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Introduction:

Virtual machine technology is gaining in popularity daily. The latest version (at the time of this writing) is called Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and is offered as a free download. When installed, users can run multiple operating systems on a single computer and can quickly switch between these applications with the click of a mouse button.

System Requirements :

The Physical Computer Requirements:

The minimum system requirements for the host computer (which is the computer system that you are physically installing the Virtual Machine software) is as follows:

• Supports any Pentium compatible processor with at least 400MHz (1 GHz is recommended) with L2 cache.
• At least 20 MB of hard disk space
• DVD or CD-ROM Drive
• Monitors using at least Super VGA (800×600) resolution.
• Can be installed on any of the following operating systems:Vista Enterprise
  Vista Ultimate
  Vista Business
  Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
  Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition
  XP Professional
  XP Tablet PC
  
• Supported processors:

  AMD Athlon/Duron
  Intel Celeron
  Intel Pentium II
  Intel Pentium III
  Intel Pentium 4
  Intel Core Duo
  Intel Core2 Duo

Note: In a dual processor environment, only one processor is recognized by Virtual Machine 2007.

The Guest Operating System Requirements:

When installing guest operating systems keep in mind that they can quickly fill up your disk space and use up available memory. Below, you will see a table that gives the amount of memory and disk space that is needed to run the guest operating system:

Guest Operating System	Minimum Hard Disk Space	Minimum Memory
Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition	500 MB	64 MB
Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME)	2 GB	96 MB
Windows 2000 Professional	2 GB	96 MB
Windows XP Home Edition	2 GB	128 MB
Windows XP Professional	2 GB	128 MB
Windows Vista Enterprise	15 GB	512 MB
Windows Vista Business	15 GB	512 MB
Windows Vista Ultimate	15 GB	512 MB
OS/2	500 MB	64 MB

Caution: Installing a virtual operating system on a physical computer system with less than the specified system requirements will create serious performance issues.

Installing Virtual PC 2007:

Once you have calculated all of the necessary system requirements and find your physical computer is capable of handling the additional memory loads and your hard drive has plenty of space available, you are ready to start installing the Virtual PC software. Follow the steps below to install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007:

1. To download Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, click the link below:

   Virtual PC 2007

2. Once you have downloaded the proper Setup.exe file, locate the file and double-click Setup.exe to start the installation.
3. When the installation wizard appears, click Next.
4. You will need to accept the terms in the license agreement to continue. Click Next.
5. Enter your customer information and choose whether you would like to make Virtual PC available to all who use the computer (default) or make it available only to a certain user name. Click Next to continue.
6. Virtual PC 2007 will recommend installing to your program files folder. If this is fine with you, simply click the Install button or click the “Change” button to install Virtual PC 2007 to a location of your choosing.
7. Click the Finish button

Create a Virtual Machine:

Once you have successfully downloaded Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to your computer, you can now install the operating system(s) of your choice. Follow the instructions below to install an operating system to Virtual PC 2007:

1. Open Virtual PC 2007 and select New.
2. The Virtual Machine wizard will start. Select “Create a Virtual Machine”, then click Next.
3. In the Name and Location window, browse to a location where you would like to place your Virtual Machine. It is recommended that you do not use the same hard disk location as your physical operating system. If you do not have a separate drive partitioned, then I recommend using an external drive such as a USB 2.0 thumb drive. Click Next.
4. Select the operating system that you would like to install from the “Operating System” drop down menu. Click Next.
5. In the Memory window, Virtual Machine will calculate the memory usage for the operating system you are installing. You can either use the recommended value or change the memory usage to a specified amount. Click Next.
6. In the Virtual Hard Disk Options windows, Virtual Machine will need to add a new virtual hard disk to your system. Select the option: “A new virtual hard disk”. If you already know that you have an existing virtual hard disk install, select the option: “An existing virtual hard disk”. Click Next.
7. In the Virtual Hard Disk Location window, click the Browse button and locate the new hard disk that Virtual Machine has created and type in a name for it. Review the calculated sizes for your hard disk size making sure that there is enough space allotted for the operating system and any other software you plan to install on it. Once you are satisfied with these figures, click Next.
8. Click Finish.

Congratulations! You now have a bootable Virtual PC installed on your physical computer system. The next step is to install the Virtual Operating System. Here’s how:

Install a Virtual Operating System using Virtual PC 2007:

1. Open your Virtual PC Console. From here you will see 4 available options:

• New:

  Use this option to install a Virtual operating system. Using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, you can install up to 3 virtual operating systems. Once installed, they will show up in the left pane of the Virtual PC Console window.
  

• Settings:

  Use this option when it is necessary to change the settings of your virtual operating system.
  

• Remove:

  You can easily remove a virtual operating system from the console using this option.
  

• Start:

  Click any of the available virtual operating systems in the left pane of your console window and select the “Start” button to start the selected virtual operating system.

Now that you are familiar with the option in your Virtual PC Console, let’s begin the installation of your virtual operating system. Select your configured virtual machine from the left pane and then click the “Start” button.

1. Virtual Machine will boot to its Main window. Insert your installation media in to your CD or DVD drive for the operating system you are attempting to install.
2. Once the media is installed, reset your Virtual Machine by selecting Action>> Reset.
3. The installation process should begin. You may need to press any key to continue.
4. Follow the on-screen prompts and continue the installation just as you would any operating system installation.

Once the installation of your virtual operating system is complete. You can re-enter your Virtual PC Console and start using your new virtual operating system. Enjoy!

[source]

I really like Windows 7.  I installed it last weekend and it’s great. Much better than Vista with a lot of handy new UI improvements and MUCH better utilization of resources.

I hit one issue today: The wonderful, fabulous, everybody-must-have, I’m-wetting-myself-over-how-great-these-are new features called “Windows Virtual PC” and “Windows XP Mode”.  I’m sure they are just as great as the hype says they are but there is one major gotcha: “Is AMD-V or Intel VT a must-have to run Windows Virtual PC?”  Answer: YES.  So if you ain’t got hardware virtualization on your PC then forget both of these features.

My laptop does not have hardware virtualization, so I thought I’d see if  Virtual PC 2007, which I still have installed, runs on Win7 and I got warnings about network drivers and although it opened up my VMs, there was no network connectivity.  Great.  So in a moment of inspiration I uninstalled it and reinstalled it and, so far, it is working fine.

So, the good news is that Virtual PC 2007 still works – if you uninstall and reinstall.  Maybe there is a better way around the issue, but that’s what I had to do to get it to work.

My final complaint is that I have not yet found anywhere on microsoft.com that says you can run Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7.  If any MSFT people are reading this then (hint, hint) the Windows Virtual PC FAQs would be a nice place to answer the question: “I don’t have hardware virtualization on my PC, can I still use Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7?”

It’s quite easy to get the Virtual Server 2005 Linux Additions installed into OpenSuSe 10.2.

Mount the ISO, copy the contents to a local folder, mount the 10.2 DVD ISO, then install vmadd-full-2.0.1.i386.rpm from GUI (right-click, select “Open with “Install Software”")

These additions don’t provide much more than mouse integration and time sync with the host, but mouse integration is a big step for usability.

For the complete list of OSes that have been compiled so far: http://www.essjae.com/virtualization/wwadw.htm

If you tried something that works or doesn’t work, use the link to send me an email and let me know!

There is definitely a lot of confusion about Windows Virtual PC and what OSes support it (or it supports).

Windows Virtual PC Direct Download (requires Validation)

Windows Virtual PC supports the following Host and Guest Operating systems (validation required):

• Host: Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise.

• Guest: Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Professional, Windows Vista Enterprise Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows Vista Business Service Pack 1 (SP1), Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise.

Note: Virtual application feature not supported on Windows Vista Business Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Windows 7 Professional edition Windows Virtual PC supports the following Host and Guest Operating systems:

If you’re seeing this message and you’re thinking “what the heck, I’m not using RDP, I’m using WinVPC locally,” you actually are using remote desktop if you have the Integration Components enabled.  WinVPC uses RDP as the interface.

You can get around this restiction by disabling the Integration Components for your VM.

Hola chicos, como verán he andado un poco ocupado, además de que ya me instalé Karmic (sí, no pude con la tentación), ando probando Google Wave (del cual, aún no le saco provecho), pero eso no importa y aquí les traigo la última entrega del especial de virtualización de Genbeta, en el cual el autor hace un pequeño resumen de la virtualización y las opciones vistas, para terminar dando su veredicto sobre cual es el mejor programa de virtualización (claro desde su punto de vista), yo cómo siempre digo en estos casos de elección: “En gustos se rompen géneros… y en necesidades también”, y es que si bien yo también podría dar mi veredicto personal, eso no serviría de nada ya que las necesidades y requerimientos de cada persona son diferentes, incluso en los recursos que se tienen (materiales y de software), también se pueden tener difrencias, así que ustedes elijan.

La verdad es que desde que iniciamos el especial hemos revisado las principales aplicaciones de virtualización y por eso muchos de vosotros puede que esteis confusos, ¿con qué aplicación me quedo? Pues en este caso tenemos que tener en cuenta diversos factores para responder a esta pregunta, entre ellos características de nuestro Pc, uso que le vamos a dar a la virtualización, que sistema operativo tenemos instalado y nuestra formación respecto a los distintos programas.

En función de estos parámetros la respuesta será totalmente distinta y por lo tanto no podemos decir que este programa es el mejor para virtualizar, sino que dependiendo de las circunstancias en las que se mueva nos resultará más práctico uno u otro. ¿Yo con cuál me quedo?, pues para que no haya sospechas os contestaré que con Virtual Box, por su sencillez, porque no necesito virtualizar para mover dos o tres máquinas virtuales a la vez y por el buen resultado que me ha dado.

Vamos a ver los distintos aspectos a considerar hacia que programas para virtualizar nos lleva:

• Características de nuestro hardware: Esta es una opción muy importante, ya que tendremos que ver si nuestro procesador soporta la virtualización por hardware o no, y que recursos tenemos a nuestra disposición para virtualizar. En principio VMware es el que mejor rendimiento ofrece en cualquier comparativa, y funciona muy bien en equipo con pocos recursos.

Thinking of running Windows Virtual PC but don’t know if your hardware supports it?  Click here to download a tool from Microsoft that will tell you if it is supported.

Windows 7 marks the shift of desktop virtualization programs from a tool for IT pros to a standard program on every desktop.  Virtualization software enables users to run additional operating systems, such as XP or Ubuntu, as a program right inside their standard desktop, which enables users to test new programs or run legacy programs in a separate OS.  Microsoft has offered a free desktop virtualization solution for Windows 2000 and newer ever since 2006 with the release of Virtual PC 2003, but still it was only commonly used by IT pros and computing enthusiasts.  However, with the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has made XP Mode, a virtual copy of XP running in Windows Virtual PC, a standard feature for Professional and higher editions.  Additionally, Windows Virtual PC is available as a free download for users of all editions of Windows 7, and any user can add their own operating system or migrate their old computer into it for free.  Finally, in the range of products that affects consumers without most knowing it, Microsoft has added hypervisor-based virtualization, Hyper-V, as a free component of Server 2008 and Server 2008 RT that can also be downloaded as a free standalone product.

While these moves are great for consumers, it has increasingly made Microsoft at odds with a company who has built their entire business around virtualization solutions: VMware.  Many consumers know VMware for their Fusion software, which allows Mac users to run Windows programs seamlessly in Mac OS X.  But that is far from their only product; VMware offers a wide range of desktop and server virtualization products.  Most of their products cost, and are often fairly expensive; this immediately puts them at odds with their larger rival who is giving away their virtualization products for free.

However, today VMware has struck back at Microsoft with this week’s release of VMware Player 3.0.  Although VMware Player formerly only let users run existing virtual machines, this new release allows users to create and run their own virtual machines, just like Windows Virtual PC does.  VMware Player also supports video acceleration, including Aero desktop effects, inside virtual machines.  And this product is totally free, which puts it in the same market as Microsoft’s Virtual PC.

It also puts VMware in closer competition with Sun’s VirtualBox, another free desktop virtualization offering which works on Windows and Mac OS X.  VirtualBox, while lacking the polish of their competition, offers advanced features such as Remote Desktop Protocol and snapshots of the virtual machine.

This competition has heated up over the past couple years, and now that consumers are starting to use virtualization on a daily basis, it only appears that the competition will increase.  So while Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and Apple compete in the Browser Wars 2.0, a new tech war is brewing.  Consumers have benefited greatly from the competition in web browsers, as companies have worked harder to make their browsers faster, stable, and user-friendly.  It will be exciting to see what the competition in virtualization does to this exciting new branch of software!

Check out my comparison of desktop virtualization solutions at Digital Inspiration – http://www.labnol.org/software/free-virtualization-software-comparison/10968/

Dopo l’uscita di Windows 7, Microsoft ha rilasciato finalmente la XP mode, che è disponibile sono per le versioni Professional, Ultimate, Enterprise. Prima di seguire questa guida bisogna leggere il Disclaimer e verificare che il pc sia compatibile, eseguendo un programma che effettua un check sul sitema. E’ scaricabile da qui. Se il test risulta superato, andare qui, selezionare la versione del S.O. e la lingua e scaricare due file, la XP mode vera e propria e Windows Virtual PC. Il tutto pesa circa 500 Mb, quindi impiegherete vari minuti a scaricare i file. Una volta scaricati entrambi i file avviare l’installazione dell’XP Mode, avviando il file WindowsXPMode_it-it.exe . Cliccare su AVANTI->AVANTI attendere la conclusione dell’installazione e cliccare su FINE. Successivamente avviare l’installazione di Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu, cliccare su SI -> Accetta  e attendere l’installazione di Virtual PC for Win 7. Ultimata l’installazione anche del Virtual PC, cliccare su RIAVVIA. Una volta riavviato andare su START -> Tutti i Programmi -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows XP Mode. Si aprirà una finestra dove vi sono le condizioni di licenza, dopo aver letto il contratto mettere la spunta su ACCETTO CONDIZIONI cliccare su AVANTI, inserire la password e premere AVANTI. Impostare l’opzione per gli aggiornamenti e AVANTI ed AVVIA  INSTALLAZIONE. Ultimata l’installazione attendere qualche secondoper l’auto configurazione di XP, ora è possibile iniziare ad usare Win XP su Seven come macchina virtuale. Una delle caratteristiche fondamentali dell’XP Mode consiste nel fatto che le applicazioni installate su XP con l’XP Mode sono disponibili per Windows 7 direttamente dal menù start. La comodità sta nel fatto che  applicazioni native per XP sono supportate completamente da Seven grazie all’XP Mode. Ora non resta che sbizzarrirsi con le proprie applicazioni e buon uso. Qui sotto uno screenshot del menu Start con la mode:

I have moved from a 32 to a 64-bit Operating System about a year ago. My motivation was simply the fact that a 64-bit PC can use more RAM (4 GB and up) and can therefore be more responsive when I’m running lots of programs at once.

Microsoft officially lists the following advantages when using a 64-bit version of an Operating system:

• Increased memory support beyond that of the 4-GB addressable memory space that is available in a 32-bit operating system.
• Increased program performance for programs that are written to take advantage of a 64-bit operating system.
• Enhanced security features.

If you read these statements, there is only one good choice: 64-bit!

I am however writing this article because some vendors are forcing us to upgrade to new hardware by not supplying 64-bit drivers. In this article, I’m specifically referring to my multifunctional  ”HP Color LaserJet 2840″ printer.

An important clarification: there is a 64-bit “Universal Print Driver” for the “HP Color LaserJet 2840″ printer. This driver will enable you to print, using all the available features of the device, from a 64-bit version of Windows Vista. This focus of this article is on the scanning functions that are available on my multi-functional printer.

The solution I have implemented will require 4 steps:

Step 1. Install Microsoft Virtual PC

Microsoft Virtual PC is a virtualization program for Microsoft Windows Operating Systems. This software virtualizes a standard PC and its associated hardware.

• http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&displaylang=en (Download Virtual PC).

Choose the 64-bit download for your computer and download the appropriate Setup.exe file. Note: The experts amongst you will notice that 64-bit download only installs a 32-bit version of the application. This is because Virtual PC 2007 is a 32-bit application which uses 64-bit drivers when necessary.

Once you have completed the download, double-click Setup.exe file to begin the installation process.

Step 2. Install a Virtual Machine with Widows Vista 32bit

• Start “Microsoft Virtual PC”.
• Click on “New” button to start the “New Virtual Machine Wizard”.
• Select “Create a virtual machine” button, click “Next”.
• Specify where you want to store the virtual machine file, click “Next”.
• Select “Windows Vista” as the operating system.
• In the remaining configuration steps, set or adjust the size of memory, specify virtual hard disk location, and set the size of the virtual hard disk size.
• After finishing configuring your virtual PC, click “Finish”.
• Insert an Installation CD/DVD for Windows Vista 32-bit into you physical computer.
• In the Virtual PC Console, select the virtual machine that has just been created, and click “Start”.
• Select the “CD” option and select “Use Physical Drive X:” (where X represents the drive letter of your CD/DVD drive on your computer).
• Windows Vista setup will be launched, follow on-screen instructions to complete the installation of Windows Vista.

Step 3. Install the 32bit driver for the “HP Color LaserJet 2840″ inside the Virtual Machine

You can now download the 32-bit driver for the “HP Color LaserJet 2840″ printer from within the virtual Windows Vista 32-bit computer. Once downloaded, you can successfully install the driver and all the associated tools.

Step 4. Configure a Shared Folder

Once you have scanned a document, you need the ability to transfer it from your virtual (32-bit) to you physical (64-bit) computer. This can be easily facilitated by using the following procedure:

• In the Virtual PC Console, select the virtual machine that has just been created, and click “Settings”.
• Select the “Shared Folders” option.
• Click on the “Share Folder …” button.
• Browse to a folder on your physical (64-bit) computer (for example the “My Documents” folder) and select the “Share every time” option.
• In the “Shared Folders” configuration, you will see that the folder is now assigned to a specific drive letter (for example the “Y” drive).

Step 5. Scanning

You can now start the HP Solution Center software on your virtual (32-bit) machine and use the document scanning functions. The scanned documents can be saved to the specific shared folder you have created in the previous step.

Note: If you are considering a new Operating System, I would encourage you to install Windows 7 and the Windows XP Mode feature. This is basically a pre-configured Windows XP Virtual Machine. As such you would be able to eliminate step 2 of this article.

Interesting Links

• http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/946765 (A description of the differences between 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista)
• http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=445197&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=445194&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=2100 (Download drivers and software for HP Color LaserJet 2800 All-in-One Printer series)
• http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx (Download Windows XP Mode for Windows 7)

As with all major changes in VPC, you MUST SHUT DOWN your VPC 2007 VMs before you try to migrate them to Windows Virtual PC.

If you don’t, you’ll get an error about the hibernated state not being compatible.  You have 2 choices at this point, move the VM back and shut it down, or delete the saved state file from the VM (.vsv).

Windows 7 es oficialmente desde hoy una realidad. Hace alrededor de un mes publiqué, como podéis ver en este enlace, un rápido análisis sobre mis impresiones. También desde la web de Microsoft hay una página concreta donde nos informa acerca de las novedades de su nuevo buque insignia.

¿Tienes Windows 7 Professional o Ultimate y quieres usar el “Modo XP” que Microsoft nos proporciona completamente gratis para poder ejecutar antiguos programas que no son compatibles con Windows 7?

Es muy fácil, accede a esta web de Microsoft que adjunto AQUÍ. Las instrucciones a seguir son:

Clickar en Tool, en el Step 2, para descargar un plugin llamado havdetectiontool.exe que comprobará que nuestro sistema cumple con los requerimientos de hardware adecuados. Si nuestro sistema resulta ser compatible, vamos al Step o paso número 3 y tras seleccionar la versión de tu sistema operativo y el lenguaje lo descargamos en el Step 4.

En mi caso, probé a instalarlo sólo para probarlo y trastear con él, pero mi PC, aunque sólo tiene escasos dos meses, ha resultado no ser compatible debido al procesador (un Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200). Aquí os dejo con el mensaje que me lo ha comunicado tras descargar la aplicación del Step2:

Si tu PC cumple con los siguientes requisitos podrás hacerlo funcionar como ya os anuncié hace tiempo en este otro post:

1. Windows Virtual PC requiere al menos un CPU con Intel® Virtualization Technology o AMD-V™ activado.
2. No todas las máquinas, aun aquellas nuevas, tienen la capacidad para ejecutar virtualización en hardware. Aunque su PC sea nueva, puede no tener virtualización en hardware.
3. Adicionalmente, esas PCs con virtualización en hardware tiene esta opción apagada de fábrica, necesitaría activar la capacidad antes de poder utilizarla, verifique con su manufacturero.
4. Procesador a 1 GHz 32-bit / 64-bit requerido.
5. Memoria (RAM) de 2GB o mayor.
6. 15GB de espacio de disco duro por cada máquina virtual.

Si estáis como yo y no podéis correr el Modo XP, siempre os quedará una alternativa, que es descargar Virtual PC o cualquier otro emulador de sistemas operativos. La gran desventaja de esto es que no disfrutaremos entonces de una integración total del modo XP como una ventana más de nuestro Windows 7, sino como otro sistema completamente paralelo.

Espero haber sido de tu ayuda, Álvaro.

Hi,

das Windows Virtual PC und der XP-Modus ist jetzt für alle verfügbar! Die RTM-Version von Windows Virtual ist auf Website PC-Seite kostenlos herunterladbar.

Wenn der Rechner über eine CPU verfügt, die Hardware-Virtualisierung unterstützt, kann Virtual PC und XPM unter Windows 7 genutzt werden, sonnst muss auf Virtual PC 2007 SP1 zurückgegriffen werden …

Na dann, Viel Spass beim selber Testen!
CU