Overview
Most installs of GNS3 operate with two components. There is a GUI component which allows the end-user to interact with the software. You can install GNS3 on Windows 1x and get some functionality, but it has limitations.
There is a backend server (Ubuntu Linux) which hosts the network devices as VM’s. For serious usage, we install the GUI of GNS3 in Windows 1x and create a VM for the backend environment. The VM will hold and run the images for the network devices.
In these notes, I am running the GUI on a Windows 10 and 11 machine, in my case. At some point there will be a web client for GNS3, I have not used it and its still in development.
You could install on Windows 10 or 11 and run everything there.
You could install the GUI on Windows 10 or 11 and install VMWare workstation, putting the backend server into VMWare Workstation as a VM.
You could install the GUI on Windows 10 or 11 and install Oracle VirtualBox, putting the backend server into VirtualBox as a VM. I do not recommend this approach.
You could install the GUI on Windows 10 or 11 and install Hyper-V, putting the backend server into Hyper-V as a VM.
You could install the GUI on Windows 10 or 11 and put the backend server into VMWare ESXi as a VM.
You could build a Linux desktop and run GNS3 on a native Linux hypervisor like KVM and QEMU.
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