How can I use two operating systems on one computer simultaneously?

Some material is very old and may be incorrect today

© July 2015 Anthony Lawrence

Raoul asks:

How can I use two operating systems on one computer simultaneously?

Virtualization lets you actually run another operating system at the cost of some performance (the virtualized OS won't be as fast as it is on real hardware). There are free virtualization products, though paid versions offer more features.

Not everything can be virtualized, or if it can be it may exhibit problems with one or another virtualization product. For example, I'm often asked if older SCO Unix can be run in a virtual machine. The answer is that yes, it can, but you may have difficulty installing it (and I have no interest in helping, for love or money).

There may be legal obstacles, too. Apple says you can virtualize its server OS, but only on Apple hardware.

Is it legal to use Macintosh virtual machine hosted by Windows operating system?

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