I just installed Slackware 13.37 64 bit in a new homebuilt computer, with CPU Intel G620, Motherboard MSI H61I-E35 (B3) LGA 1155, 4GB RAM.

I can't decide which VM route to take, KVM/QEMU or VMWare. I want to have Windows 7 or XP as a guest and also have occasional remote access from the other room, as in remote desktop.

I already have another computer (Slackware 13.1 32 bit, Celeron E3300, 4GB RAM) with VMWare Player and Windows XP as the guest (changed networking from NAT to --bridged? I can't remember) and I installed a remote desktop "service" on the Windows XP guest -TightVNC? I can't remember that either. It works, but leaves a lot to be desired -- slows down the host, kludgy remote access that is too difficult for "click-only" users. Mainly it just slows everything down on the host computer for no apparent reason and it is so annoying I don't use it.

Of course, I have read up on things, but VMWare literature is almost totally marketing blather and KVM/QEMU does not really address remote access at my level of understanding. Since this is a new install, I would like to make the right choices the first time. (I have fully licensed retail Windows, but having to reinstall might mean 20 minutes or more on the phone)

The biggest issue is slowing down the host computer and Windows constantly running up the cpu usage for nothing; it needs to run normally with no lags. It should just sit there quietly and be ready when needed, but otherwise act like any other program.

Hopefully, someone has achieved this goal and has a few pointers.

Only you can decide. Try them both or all of the common ones. Each one has some tricks and odd install and configure so you can't easily install any of them that I know of.

A VM shouldn't slow the system down a lot or much at all if doing nothing. Too low of ram would slow the host down by using swap.

Why would you call anyone on the phone to install xp? On any common vm it is pretty simple as it gets. Should work perfectly.

I use Virtualbox for virtualization, works fine on my system and has inbuilt remote access through RDP.

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to avoid experimentation, but I suppose it is always an experiment.

What about the hardware?

How powerful of a processor and what amount of RAM does one need for virtualization and remote desktops to work smoothly for impatient users?
I find my virtual Windows XP too slow on a Celeron 3400, 4GB ram -- processor too slow; need 64 bit host?

Thanks

The guest is a powerful as you let it be. You have to asign the number of CPU cores and the amount of RAM to be used to the VM. So I would suggest to give at least two cores and 1GB of RAM to a XP VM.