What can be "virtualized" on top of Qubes?

On my normal Linux machine (Ubuntu) I’m running:

  • Windows in a VM (in VirtualBox)
  • Some different Linux in a VM (in Virtual Machine Manager, something called “QEMU”)

What are these various types of VMs technologies out there? And which of them can actually run on top of Qubes? It would be nice if I could abandon that other Ubuntu machine and do everything in Qubes.

1 Like

Not related to Qubes OS, but a quick online search will reveal your answer.

Qubes OS is currently based on the Xen hypervisor.

Which hypervisors can be run on top of Qubes (the Xen hypervisor)…?

Short answer: All of them, but they probably won’t work as expected as if they were running on bare metal

The question I think you’re wanting to ask (correct me if I’m wrong): What virtual machines can be run on top of Qubes OS?

Well, literally any computer code, so all of them.

A hypervisor runs software that pretends to be a full computer, and puts the operating system inside that pretend computer. So, as far as the software is concerned, it has everything it needs to run successfully.

You most certainly can do that. There is nothing stopping you at all.

1 Like

I don’t think this is true, Qubes doesn’t allow nested virtualization.

1 Like

Additional citation:

Qubes runs Xen hypervisor with libvirt (an abstraction layer that can manage various hypervisors, including Xen) and QEMU for device emulation by default.

You can run both windows and linux virtual machines, but I don’t think you can emulate different architecture (at least without a struggle).

Nested virtualization (running virtual machines inside virtual machines) is not there. You might work around this with containers.

1 Like

That’s why I said that last part:

1 Like