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What is a virtual machine?
A virtual machine is a pretend computer that runs as a program inside your real computer.
- Category GitHub & code
- Also called VM
- Updated 20 Oct 2026
Virtual machine, explained simply
A virtual machine, or VM, has its own system and files, but it uses your real computer's hardware.
What happens inside it stays inside it. That makes it good for testing risky software.
For example, you could run Windows inside a VM on a Mac.
It uses more memory than a container, since it runs a whole system.
On ITG Now, our guides and news stories mention virtual machines when a tool or cloud service runs code in a safe, separate space.
Related terms
ContainerDockerSandboxWSLCloud computing
Where you'll see it on ITG Now
- GuideApple Container: Run Linux Containers on Mac for Free
- GuideDeepSeek Harness: DeepSeek's Free Open-Source AI Agent
- GuideREA: Reverse Engineer Anything With Your AI Agent (2026)
Questions people ask about Virtual machine
Is a virtual machine free?
Some VM programs are free and others are paid. The system you run inside may need its own license.
Virtual machine vs container: what is the difference?
A VM runs a full system of its own. A container shares your computer's system and is lighter.
Is a virtual machine safe for testing?
It is safer than your main system, but not perfect. Keep it updated and avoid sharing sensitive files with it.