I have a 32-bit Windows 8.1 operating system. However, I only have 20 GB on my C Drive. I do not want to use it all up and don't know if in creating a VM, it will take away space from MY computer's hard disks?
Will the RAM for the VM be also taken away from MY computer as well?
24 Answers
About your first question.
Yes, but there you have 2 methods to choose your Virtual Hard Disk.
- Fixed Size image
It will create a Virtual Hard Disk Image with same size as the virtual capacity.
- Dynamically Allocated Image.
It will create a Virtual Hard Disk Image with the same size or almost the same as the used space from the virtual hard disk.
As the picture show.
About your second question.
Yes, but resources will be taken only when VM is running.
@Gerrardio, have a look at this PDF Document; it's a User Manual that will give you everything that you should need to know about Virtual Machines & hopefully answer your current and potentially any new questions you may have.
There is a lot of information in there, however you can click the links in the contents page to get to the information that you're looking for.
HTH
Will the RAM for the VM be also taken away from MY computer as well?
Yes; If you run a virtual machine within a host operating system it will allocate the use of some of your system memory.
I do not want to use it all up and don't know if I create a VM, will it take away space from MY computer's hard disks?
So create the virtual HDD, and connect the virtual machine to that Virtual HDD, which exists on an external storage device.
2Yes. It consumes both RAM (as much as you dedicated to the VM), and storage (the size of the VM you dedicated and currently consumed by the files there).
Be mindful to these parameters especially if you're using a slow / old machines, as the HD file size is significant, and also if you do not have enough RAM for everything, your OS will start using the main HD for scratch disk.
Tip: The older the OS you install on the VM the less memory/disk it will hog...
