Once you’ve downloaded Windows Virtual PC, you can install your own copy of Windows XP (and not necessarily use XPM), Vista, Server or a Linux distro as shown in the earlier article. Windows Virtual PC works fine on Home Premium and above editions of Windows 7. NOTE: This works only for Windows based virtual machines. You should now have the virtual machine in the right click context menu as well.
If you wish to launch an application from your host machine directly into your virtual machine you can use a utility created by MVP Woflgang Unger. NOTE: Windows Virtual PC is required for XPM. And though unsupported by Microsoft, Windows Virtual PC works well on Windows Home Premium. One can install Linux distros on it as well. Windows Virtual PC now has support for USB drives as well, which might I say is a #WIN! Not much has changed, it still works pretty much the same way but has tighter integration with Windows 7.
Once all’s set, we’ll go on and download Windows Virtual PC (it still in RC for the public but has RTMed and the final bits are available for MSDN & TechNet subscribers.) Windows Virtual PC replaces Virtual PC 2007. There’s a tool by Microsoft as well that tells you whether Hardware Virtualization is supported on your PC: We’ll make use SecurAble to determine Hardware Virtualization. This is required for Windows XP Mode and better support for a virtual environment. Part 1: Enabling Hardware Virtualizationīefore we begin, make use of this tool to check whether your processor supports hardware virtualization and if need be, enable it via BIOS. However, having Hardware Virtualization will definitely improve performance. Update: Microsoft has dropped the need to enable Hardware Virtualization, you can skip Part 1. In this article I’ll talk about Windows Virtual PC, creating VHDs, native boot into VHDs & optical drive emulation. Using machines in a virtual environment is really fun, being able to try out OSs without having to restart to change the OS is time saving, though there’s a compromise on performance. To obtain the related header and library files, install the Windows SDK for Windows 7 from the Microsoft Download Center.XP Mode (XPM) – a virtual XP machine to tackle legacy app issues
Windows Virtual PC requires one of the following Windows 7 editions - Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise edition. The Windows Virtual PC COM interfaces are for developers who are creating client applications that automate the deployment and operation of virtual machines.
Each virtual machine emulates a complete hardware system-from processor to network card-in a self-contained, isolated software environment, enabling the simultaneous operation of otherwise incompatible systems. You can create separate virtual machines on top of your Windows 7 desktop.
Windows Virtual PC is the latest Microsoft virtualization technology it enables you to run many productivity applications on a virtual Windows environment, with a single click, directly from Windows 7. This documentation provides information about the Windows Virtual PC COM interface.