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A virtual machine (VM) is a software-based emulation of a physical computer that runs an operating system and applications like a physical machine. VMs are often used to create isolated environments for testing software, running multiple operating systems on a single physical machine, and for cloud computing. They provide flexibility, scalability, and cost savings by allowing multiple VMs to run on a single physical server. VMs can be easily deployed, managed, and migrated between different physical servers. Some popular virtualization software for creating VMs include VMware, VirtualBox, and Hyper-V.