setup as a virtual machine for several months, and I don't notice any difference between VM and bare metal performance. I'm running 10 Pro, version 20H2 as the VM. The host is Windows10 Pro, running on an Intel i5, 8500. The VM is set to use 2048 Gb of memory, and up to 3 cores. I usually have 2 VM running concurrently, but sometimes as many as 4.

I used to dual or triple boot, but with the modern hardware, I think running Virtual machines is the better choice.

Hi there

@Joe123456
Some VPN's allow "Tunelling" so the VPN can be bypassed for user defined applications - good commercial VPN's like Nordvpn have this facility - however setting up a VM on your local machine is the much better choice - you can still connect to the workplace VPN from your Virtual machine while also having full access to your local machine's applications and hardware.

W10 runs perfectly OK as a Virtual Machine -- I'm running W10 both on VMWare and QEMU/KVM on a Linux Host.

On QEMU/KVM I am getting almost Native speed because of the possibility of "Pass thru" so requiring less paravirtualisation.

This should also be possible in HYPER-V - don't forget though for passthru whatever host you use you need to set IOMMAX on either in the BIOS (or as a Linux kernel boot parameter if using a LINUX host).

You also will need two graphic ports if you want to pass thru graphics as well.

HYPER-V doesn't (officially) run on W10 HOME though. It can run Linux guests BTW although you might have some problems getting GUEST->HOST communication even though the GUEST will have full internet access (if you enable networking of course).

VMWare is probably the easiest to set up for beginners with Virtual machines - the VMWare player is free for home users. Don't forget to install VMWare tools (on the Guest after ist boot) or if using VBOX the Guest additions. These will improve mouse, video, audio etc on the Guest. If running LINUX VM's on VMWare install open-vmtools on the guest.

No need ever these days for 99% of people to dual / triple boot any more -- Virtual machine optimisation and management have significantly improved these days that even lower powered machines can cope and often high end games can also be played on a Virtual machine (best though to have graphics passthru so you have dedicated hardware graphics for the VM).

Points though for W10 HOME VM's and remote machines running W10 HOME wanting to access the VM.

For remote communication to a WINDOWS 10 HOME VM you probably can't use RDP since I think RDP server isn't available on W10 HOME. For local logon with HYPER-V you can use VMConnect of course, however whether that works if you are using a remote machine running W10 HOME - I don't know. There isn't an issue though with remote logons with VBOX, VMWare or KVM/QEMU. Command line access is available of course vis SSH if you don't need the full GUI on your remote box.

I haven't used W10 HOME edition for years so the RDP and VMConnect issues might not exist any more -- if people have got definitive answers for this do please post.

Cheers
jimbo

jbcarreon123 · 14 May 2021

Garyw said:

Windows 10 Pro runs very nicely on Hyper-V, with modern equipment. I have been running my main setup as a virtual machine for several months, and I don't notice any difference between VM and bare metal performance. I'm running 10 Pro, version 20H2 as the VM. The host is Windows10 Pro, running on an Intel i5, 8500. The VM is set to use 2048 Gb of memory, and up to 3 cores. I usually have 2 VM running concurrently, but sometimes as many as 4.

I used to dual or triple boot, but with the modern hardware, I think running Virtual machines is the better choice.

I used W8.1 and W10 in same (1024MB and 2 CPU cores also Guest Additions installed)
And W8.1 is working fine. It will slow, of course.
Windows 10, Nah. Unusable. I get passed by OOBE by 2 suspends.

Windows 8.1 was a Evaluation (90 days)
And Windows 10 was a Home edition (valid Windows 7 Home Premium key)

Host: see system specs

Also, I was have 2 VMs running concurrently, sometimes 4
Note: If I using old OSes (like Win95 to XP and MS-DOS)

jimbo45 · 14 May 2021

jbcarreon123 said:

I used W8.1 and W10 in same (1024MB and 2 CPU cores also Guest Additions installed)
And W8.1 is working fine. It will slow, of course.
Windows 10, Nah. Unusable. I get passed by OOBE by 2 suspends.

Windows 8.1 was a Evaluation (90 days)
And Windows 10 was a Home edition (valid Windows 7 Home Premium key)

Host: see system specs

Also, I was have 2 VMs running concurrently, sometimes 4
Note: If I using old OSes (like Win95 to XP and MS-DOS)

Hi there
Can't help you any more here though. Windows VM's these days run perfectly OK on any sensible host machine provided you have enough RAM and sensible sized fast HDD's. If you've got performance problems then there is something on your HOST machine that's a problem -- I've been running VM's for years and really poor VM performance for me has definitely been a thing that was only a problem YEARS AGO.

Cheers
jimbo