Is It Possible That OS In Virtual-box Or VMware Gets Affected By Virus ?

Replies

• 

  Nayan Goenka

  Well, that is a good question. Yes it gets affected by Virus. It is just another machine running. Nowadays servers are being hosted in virtual environment. doesnt mean that it won't get affected by virus.
• 

  pradeep.pawar

  Nayan Goenka

  Well, that is a good question. Yes it gets affected by Virus. It is just another machine running. Nowadays servers are being hosted in virtual environment. doesnt mean that it won't get affected by virus.

  Another thing would like to know, see virtual hdd is 1tb and base hdd 500 gb, then will I be allowed to use more than 500 gb of space in virtual OS?
• 

  Kaustubh Katdare

  I think his question is - whether a virus on the 'host machine' would affect the virtual machine. I think 'yes' - there's a possibility if you're copying infected files from the host to the virtual client. Not sure if there exists any malware that'd directly affect the virtual machine.
• 

  pradeep.pawar

  Kaustubh Katdare

  I think his question is - whether a virus on the 'host machine' would affect the virtual machine. I think 'yes' - there's a possibility if you're copying infected files from the host to the virtual client. Not sure if there exists any malware that'd directly affect the virtual machine.

  See I have windows 8 on virtual box and if I visit any website having any malware will that affect windows 8
• 

  Jeffrey Arulraj

  pradeep.pawar

  See I have windows 8 on virtual box and if I visit any website having any malware will that affect windows 8

  As long as you don't drag the files with the virus into your virtual box and try to do some tweaking to the Windows 8 Fire wall your virtual box won't be affected
  
  PS: It is not easy for your system to get affected unless you force something on it, Like opening an infected file, pinging a viral link etc.,
• 

  Nayan Goenka

  pradeep.pawar

  Another thing would like to know, see virtual hdd is 1tb and base hdd 500 gb, then will I be allowed to use more than 500 gb of space in virtual OS?

  
  
  In virtual environment, your data is stored in super decompressed manner. The amount of disk space you allot in virtual environment, consumes much less in real scenario. So if you already allocated 1tb in virtual, it will give you that much storage.
  
  for the virus issue,
  

  • if you are networking within virtual environment, it is prone to get infected.
  • if you are networking outside virtual environment, it is safe provided two cases:

  1. You dont copy infected files into the virtual environment.
  2. Any virus in your host environment DOES not target the installation files of your host environment.
• 

  pradeep.pawar

  Nayan Goenka

  In virtual environment, your data is stored in super decompressed manner. The amount of disk space you allot in virtual environment, consumes much less in real scenario. So if you already allocated 1tb in virtual, it will give you that much storage.
  
  for the virus issue,
  

  • if you are networking within virtual environment, it is prone to get infected.
  • if you are networking outside virtual environment, it is safe provided two cases:

  1. You dont copy infected files into the virtual environment.
  2. Any virus in your host environment DOES not target the installation files of your host environment.

  Thanks Nayan
• 

  Abhishek Rawal

  Actually there are viruses which can actually come out of realm of virtual machine & plague your PC. Read this : #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  In the end if you wanna stay away from virus infection via Virtual Machine then disabling x86 virtualization is the only option I can see.
  Or else use VM from Linux, but don't install Wine, else there are chances of getting infected.
• 

  Nayan Goenka

  Abhishek Rawal

  Actually there are viruses which can actually come out of realm of virtual machine & plague your PC. Read this : #-Link-Snipped-#
  
  In the end if you wanna stay away from virus infection via Virtual Machine then disabling x86 virtualization is the only option I can see.
  Or else use VM from Linux, but don't install Wine, else there are chances of getting infected.

  
  
  If you will go for cross platform support, like you said wine, it is already creating one virtual environment and on top of that the OS gets all messed up. This is actually not healthy for the computer. The RAM degradation rate will be out of bounds.
• 

  Abhishek Rawal

  You're mistaken buddy. VM is available for Linux too.
  I am saying that install VM in Linux & then use any Windows OS in Virtualisation, so that if there's any virus incoming from Windows which is running in virtual machine, your data will be safe & your PC won't be harmed as Windows virus won't affect Linux OS, until wine is installed. (Windows Viruses can harm Linux only through wine)
• 

  Nayan Goenka

  Abhishek Rawal

  You're mistaken buddy. VM is available for Linux too.
  I am saying that install VM in Linux & then use any Windows OS in Virtualisation, so that if there's any virus incoming from Windows which is running in virtual machine, your data will be safe & your PC won't be harmed as Windows virus won't affect Linux OS, until wine is installed. (Windows Viruses can harm Linux only through wine)

  
  
  You are considering Wine as medium. But I can assure you one thing,
  
  Nothing can directly affect host environment via any type of scripting unless there is any type of transfer of data from within.
  
  Not even if there is wine installed on host.
• 

  Abhishek Rawal

  Nayan Goenka

  You are considering Wine as medium. But I can assure you one thing,
  
  Nothing can directly affect host environment via any type of scripting unless there is any type of transfer of data from within.
  
  Not even if there is wine installed on host.

  Did I used term 'directly' ? I am simply saying it is possible.
  And yes it is possible when bridged networking is used.
  
  Also,If VM is plagued with virus that targets Vmware or Virtual-box, then there is possibility that virus moves out to the host.But that alone depends on the malware, how is it coded & it's function.
  VM Applications are not bug-free & full proof remember that.
  
  So, if with such worms can strike to the host, Linux users won't have any problem.But certain virus do run with Wine, so it's better that if you are using Linux machine as host to run Windows OS then don't install wine binaries.