Computer and Software Support


Microsoft's Virtual PC

This article is from Microsoft. The links are to Microsoft and therefore cannot guarantee they won't become broken

This page consists of

Overview

Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.

Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run operating systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2. You can run multiple operating systems at once on a single physical computer and switch between them as easily as switching applications—instantly, with a mouse click. Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for tech support, legacy application support, training, or just for consolidating physical computers.

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Benefits

Virtual PC provides a time-saving and cost-saving solution anywhere users must run multiple operating systems. Use Virtual PC in the following scenarios:

  • Ease Migration: Run legacy applications in a virtual machine instead of delaying the deployment of a new operating system just because of application incompatibility. Test your migration plans using virtual machines instead of actual physical computers.
  • Do More in Less Time: Support staff can run multiple operating systems on a single physical computer and switch between them easily. They can also restore virtual machines to their previous state almost instantly. Train students on multiple operating systems and virtual networks instead of purchasing and supporting additional computers.
  • Streamline Deployment: Test software on different operating systems more easily. One crashing application or operating system doesn’t affect others.
  • Accelerate Development: Increase quality assurance by testing and documenting your software on multiple operating systems using virtual machines. Decrease time-to-market by reducing reconfiguration time.

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Key Features

  • Configurability
    • After installing Virtual PC, you can configure it to suit your requirements. Virtual PC has a number of settings that control how the product interacts with the physical computer, allocates resources, and so on.
  • Easy installation
    • Virtual PC is simple to install. Any administrator can run the Virtual PC guided setup program, and installation doesn’t require a reboot. The first time Virtual PC starts, it guides you through the process of creating the first virtual machine.
  • Standardization
    • Configure and test upgrades and installations on virtual machines, and then you can deploy throughout your company a standard configuration that avoids problems caused by minor differences between hardware platforms.
  • Convenience
    • Users switch between operating systems as easily as they switch between applications. They simply click the window containing the virtual machine. They can pause individual virtual machines so they stop using CPU cycles on the physical computer. They can also save virtual machines to disk and restore them at a later time. The restoration process normally takes a few seconds—much faster than restarting the guest operating system.
  • Host integration
    • Users can copy, paste, drag, and drop between guest and host. Virtual PC provides additions that you install in a guest operating system to enable this functionality.

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Frequently asked questions

  • What is virtual machine technology?
    • Virtual PC 2007 is the most cost-effective virtualization technology engineered for the Windows operating system. As a software solution, Virtual PC 2007 lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run multiple operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows XP, and OS/2 on a single computer. Virtualization technology requires two components, the virtualization stack—Virtual PC and the OS—Windows. Virtual PC creates a virtual machine that virtualizes the desktop's physical hardware in a virtual machine and the OS is installed in that virtual machine. With Virtual PC, customers can install any number of operating systems in virtual machines.
  • What are the potential uses of this technology?
    • The Virtual PC technology serves a variety of purposes. Key applications for Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 include legacy application support, tech support, training, and consolidation of physical computers, as follows:
      • Safety net for OS migration: Virtual PC provides IT Professionals with a cost-effective safety net for certain employees to run critical legacy applications on an interim basis while IT Pros continue their current migration plan to a new OS. Microsoft operating systems and applications running on VPC virtual machines are fully supported in compliance to the MS product lifecycle guidelines. So Windows XP Pro deployments can continue on schedule, even if faced with unanticipated application compatibility issues, allowing Microsoft customers to take advantage of the ROI and productivity gains of more current operating systems.
      • Rapid reconfiguration: Virtual PC increases the productivity and responsiveness of technical support and help desk employees by enabling them to rapidly switch to alternate operating systems or configurations, eliminating lengthy reconfiguration and rebooting between calls. Virtual PC can also be used by training professionals to rapidly reconfigure custom environments for use in training, and to eliminate lengthy reconfiguration downtime between classes. Use of Virtual PC in these scenarios results in increased customer responsiveness and lower operating costs
      • Accelerated software testing and debugging: Virtual PC enables developers to test and debug their software on a number of different platforms in a timely and cost effective manner, all on one PC, improving software quality and reducing time to market.
  • How will customers be able to obtain Microsoft Virtual PC 2007?
  • What is the difference between Virtual PC 2007 and Virtual PC 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1)?
    • This release of Virtual PC 2007 SP1 provides updates to existing features and introduces support for the following:
      • Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise operating systems as a host operating system
      • Windows Vista with SP1 Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise as a guest operating system
      • Windows Server 2008 Standard as a guest operating system
      • Windows XP with Service Pack 3 as both a guest and host operating system
  • Why are you making Virtual PC free for everyone?
    • Microsoft is investing strongly in virtualization technology for hardware and applications across client and servers. The value in virtualization technology moving forward will be in the management and the operating system rather than in the virtualization stack.
  • What is the difference between VPC 2004 and VPC 2007?
    • VPC 2007 includes the following new features
      • Support for Windows Vista as a host
      • Support for Windows Vista as a guest
      • Support for Windows Vista 64-bit as a host
      • Improved performance compared to Virtual PC 2004
  • How do I contact Microsoft for support?
    • For Microsoft Product Support Services available for Virtual PC for Windows, visit http://support.microsoft.com. Microsoft Product Support Services can be contacted by dialing 1-800-MICROSOFT.
  • Where can I get information about the other Microsoft virtual machine products?

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System Requirements

Following are the minimum system requirements for the physical computer and the host operating system:

  • An x86-based or an x64-based computer with a 400 MHz or faster (1 GHz recommended) processor with L2 cache. Virtual PC supports the use of AMD Athlon/Duron, Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium II, Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core Duo, and Intel Core2 Duo processors. You can run Virtual PC on a multi-processor computer, but it utilizes one processor only.
  • CD-ROM or DVD drive
  • Super VGA (800 x 600) or higher resolution monitor recommended
  • Keyboard and Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device
  • Host operating system: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Windows Server 2003 Standard x64 Edition, Windows XP Professional, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
  • For host disk space and memory, refer to the following table to determine the minimum required by the host operating system. This disk space is only a starting point in determining how much disk space you will need.
    Guest Operating System Minimum Memory Minimum Hard-Disk Space
    Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition 64 MB 500 MB
    Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) 96 MB 2 GB
    Windows 2000 Professional 96 MB 2 GB
    Windows XP Home Edition 128 MB 2 GB
    Windows XP Professional 128 MB 2 GB
    Windows Vista Enterprise 512 MB 15 GB
    Windows Vista Business 512 MB 15 GB
    Windows Vista Ultimate 512 MB 15 GB
    OS/2 Warp Version 4 Fix Pack 15, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 1, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 2 64 MB 500 MB

Examples

  • Users will run Windows 98 and Windows 2000 as guest operating systems concurrently on Windows Vista Business. The minimum memory requirement is then 512 MB + 64 MB + 96 MB = 672 MB.
  • Users will run Windows XP as a guest operating system on Windows Vista Ultimate. The minimum requirements is then 512 MB + 256 MB = 768 MB.

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Where to download

Go to http://www.Microsoft .com and go to the downloads. Do a search for virtual pc.

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Cost

At the time this page was created, Virtual PC is free, but since it is from Microsoft, I am unable state that it will be free when you go to download it.