Remote Desktop vs Virtual Machine: What Are the Differences?

Remote Desktop vs Virtual Desktop

Have you ever thought about that, Remote Desktop vs Virtual Desktop, what are they, and are there any differences between them? If you want to know the information about them or you have difficulty in choosing them, the post will give you a brief explanation and comparison to help you make a choice. Keep reading!

What’s Remote Desktop?

Remote Desktop is a remote access tool that allows you to connect to computers on the other side while also controlling many machines from a single device or PC. Simply said, users can connect to a remote computer and interact with its desktop via a graphical interface as if they were sitting in front of it.

What’s Virtual Machine?

Virtual Machine(VM) is a hypervisor-based encapsulation of a computer or server. For a single piece of hardware, the hypervisor can handle numerous virtual PCs or servers at the same time. It can run as a separate computing environment in a window, often to run a different operating system. And the program running inside it cannot interfere with the host computer's main operating system.

The differences between Remote Desktop and Virtual Desktop

RDP vs VM, what are the concrete differences between them. Here in this part, the comparison in the aspects of function, operating system, efficiency and the way to run is introduced to you.

Function:

Remote Desktop is a client application that is used to remotely access or control a PC from another PC. When the connection is established, the remote desktop will be shown on the local PC as if you are sitting in front of it. While Virtual Machine is literally an encapsulation of a PC or server that runs on a hypervisor. The hypervisor can manage multiple virtual PCs or servers for a single piece of hardware. VM is widely used by companies because it is more cost-effective than bare-metal servers.

Efficiency: 

Virtual Machine can deliver faster desktop provisioning. But compared with Remote Desktop, the setup is more complicated and the efficiency is reduced.

The way to run:

Different from Remote Desktop, Virtual Machine is a computer resource that relies on software to run programs. But Remote Desktop relies on hardware, which is a Windows-built-in feature.

Find a less-limited way to access? AnyViewer is ready for you！

After reading the text above, you must know the differences between virtual Machine and Remote Desktop. It needs to be mentioned that Remote Desktop not only can be used to access physical machines but also can be utilized to control Virtual Machine. If you need to access a PC or Virtual Machine regularly but meet with an RDP error like “Access is denied”, we recommend a professional alternative to RDP-- AnyViewer.

As an easy-operated and high-responsive remote access software, AnyViewer can give you a better experience. And you can achieve remote access everywhere and every time with one click. Follow me to know how to operate.

Step 1. Sign up for an AnyViewr account on its official website. Then, Launch AnyViewer on both computers. Log in to this account on the two computers.

Step 3. After that, you can see you successfully logged in to AnyViewer. And 2 devices will automatically be assigned to the account you’ve logged in to.

Step 4. Then, click "Device", choose the PC that will be accessed and choose "One-click control". Then, you are able to take full control of the remote PC with one click.

Note: If you don’t need to assist a friend remotely, you can also resort to “Send a Control Request”. 

Conclusion

Remote Desktop vs Virtual Machine, do you know the differences between them now? After analyzing them from the perspective of function, operating system, the way to run, and efficiency, I bet you must know more about them. If you tend to remotely access a PC, Remote Desktop and AnyViewer are suitable for you. If you are finding a way for server visualization, VM is a nice choice.