Plugin Conflict Blue Screen? Virtualization Isolation Solution for Coexisting 300 Plugins
Last night, I stayed up late just to install a small plugin. What happened? My computer gave me a blue screen. Ah, it drove me crazy! Two hours of editing gone! I swore I would never touch that plugin again, but then I thought—if I don’t use it, what will I use?
Well, I saw someone on the forum saying he had over 300 plugins installed on his computer, and everything was running fine?! Why is it a disaster for me? I was skeptical, so I researched a solution overnight. Emmm… I’m sharing it with you all today.
I remember last year, I tried to install two audio enhancement plugins on the same computer at the same time. Click install, wait, restart… then… black screen! It felt like I swallowed a fly. I was thinking, are these developers doing this on purpose? Can’t they coexist peacefully?
Later, I finally discovered the secret –virtualization isolation.
In simple terms, it means giving each troublesome plugin its own “little room” to avoid interference.
Virtual machines are not a new thing, but using them to solve plugin conflicts is a brilliant move. I have successfully made dozens of “incompatible” plugins coexist peacefully with this method. One time, my friend looked at my desktop and thought I was running five computers at the same time, haha!
Alright, enough chit-chat. Let’s get to the good stuff.
The first step is, of course, to download a reliable virtualization software. I use VirtualBox, which is free. I won’t go into detail about the installation process; there are plenty of tutorials online. Once installed, you’ll see an empty interface. Don’t panic!
The key pitfall is here! When creating a virtual machine, do not allocate too much memory! I excitedly allocated 8GB the first time, and my host was so laggy I wanted to throw my computer. Based on experience, 2GB is enough for the plugins.
When creating the virtual machine, choose “custom” instead of using the default settings. Allocate 30-50GB of hard disk space; too small won’t fit the system, and too large is a waste.
Oh right, there was a little episode. One night, I was creating a virtual machine, too sleepy to keep my eyes open, and ended up selecting “fixed size” instead of “dynamically allocated”… I waited for over an hour, and the hard drive was still formatting… I couldn’t sleep well, dreaming of a progress bar stuck at 99%…
Got sidetracked, let’s get back to the virtual machine.
After the system is installed, make sure to install the guest additions!
This is super important!
It allows you to drag and drop files between the virtual machine and the host, share the clipboard, and makes the display smoother.
To install it, just click on the virtual machine menu “Devices” → “Insert Guest Additions CD Image”.
Install only one type of plugin per virtual machine!
This is a lesson learned through blood and tears!
For example, one virtual machine for audio plugins, one for video effect plugins, and another for 3D rendering plugins.
My friend asked me, “Isn’t that a hassle?”
What hassle! Think about it, every time there’s a blue screen and a restart, how long does it take to re-edit a project? Compared to that, opening a few virtual machines is nothing!
Practical operation tips: After installing the plugins in the virtual machine, use the snapshot feature to save the current state. If one day a plugin suddenly acts up, just restore the snapshot, and it’s solved in no time without reinstalling the system and plugins. This trick is so useful!
Speaking of snapshots, I once forgot to take a snapshot, and after installing a new plugin, the system crashed. I was so mad I felt like smashing my keyboard! Since then, I’ve developed a compulsive habit – install a plugin, take a snapshot, and I can’t relax without it.
Shared folders are also great. After setting it up in the virtual machine settings, you can directly access files on the host. This way, files processed with plugins in the virtual machine can be saved directly to the host, which is very convenient.
What if there’s some lag? Adjust the video memory! The default is usually too low; go to the virtual machine settings, find the “Display” option, and set the video memory to 128MB or higher.
Resource allocation is a technical skill..
If it’s mainly audio plugins, allocate more CPU cores; for video plugins, allocate more video memory; for 3D rendering, both need to be adequately supplied.
Allocate based on your computer’s configuration, and don’t starve the host.
I have been using this solution for over half a year, and it’s very stable! Now I have a total of five virtual machines on my computer, with about 70 plugins installed, all of which work, and I’ve never had a blue screen. Even if one virtual machine crashes, it doesn’t affect other work, it’s simply perfect!
Some may worry about performance issues. Indeed, there is some performance loss with virtual machines. However, compared to system crashes and data loss caused by plugin conflicts, this performance loss is nothing!
By the way, I recently discovered an even cooler operation – you can use Docker containers to isolate plugins! It’s lighter than virtual machines and starts faster. If you’re interested, we can talk about this next time.
If you’re still struggling with plugin conflicts, hurry up and try this method! Don’t know how to install? Leave a message in the comments, and we can discuss it in detail!
