Bootcamp or VirtualBox

Hello everyone,

My very first topic . So my question regarding using bootcamp or virtualbox,

If i´m using bootcamp, does it keep my IOS clean, even if i have my bootcamp partition totally messed up and full of viruses ? or those viruses what are in Bootcamp sector can affect my IOS sector as well ?
Using Virtual machines its clear that if you mess up you can always delete Image and start over, but how it works with bootcamp ?


Best Regards,

In theory, and since 99% of all viruses are written to affect Windows, a virtualbox or bootcamp install of Windows will not affect your OS X partition.

Bootcamp is setup on it's own partition and you must boot and select it to enter Windows - or OS X. If it get messed up it can be deleted by using the bootcamp app but I have read where people have some issues. I have one macbook running Windows 10 in bootcamp and currently have had no issues. I do run antivirus with Windows 10.

As for virtualbox, yes you can just create your Windows install within OS X and if it messes up you just delete it.

Which is the cleaner method? It depends on how you define it. I have used both and have had no issues with either. If all you want to do is install and play then if you mess it up, delete it, in my opinion the easiest would be virtualbox.

As always, create a backup of OS X. Time Machine is good but I would also use something like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to clone OS X before I started experimenting. One nice thing is if you use bootcamp the cloners only clone the OS X side.

Lisa

For the bulk of users, using a virtualization software like VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion or Parallels will be enough to run Windows and the program they care about. Those who venture down the Bootcamp route are those who want to play games or run Windows apps that are VERY hard to get running through virtualization because of their CPU/Graphics demands.

On the other hand, unless you are very careful with Bootcamp, it is very easy to totally mess up partitions and render your machine unable to boot either into Windows or OS X, so definitely follow member lclev's suggestions and make a good backup of your data before you try anything..

And to reinforce what Lisa advised ~ make sure you run antivirus software on the BootCamp partition.

Personally, I like VirtualBox (specifically). It's very easy to spin up instances of all kinds of machine types, including Linux, and run everything side-by-side with each other. Being able to copy a link from MacOS and paste it into a browser in the Windows virtual machine is sometimes convenient and useful. Plus, I like that I can export the entire VM, copy it over to another system entirely, and import it over there. You can also very easily make snapshot backups of the virtual machine so that you can quickly and easily roll back to a specific point in time without having to rely on Windows to do it correctly.

You need to run Anti Virus on Windows, regardless of where it runs, because, well, it's Windows.

Like Lisa stated - since "almost all" viruses are written for Windows, there's extremely little chance of a Windows-based virus infecting your Mac regardless of whether you're running the Windows instance as a VM or via Boot Camp.

Before you make a choice, read up on bootcamp and the issues that ( potentially ) come with it.

Cheers ... McBie