Comparison of platform virtualization software

Platform virtualization software, specifically emulators and hypervisors, are software packages that emulate the whole physical computer machine, often providing multiple virtual machines on one physical platform. The table below compares basic information about platform virtualization hypervisors.

General

Name	Creator	Host CPU	Guest CPU	Host OS	Guest OS	License
86Box	Miran Grča	x86, x86-64, ARMv7, AArch64	x86	Windows, Linux, macOS	Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku
bhyve	FreeBSD	x86-64	x86, x86-64	FreeBSD, Illumos	FreeBSD, FreeNAS, pfSense, OpenBSD, Linux, Windows, Illumos
Bochs	Kevin J. Lawton	Any	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, Unix/X11,, macOS, BeOS, MorphOS, OS/2	Windows, Linux, DOS, BSD, OS/2, Haiku
Containers, or Zones	Sun Microsystems	x86, x86-64, SPARC	Same as host	[Solaris (operating system)\|Solaris 10, Solaris (operating system)\|Solaris 11], OpenSolaris 2009.06, illumos distributions	Solaris, illumos, Linux
Cooperative Linux	Dan Aloni, other developers	x86	Same as host	Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista	Linux
CHARON	Stromasys	x86, x86-64	PDP-11, VAX, Alpha, HP3000, Sparc	Windows, Linux	VMS, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, MPE/iX, RSX-11, RT11, RSTS, Solaris, SunOS
Denali	University of Washington	x86	x86	Denali	Ilwaco, NetBSD
DOSBox	Peter Veenstra, Sjoerd with community	Any	x86	Linux, Windows, classic Mac OS, macOS, BeOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, QNX, IRIX, MorphOS, AmigaOS, Maemo, Symbian	Internally emulated MS-DOS shell; self-booting disks, unofficially Windows 1.0 to 98
DOSEMU	Community project	x86, x86-64	x86	Linux	DOS
FreeBSD Jail	Poul-Henning Kamp / FreeBSD	Any running FreeBSD or DragonFly BSD	Same as host	FreeBSD, DragonFly BSD	same as host, plus Linux ABI through compat layer
GXemul	Anders Gavare	Any	ARM, MIPS, Motorola 88000, PowerPC, SuperH	Unix-like	NetBSD, OpenBSD, Linux, Ultrix, Sprite
Hercules	Roger Bowler	Any	z/Architecture	Windows, FreeBSD, NetBSD, Linux, macOS	Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, OS/360, DOS/360, DOS/VS, MVS, VM/370, TSS/370
Hyper-V	Microsoft	x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V	x86-64, x86	Windows Server 2008 w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server	Supported drivers for Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows XP, Windows Vista, FreeBSD, Linux
Hyper-V	Microsoft	x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V, ARMv8	x86-64,, ARMv8	Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and Windows Server 2012 w/Hyper-V role, Microsoft Hyper-V Server	Supported drivers for Windows NT, FreeBSD, Linux	. Component of various Windows editions.
INTEGRITY	Green Hills Software	ARM, x86, PowerPC	Same as host	Linux, Windows	INTEGRITY native, Linux, Android, AUTOSAR, Windows
Integrity Virtual Machines	Hewlett-Packard	IA-64	IA-64	HP-UX	HP-UX, Windows, Linux
JPC (Virtual Machine)	University of Oxford	Any running the Java Virtual Machine	x86	Java Virtual Machine	DOS, Linux, Windows up to 3.0
KVM	Qumranet, now Red Hat	x86, x86-64, IA-64, with x86 virtualization, s390, PowerPC, ARM	Same as host	Linux, illumos	FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Windows, Plan 9
Linux-VServer	Community project	x86, x86-64, IA-64, Alpha, PowerPC 64, PA-RISC 64, SPARC64, ARM, S/390, SH/66, MIPS	Compatible	Linux	Linux variants
LynxSecure	LynuxWorks	x86	x86	No host OS	LynxOS, Linux, Windows
LXC	Community project, Canonical Ltd.	x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64, Itanium, ARM	Same as host	Linux	Linux variants
OKL4 Microvisor	Open Kernel Labs, acquired by General Dynamics Corporation	ARM, x86, MIPS	ARM, ARMv7VE	No Host OS	Various OSes and RTOSes including Linux, Android, QNX
OpenNebula	Open source project managed by OpenNebula Systems	x86, x86-64, ARM	x86, x86-64, ARM, nVidia	No host OS	Windows, Linux	Apache 2.0
OpenVZ	Community project, supported by SWsoft, now Parallels, Inc.	x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC 64, SPARC64	Same as host	Linux	same as host, choice of userland distribution
Oracle VM Server for x86	Oracle Corporation	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	No host OS	Microsoft Windows, Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris	, Oracle VM Server; Manager is proprietary
OVPsim	OVP	x86	OR1K, MIPS32, ARC600/700, ARM; and public API which enables users to write custom processor models, RISC, CISC, DSP, VLIW all possible	Microsoft Windows, Linux	Depends on target machine, for example includes MIPS Malta that runs Linux or SMP-Linux; and includes public API which enables users to write custom peripheral and system models	, Apache 2.0 for models
Parallels Desktop for Mac	Parallels, Inc.	x86	x86, x86-64, aarch64	macOS	DOS, Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, Solaris, Haiku
Parallels Workstation	Parallels, Inc.	x86	x86	Windows, Linux	Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, eComStation, DOS, Solaris, Haiku
PearPC	Sebastian Biallas	x86, x86-64, PowerPC	PowerPC	Windows, Linux,, FreeBSD, NetBSD	, Darwin, Linux
PikeOS	SYSGO	PowerPC, x86, ARM, MIPS, SPARC, RISC-V	Same as host	No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts	PikeOS native, Linux, ELinOS, Windows, POSIX, AUTOSAR, Android, RTEMS, OSEK, ARINC 653 APEX, ITRON
Proxmox VE	Proxmox	x86-64	x86, x86-64	Debian Based	Windows, Linux, Linux variants, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86, virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin
Oracle VM Server for SPARC	Oracle Corporation	UltraSPARC T1, UltraSPARC T2, UltraSPARC T2+, SPARC T3, SPARC T4	Compatible	Solaris 10, Solaris 11	Oracle support: Solaris; unsupported: Linux, FreeBSD
PowerVM	IBM	POWER4, POWER5, POWER6, POWER7, POWER8, POWER9, Power10	POWER4/5/6/7/8/9/Power10, x86	PowerVM Firmware	Linux PowerPC, x86; AIX, IBM i
QEMU	Fabrice Bellard, other developers	x86, x86-64, IA-64, PowerPC, SPARC 32/64, ARM, S/390, MIPS	x86, x86-64, Alpha, ARM, CRIS, LM32, M68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, OpenRisc32, PowerPC, S/390, SH4, SPARC 32/64, Unicore32, Xtensa	Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, BeOS	Changes regularly
QEMU w/ kqemu module	Fabrice Bellard	x86, x86-64	Same as host	Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, Windows	Changes regularly
QEMU w/ qvm86 module	Paul Brook	x86	x86	Linux, NetBSD, Windows	Changes regularly
QuickTransit	Transitive Corp.	x86, x86-64, IA-64, POWER	MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, x86	Linux,, Solaris	Linux,, Irix, Solaris
RTS Hypervisor	Real-Time Systems GmbH	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	No host OS	Windows, Linux, Windows Embedded, QNX, RTOS-32, VxWorks, OS-9, T-Kernel
SIMH	Bob Supnik, The Computer History Simulation Project	Alpha, ARM, HPPA, x86, IA-64, x86-64, M68K, MIPS, MIPSel, POWER, s390, SPARC	Data General Nova, Eclipse; Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-1, PDP-4, PDP-7, PDP-8, PDP-9, PDP-10, PDP-11, PDP-15, VAX; GRI Corporation GRI-909; IBM 1401, 1620, 1130, 7090/7094, System/3; Interdata 16b/32b systems; Hewlett-Packard 2114, 2115, 2116, 2100, 21MX; Honeywell H316/H516; MITS Altair 8800 with 8080 and Z80; Royal McBee LGP-30, LGP-21; Scientific Data Systems SDS 940	BSD, Linux, Solaris, VMS, Windows	Depends on target machine, includes NetBSD/VAX, OpenBSD/VAX, VAX/VMS, Unix v6, Unix v7, TOPS-10, TOPS-20, ITS
Simics	Virtutech, acquired by Intel	x86, x86-64	8051, 68000, ARM, MIPS32, MIPS64, Cavium cnMIPS, Broadcom XLR MIPS, Freescale, IBM, SPARC v8, SPARC v9, x86, x86-64, TI TMS320C64xx, Renesas H8, Renesas SH	Windows 32-bit and 64-bit, Linux 32-bit and 64-bit	Depends on target machine, typically runs unmodified software stacks from the corresponding real target, including VxWorks, VxWorks 653, OSE, QNX, Linux, Solaris, Windows, FreeBSD, RTEMS, TinyOS, Wind River Hypervisor, VMware ESX, and others
Sun xVM Server	Sun Microsystems	x86-64, SPARC	Same as host	No host OS	Windows XP, 2003 Server, Linux, Solaris
SVISTA 2004	Serenity Systems International	x86	x86	Windows, OS/2, Linux	Windows, Linux, OS/2, BSD
TRANGO		ARM, XScale, MIPS, PowerPC	Paravirtualized ARM, MIPS, PowerPC	No host OS, Linux or Windows as dev. hosts	Linux, eCos, μC/OS-II, WindowsCE, Nucleus, VxWorks
User Mode Linux	Jeff Dike, other developers	x86, x86-64, PowerPC	Same as host	Linux	Linux
VirtualBox	Innotek, acquired by Oracle Corporation	x86, x86-64, ARMv8	x86, x86-64, ARMv8	Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, eComStation	DOS, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Haiku, OS/2, Solaris, Syllable, Windows, and OpenBSD.
Virtual Iron 3.1	Virtual Iron Software, Inc., acquired by Oracle	x86 VT-x, x86-64 AMD-V	x86, x86-64	No host OS	Windows, Linux	, some components GPLv2
Virtual Machine Manager	Red Hat	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Linux	Linux, Windows
Virtual PC 2007	Connectix and Microsoft	x86, x86-64	x86	Windows Vista, XP Pro, XP Tablet PC Edition	DOS, Windows, OS/2, Linux, OpenSolaris
Windows Virtual PC	Connectix and Microsoft	x86, x86-64 with Intel VT-x or AMD-V	x86	Windows 7	Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008
Virtual PC 7 for Mac	Connectix and Microsoft	PowerPC	x86		Windows, OS/2, Linux
VirtualLogix VLX	VirtualLogix	ARM, TI DSP C6000, x86, PowerPC	Same as host	No host OS	Linux, Windows XP, C5, VxWorks, Nucleus, DSP/BIOS, proprietary
Virtual Server 2005 R2	Connectix and Microsoft	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows Server 2003, 2008, XP	Windows NT, 2000, 2003, 2008, Linux
Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform	CoWare	x86, x86-64, SPARC v9	Devices including cores from ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, Toshiba MeP, Renesas SH, Texas Instruments, Tensilica, ZSP	Windows, Linux, Solaris	Depends on guest CPU; includes: Linux, μITRON, Windows CE, Symbian, more
Virtuozzo	SWsoft, now	x86, IA-64, x86-64	same as host	Linux	same as host
vkernel	Matthew Dillon / DragonFly BSD	x86-64	same as host	DragonFly BSD	any compatible vkernel binary of DragonFly
VMM	OpenBSD	x86-64	x86, x86-64	OpenBSD	OpenBSD and Linux guests
VMware ESX Server	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	No host OS	Windows, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, OSx86, virtual appliances, Netware, OS/2, SCO, BeOS, Haiku, Darwin, others: runs arbitrary OS
VMware ESXi	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	No host OS	Same as VMware ESX Server
VMware Fusion	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	macOS	Same as VMware ESX Server
VMware Server	VMware	x86, x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	Same as VMware ESX Server
VMware Workstation	VMware	x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	Same as VMware ESX Server
VMware Player, later VMware Workstation Player	VMware	x86-64	x86, x86-64	Windows, Linux	Same as VMware ESX Server	, free for personal non-commercial use
Wind River Hypervisor	Wind River	x86, x86-64, PowerPC, ARM	Same as host	No host OS	Linux, VxWorks, unmodified guests, bare metal virtual board
Xen	Xensource, Now Citrix Systems	x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64, PowerPC	Same as host	Linux, Unix-like	Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008 or AMD-V, Plan 9
XCP-ng	By Vates SAS	x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64, PowerPC	Same as host	No host OS	Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows, Windows Server 2008, Plan 9
XenServer	By Citrix Systems	x86, x86-64, ARM, IA-64, PowerPC	Same as host	No host OS	Linux, FreeBSD, MiniOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows 7/XP/Vista/Server 2008, Plan 9
XtratuM	fentISS	SPARC v8 LEON2/3/4, ARM v7	Same as host	No host OS	GPOS: Linux, RTOS: LithOS, RTEMS	, GPL version 2 depending on versions
z/VM	IBM	z/Architecture	z/Architecture, z/VM does not run on predecessor mainframes	No host OS, itself	Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, VM/CMS, MUSIC/SP, OpenSolaris for System z, predecessors
z LPARs	IBM	z/Architecture	z/Architecture	Integrated in firmware of System z mainframes	Linux on IBM Z, z/OS, z/VSE, z/TPF, z/VM, MUSIC/SP, and predecessors
Name	Creator	Host CPU	Guest CPU	Host OS	Guest OS	License

Features

Name	Guest OS SMP available	Runs arbitrary OS	Supported guest OS drivers	Method of operation	Typical use	Speed relative to host OS	Commercial support available
Containers, or Zones	, over 500-way on current systems		Uses native device drivers	Operating system-level virtualization	Server consolidation with workload isolation, single workload containment, hosting, dev/test/prod	Near native
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2	, up to 4 VCPUs per VM			Virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, desktop virtualization, cloud computing	Up to near native
OpenVZ			Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Virtualized server isolation	Up to near native
KVM				AMD-V and Intel-VT-x	Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes	Up to near native
Linux-VServer			Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Virtualized server isolation and security, server consolidation, cloud computing	Up to near native
Oracle VM Server for x86				Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization	Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment	Up to near native
Oracle VM Server for SPARC		, but needs porting		Paravirtualization and hardware virtualization	Server consolidation and security, enterprise and business deployment	Up to near native
OVPsim				Full system simulation with optional component virtualization	Software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, hobbyist	Depends on target architecture	, with commercial license from Imperas
PikeOS		, but modifications required as paravirtualization is used		Paravirtualization	Safety and security critical embedded systems.	Up to near native
Simics				Full system simulation of processors, MMUs, devices, disks, memories, networks, etc.	Software development, advanced debug for single and multicore software, compiler and other tool development, computer architecture research, bug transportation, automated testing, system architecture, long-term support of safety-critical systems, early hardware availability, virtual prototyping	Depends on host machine and target architecture. Runs at near-native speeds for x86-on-x86 using VT-x, cross-simulation of other architectures can be faster or slower than real-time depending on how fast the target is and how big the target is
Sun xVM Server				Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization	Servers, Development	Up to near native	Yes
SVISTA 2004					Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation
TRANGO				Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization	Mob. phone, STB, routers, etc.	Near native
User Mode Linux			special guest kernel+modules required	Porting	Developer	Non-significantly slower than native
OKL4 Microvisor		,		Paravirtualization, Hardware assisted virtualization	Mobile, embedded, security, safety critical, networking, legacy OS, etc.	Near native
Oracle VirtualBox				Virtualization	Business workstation, server consolidation, service continuity, developer, hobbyist	Up to near native
Virtual Iron 3.1	, up to 8 way			Native virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test	?
Virtual PC 2007				Virtualization, guest calls trapping where supported	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	Up to near native with virtual machine additions
Windows Virtual PC				Hardware virtualization	Developer, Business workstation, support for Compatibility with Windows XP applications	Up to near native with virtual machine additions
Virtual PC 7 for Mac				dynamic recompilation	Hobbyist, Developer, Business workstation	Slow
Virtual Server 2005 R2				Virtualization	Server, server farm	Up to near native with virtual machine additions but slower than with hypervisor due to proxied calls
CoWare Virtual Platform				Full-system virtualization	Early embedded software development and integration, Multi-core software debugging and optimization	Depending on the system characteristics and the software itself, ranges from faster than real time to slow.
Virtuozzo			Compatible	Operating system-level virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, disaster recovery, service providers	Up to near native
VMware ESXi Server 5.5	, add-on, up to 64 way			Virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing, business critical applications, Infrastructure as a Service IaaS	Up to near native
VMware ESX Server 4.0	, add-on, up to 8 way			Virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test, cloud computing	Up to near native
VMware ESX Server 3.0	, add-on, up to 4 way			Virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test	Up to near native
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3	, add-on, 2 way			Virtualization	Server consolidation, service continuity, dev/test	Up to near native
VMware Fusion				Virtualization	Hobbyist, Developer, Tester, Business workstation	Up to near native
VMware Server				Virtualization	Server/desktop consolidation, dev/test	Up to near native
VMware Workstation				Paravirtualization and virtualization	Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer	Up to near native
VMware Player				Virtualization	Technical professional, advanced dev/test, trainer, end user on prebuilt machines	Up to near native
Xen	, v4.0.0: up to 128 VCPUs per VM			Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization	Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode.	Up to native
XenServer				Paravirtualization and porting or hardware virtualization	Virtualized server isolation, server/desktop consolidation, software development, cloud computing, other purposes. Xen powers most public cloud services and many hosting services, such as Amazon Web Services, Rackspace Hosting and Linode.	Up to native
XtratuM				Paravirtualization	Embedded, safety critical, secure	Near to native
z/VM	, both real and virtual, incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment		, but not required	Virtualization	Servers	Near native
z LPARs	, both real and virtual, incl. dynamic CPU provisioning and reassignment; up to 64 real cores		, but not required	Microcode and hardware hypervisor	Servers	Native: System z machines always run with at least one LPAR
Name	Guest OS SMP available	Runs arbitrary OS	Supported guest OS drivers	Method of operation	Typical use	Speed relative to host OS	Commercial support available

Providing any virtual environment usually requires some overhead of some type or another. Native usually means that the virtualization technique does not do any CPU level virtualization, which executes code more slowly than when it is directly executed by a CPU. Some other products such as VMware and Virtual PC use similar approaches to Bochs and QEMU, however they use a number of advanced techniques to shortcut most of the calls directly to the CPU to bring the speed to near native in most cases. However, some products such as coLinux, Xen, z/VM do not suffer the cost of CPU-level slowdowns as the CPU-level instructions are not proxied or executing against an emulated architecture since the guest OS or hardware is providing the environment for the applications to run under. However access to many of the other resources on the system, such as devices and memory may be proxied or emulated in order to broker those shared services out to all the guests, which may cause some slow downs as compared to running outside of virtualization.
OS-level virtualization is described as "native" speed, however some groups have found overhead as high as 3% for some operations, but generally figures come under 1%, so long as secondary effects do not appear.
See for a paper comparing performance of paravirtualization approaches with OS-level virtualization
Requires patches/recompiling.
Exceptional for lightweight, paravirtualized, single-user VM/CMS interactive shell: largest customers run several thousand users on even single prior models. For multiprogramming OSes like Linux on IBM Z and z/OS that make heavy use of native supervisor state instructions, performance will vary depending on nature of workload but is near native. Hundreds into the low thousands of Linux guests are possible on a single machine for certain workloads.

Image type compatibility

Name

folders on host

Integrity Virtual Machines

JPC (Virtual Machine)

Oracle VM Server for x86

Oracle VM Server for SPARC

OVPsim

Parallels Desktop for Mac

Parallels Workstation

QEMU w/ kqemu module

QEMU w/ qvm86 module

QuickTransit

SIMH

Simics

Sun xVM Server

SVISTA 2004

TRANGO

User Mode Linux

VirtualBox

Virtual Iron 3.1

Virtual PC 2007

Windows Virtual PC

Virtual PC 7 for Mac

VirtualLogix VLX

Virtual Server 2005 R2

Synopsys (CoWare) Virtual Platform

Wind River Hypervisor

Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform

z LPARs

Name

floppy

ISO

folders on host

Other features

Name	Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest	USB support	GUI	Live memory allocation	3D acceleration	Snapshots per VM	Snapshot of running system	Live migration	Shared folders	Shared clipboard	PCI passthrough
KVM
User Mode Linux
Containers, or Zones
DosBox
Oracle VirtualBox, with Guest Additions						branched
Oracle VirtualBox with Extension Pack and Guest Additions						branched
Oracle VM Server for SPARC
OKL4 Microvisor			VMs only
Virtual Iron 4.2
Virtual PC 2007
Windows Virtual PC
VirtualPC 7 for Mac
Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2						branched
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2						branched
Virtuozzo
VMware ESX Server 3.0 atp
VMware ESX Server 2.5.3
VMware ESX Server 4.0 – 6.x
VMware Fusion 2.0
VMware Server						1
VMware Workstation 5.5					; also supported with VMGL	branched
VMware Workstation 6.0					; Also supported with VMGL	branched
VMware Workstation 7.0 and 8.0					.	branched
VMware Player					supported with VMGL
Wind River hypervisor
Wind River VxWorks MILS Platform
Xen					Supported with VMGL
XenServer					Supported with VMGL
z/VM
z LPARs
Name	Can boot an OS on another disk partition as guest	USB	GUI	Live memory allocation	3D acceleration	Snapshots per VM	Snapshot of running system	Live migration	Shared folders	Shared clipboard	PCI passthrough

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 have limited support for redirecting the USB protocol over RDP using RemoteFX.
Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 adds accelerated graphics support for certain editions of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Windows 7 SP1 using RemoteFX.

Restrictions

This table is meant to outline restrictions in the software dictated by licensing or capabilities.

Name	Maximum host cores / CPUs	Maximum host memory	Maximum host disk volume size	Maximum number of guest VM running	Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest	Maximum amount of memory per VM guest	Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest	Maximum disk size per VM guest
Containers, or Zones	No theoretical limit	32 TB	No limit	8191	No limit	No limit	No limit	No limit
VMware Player 15.0	No limit	No limit	No limit	No limit	16	4 GB ; 64 GB	?	8 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	160 logical cores	1 TB	2 TB minus 512 bytes	320	8	255 GB	4 IDE; 60 SCSI	2 TB minus 512 bytes
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	160 logical cores	2 TB	64 TB	512	32	1 TB	4 IDE; 60 SCSI	2 TB minus 512 bytes
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs	4 TB	Depending on filesystem	512	8	1 TB	4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA	62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	16 NUMA Nodes / 320 logical CPUs	4 TB	Depending on filesystem	512	64	1 TB	4 IDE; 60 SCSI; 120 SATA	62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	16 NUMA Nodes / 768 logical CPUs	16 TB	Depending on filesystem	1024	256	6128 GB	4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe	62 TB
VMware vSphere Hypervisor	16 NUMA Nodes / 896 logical CPUs	24 TB	Depending on filesystem	1024	768	24 TB	4 IDE; 256 SCSI; 120 SATA; 60 NVMe	62 TB
VirtualBox	No limit	No limit	No limit	No limit	32	No limit	4 IDE; no limit for SATA, SCSI, SAS	GUI: 2 TB Command line: no limit
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2	64 cores / 8 CPUs	1 TB	No limit	384	4	64 GB	4 IDE; 256 SCSI	2 TB
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012	320 cores / 64 CPUs	4 TB	No limit	1024	64	1 TB	4 IDE; 256 SCSI	64 TB
Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016	512 cores / 320 CPUs	24 TB	No limit	1024	240	12 TB	4 IDE; 256 SCSI	64 TB
Name	Maximum host cores / CPUs	Maximum host memory	Maximum host disk volume size	Maximum number of guest VM running	Maximum number of logical CPU per VM guest	Maximum amount of memory per VM guest	Maximum number of SCSI + IDE disks per VM guest	Maximum disk size per VM guest

Note: No limit means no enforced limit. For example, a VM with 1 TB of memory cannot fit in a host with only 8 GB memory and no memory swap disk, so it will have a limit of 8 GB physically.