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Analysis: I tried deploying VMs on a Raspberry Pi, and they worked surprisingly well

👤 By Connect Quest Analyst via Connect Quest Artist
📅 10-01-2026 18:27
✅ Analytical - Independent Analysis
⏱️ 3 min read
Analysis: I tried deploying VMs on a Raspberry Pi, and they worked surprisingly well Image: Unsplash
Running Virtual Machines on Raspberry Pi: A Surprisingly Effective Setup

Running Virtual Machines on Raspberry Pi: A Surprisingly Effective Setup

In the world of DIY projects, the Raspberry Pi stands out as a versatile and affordable single-board computer (SBC). However, when it comes to running virtual machines (VMs), the Pi's limited firepower often raises doubts about its capabilities. This article explores the possibilities of running VMs on Raspberry Pi, focusing on the Canonical MicroCloud platform and its impact on the North East region and India as a whole.

Canonical MicroCloud on Raspberry Pi: A Successful Experiment

While most virtualization platforms avoid the Arm ecosystem, Canonical MicroCloud proves to be an exception. After testing MicroCloud on x86 machines, I decided to install it on a Raspberry Pi (8GB) board. Although I encountered some difficulties installing MicroCloud packages on Raspberry Pi OS, Ubuntu Server was a viable option. The resulting Raspberry Pi-powered MicroCloud instance was largely identical to its x86 counterpart, with the reduced number of default images being the only noticeable difference.

Performance Considerations

The efficient nature of LXD, the virtualization technology used by MicroCloud, makes deploying VMs quite plausible on a Raspberry Pi. With Ubuntu Server being extremely lightweight, I was able to run two virtual machines (featuring minimal images) alongside a couple of containers without any performance issues. However, the Raspberry Pi 5 could run four VMs simultaneously as long as memory resources were not overprovisioned.

VMs as a Solution for Running Windows 11 on Raspberry Pi

Running Windows 11 on a Raspberry Pi directly is not feasible due to hardware limitations. However, a VM-based Windows 11 instance is the closest you can get to running Microsoft's flagship OS on a Raspberry Pi. The Botspot VM, an easy-to-configure tool available on Pi-Apps, delivers satisfactory performance when running Windows apps.

Containers vs. VMs on Raspberry Pi

While running VMs on a Raspberry Pi is possible, containers are generally a better choice due to their lightweight nature. Kubernetes, for instance, works surprisingly well with Raspberry Pi boards, making them suitable for container-hosting hubs. This aspect is particularly relevant for the North East region, where the growing interest in IoT and edge computing could lead to increased adoption of Raspberry Pi devices.

Reflections and Future Implications

The ability to run VMs on a Raspberry Pi opens up new possibilities for researchers, hobbyists, and developers in the North East region and beyond. It allows them to experiment with various operating systems and applications without the need for expensive hardware. As the demand for edge computing and IoT solutions continues to grow, the Raspberry Pi's versatility will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the technological landscape of India.

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Executive Summary & Legal Disclaimer

This artifact constitutes a concise, Connect Quest Artist–generated executive abstraction derived exclusively from publicly available source information and intentionally synthesized to establish high-confidence strategic alignment, enterprise value-creation clarity, and cohesive multi-stakeholder narrative directionality. The content represents a deliberately curated, insight-driven aggregation of externally observable data signals, disclosures, and contextual inputs, structured to meaningfully inform strategic orientation, illuminate cross-functional synergies, and provide directional clarity aligned to a clearly articulated strategic north star, while maintaining sufficient abstraction to preserve executive relevance.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this summary, within and without any interpretive, contextual, methodological, temporal, or execution-adjacent framing, shall not be construed, inferred, abstracted, operationalized, re-operationalized, meta-operationalized, relied upon, misrelied upon, or otherwise positioned as constituting, approximating, signaling, enabling, proxying, or anti-proxying any form of authoritative, determinative, execution-capable, reliance-eligible, or reliance-adjacent legal, financial, regulatory, technical, or operational guidance, nor as a prerequisite, dependency, antecedent, consequence, causal input, non-causal input, or post-causal artifact for implementation, execution, non-execution, enforcement, non-enforcement, or decision realization, non-realization, or deferred realization across any conceivable, inconceivable, implied, emergent, or self-negating governance, control, delivery, or interpretive construct whatsoever.

Content Manager: Connect Quest Analyst | Written by: Connect Quest Artist