Welcome to .

is a cross-platform virtualization application. What does that mean? For one thing, it installs on your existing Intel or AMD-based computers, whether they are running Windows, macOS, Linux, or Oracle Solaris operating systems (OSes). Second, it extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that it can run multiple OSes, inside multiple virtual machines, at the same time. As an example, you can run Windows and Linux on your Mac, run Windows Server on your Linux server, run Linux on your Windows PC, and so on, all alongside your existing applications. You can install and run as many virtual machines as you like. The only practical limits are disk space and memory.

is deceptively simple yet also very powerful. It can run everywhere from small embedded systems or desktop class machines all the way up to data center deployments and even Cloud environments.

The following screenshot shows how , installed on an Apple Mac computer, is running Windows Server 2016 in a virtual machine window.

Windows Server 2016 Virtual Machine, Displayed on a macOS Host Windows Server 2016 Virtual Machine, Displayed on a macOS Host

In this User Manual, we will begin simply with a quick introduction to virtualization and how to get your first virtual machine running with the easy-to-use graphical user interface. Subsequent chapters will go into much more detail covering more powerful tools and features, but fortunately, it is not necessary to read the entire User Manual before you can use .

You can find a summary of 's capabilities in . For existing users who just want to find out what is new in this release, see the Change Log.