This method can be used if you do not want Windows XP to be your guest system. In this article, I will show you how you can create a virtual machine and install the guest operating system that you plan to manage in Virtual PC.
You can use the New Virtual Machine Wizard to create a virtual machine. The wizard will guide you through configuring the virtual machine with basic settings that you can customize as you need to use the virtual machine. For example, you can specify a specific amount of memory that the virtual machine will use. The amount of RAM allocated should be the same as you would allocate to a physical computer. It is desirable to provide the virtual machine with enough memory so that you can easily manage the operating system and the applications installed on it.
You should also pay attention to how you will install the guest operating system. For example, to install the operating system, you can use a network server for installation or a physical CD or DVD drive, into which you simply place the installation disc with the system. If you are installing a supported Virtual PC guest operating system, you will need to install the Integration Component Pack after installation.
Creating a virtual machine
- You need to open the virtual machine folder. To do this, go to the menu "Start", choose Windows Virtual PC... If this item is not immediately in the menu, you need to click in the menu "Start" on the "All programs", left-click on the folder Windows Virtual PC and then select the item Windows Virtual PC.
- A folder will open in Windows Explorer "Virtual machines"... From the menu area, click on "Create a virtual machine".
Folder "Virtual machines" provides detailed information about all virtual machines created by the current user, and from this folder you can share, create and modify virtual machines and virtual disks.
- The New Virtual Machine Wizard will open. After going through the dialogs of the wizard, you select the required settings for installing the guest operating system.
Installation process
Step 1
The first step is to name the new virtual machine and specify its location.
Step 2
At the second step, the wizard for creating virtual machines asks us to specify the memory parameters for the virtual machine.
Step 3
At the third step, you need to specify the settings for the virtual machine disks.
- When the wizard finishes, the virtual machine will be displayed in the list of files in the folder "Virtual machines".
- Installing the guest operating system. If you are using a network installation server, you can safely skip this step. If you are using a CD or DVD, then insert it into the drive carriage and proceed to the next installation step. To use the .iso image, you need to do the following:
- Start the virtual machine. In the list of files, select the virtual machine and click "Open"... Windows Virtual PC will open the system installer for the virtual machine. The virtual machine will search for the installation disc. The installation will start after a bootable disk is found.
- After the installation is complete, you need to install the integration components. Click on the menu "Service" in the virtual machine window and select the item "Install Integration Components"... If the installation does not start after a few seconds, go to the virtual machine desktop and open the CD in it. After that, you need to double-click the IntegrationComponents.msi file with the left mouse button.
- Proceed through the installation using the Integration Components Installation Wizard.
- Reboot the virtual machine. From the menu "Act" of the virtual machine window, select "Reload".
Closing the virtual machine
Before you start performing some actions in the virtual machine, you may want to know how you can exit the virtual machine. When you close the virtual machine, it may go into hibernation, shutdown, or shutdown. When a virtual machine exits hibernation mode, it does not boot the system sequentially, so this option is much faster than shutting down and shutting down.
Attention!
When you open a virtual machine, Windows Virtual PC provides it with memory and processor resources. The length of time it takes to open a virtual machine depends on which method you used to close it at the time of the last session. The amount of memory that you allocated when you created the virtual machine also matters.
By default, when you click on the button "Close" in the virtual machine window, the Windows XP Mode virtual machine goes into hibernation mode and prompts you to select the same action for the rest of the virtual machines. You can change this option yourself.
Changes to the default close virtual machine action
Shutting down a virtual machine
- In the virtual machine window, click on Ctrl + Alt + Del... Or you can press the key combination CTRL + ALT + END.
- In the appeared window of the guest operating system, click on "Close".
- The operating system will be shut down, the resources consumed by it will be returned to the host system.
Attention!
If you want the installed software to be displayed on the desktop of the host operating system, you must log out of the account and only then can you close the virtual machine.
Very often there is a need to install outdated software that does not want to work in Windows 7.
Previously, I used WMVare virtual machines to solve the generally simple task of launching a couple of three programs or old equipment, I deployed a computer in a computer ... It was extremely long and not practical. Relatively recently, I once again tried to screw my old scanner and came across one interesting solution - XP mode virtual machine.
Windows XP Mode
Windows XP Mode is a solution based on the Virtual PC platform that allows you to run applications written for XP in a background virtual session invisible to the user.
- Solves all problems of incompatibility of programs with Windows 7
- Forwarding USB and COM ports
- Supports printers, smart cards, clipboard, shared hard drives, as well as USB and COM ports.
- Easy XP Mode setup
- Transparency for the end user.
- The virtual environment is configured and managed from the familiar Virtual PC interface.
XP Mode is distributed absolutely free of charge and does not require special licensing.
XP Mode only Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions are supported.
For work XP Mode Requires hardware support for virtualization at the processor level - Intel-VT or AMD-V.
The following list shows some Intel processor models that have hardware support for virtualization:
Pentium 4 662 and 672
Pentium Extreme Edition 955 and 965 (not Pentium 4 Extreme Edition with HT)
Pentium D 920-960 except 945, 935, 925, 915
Core Duo T2300, T2400, T2500, T2600, T2700 (Yonah)
Core 2 Duo E6300, E6400, E6320, E6420, E6540, E6550, E6600, E6700, E6750, E6850 (Conroe)
Core 2 Duo E7600, E8200, E8300, E8400, E8500, E8600 and some versions of the E7400 and E7500 (Wolfdale)
Mobile Core 2 Duo T5500, T5600, T7100, T7200, T7250, T7300, T7400, T7500, T7600, T7600G, T7700, T7800 (Merom)
Mobile Core 2 Duo SU9300, SU9400, SU9600, P7370, P8400, P8600, P8700, P8800, P9500, P9600, P9700, T8100,
T8300, T9300, T9400, T9500, T9600, T9800, T9900 (Penryn)
Core 2 Quad Q6600, Q6700 (Kentsfield)
Core 2 Quad Q8400, Q8400S, Q9300, Q9400, Q9400S, Q9450, Q9550, Q9550S, Q9650 and some versions of the Q8300
(Yorkfield)
Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Conroe_XE)
Core 2 Extreme QX6700, QX6800, QX6850 (Kentsfield_XE)
Core 2 Extreme QX9650, QX9770, QX9775 (Yorkfield_XE)
Xeon 3000, 5000, 7000 series
Atom Z520, Z530, Z540, Z550, Z515 (Silverthorne)
all Intel Core i7 processors
Pentium Dual-Core E6300, E6500 and some versions of the E5300 and E5400 *
Celeron E3000 series
All computer and network security guides contain a warning regarding software installation. The authors of such guides advise you to carefully install programs downloaded from the network, because installing some of them is fraught with various problems - from virus infection to system malfunctions.
What to do in cases where you need to constantly install various software? You need to install a PC emulator - a special program (16.5 MB) that creates another computer in your operating system, but only a virtual one, on which you can install new operating systems, and not one, but as much as you like. Having installed the operating system, you can install the necessary software, and if necessary, all this can be deleted literally with one keystroke (for this you just need to delete the corresponding file from the disk).
Installation of the emulator does not cause any particular difficulties; at the end of the installation, you must specify the location of the files with the program.
At the last stage, you need to specify the location of the program files.
After installation and the first launch, the program will prompt you to create and configure virtual machines using the wizard.
Possible options include creating a new virtual machine with all settings specified, using the default settings for the virtual machine, or adding parameters from an existing virtual machine that is stored on disk as a VMC file.
The next step is to specify the name and location of the virtual machine. By default, the program offers to create it in the \ Documents and Settings \ Computer_name \ My Documents \ My Virtual Machines directory. You have to be very careful here, as this location actually means the location of the virtual machine file. After installing the operating system and the necessary software on the virtual computer, the virtual machine file can reach several gigabytes. Therefore, you need to specify such a disk to create a virtual machine that has enough free space.
Be careful when choosing where to place the virtual machine files.
After choosing the location for the virtual machine, you must specify which operating system will be installed on it.
In the next steps, you need to set the size of the RAM of the future virtual computer and the location of the virtual hard disk.
The operating system can be installed on a virtual computer only from a bootable CD or from a floppy disk (for Windows 98 operating system). To install an operating system from a CD, you need to start a new virtual machine and select "CD -> Use Physycal Drive J" (for the first CD drive) or the corresponding item for another CD drive. If a bootable operating system CD is inserted into the CD drive, the OS installation will start automatically.
The operating system can be installed on a virtual computer only from a bootable CD.
To exchange data between a virtual computer and a normal one, you need to install a special Virtual PC add-on. To do this, you need to start the virtual machine and select "Action -> Install or Update Virtual Machine Addition".
Installing the add-in is standard, after rebooting the virtual machine, you can connect another virtual disk to it, which is essentially a folder on the hard drive of the main machine. It is with the help of this folder that data will be exchanged between the main and the virtual machine.
To connect the virtual disk select "Edit -> Settings" and display the Shared Folders section.
After installing the add-ons, you can add folders for data exchange between the virtual and main computer.
After the first launch of the settings, the section will be empty. Using the Share Folder button, add one of the folders on the hard drive of the main computer to the list of available folders, and in the Drive Lette section select the logical name of the virtual disk that will correspond to this folder on the virtual computer.
Now, after starting Explorer in the virtual computer, another one will appear in the list of its drives, corresponding to the newly created open folder.
The folder for data exchange is presented as another disk.
Work with all installed virtual machines is carried out using the Virtual PC console, which appears after launching the application. Here is a list of all installed virtual machines, buttons for adding new, deleting existing and viewing settings.
The Virtual PC console is designed to manage virtual machines.
To have several operating systems at once with a separate workspace and applications, you do not need to buy a second (third, fourth, etc.) computer. Because it all fits into your only PC. How? Thanks to virtual machines (VM) - special programs that create (emulate) imaginary (virtual) computers inside the main operating system.
The virtual PC is almost like a real one. It has its own processor, memory, hard drive, network adapter and everything else. Of course, these are not physical devices, but they are made in such a way that operating systems consider them just like that - real.
Several virtual ones can run on one physical computer at the same time. How much depends on hardware resources: the faster the processor, the larger the RAM, the more spacious the drive, the more. A typical mid-range home PC running Windows 10 can handle three to five lightweight operating systems (such as Windows XP, Android, and Lubuntu + base system) running concurrently. Or two or three relatively heavyweight ones (for example, basic Windows 10 + virtual Windows 7 and Mac OS X). As you already understood, virtual computer emulator applications allow you to install and run a wide variety of operating systems on them.
General purpose virtual machines (as opposed to specialized ones such as, for example, VM Java) use:
- To run applications that the main system does not support.
- To protect the system from potential harm from unverified programs.
- As an additional barrier against viruses when visiting questionable web resources.
- To create an isolated environment for studying malware activity.
- As a testing ground for debugging your own developments.
- To master the technologies of building networks.
- For double authorization on some game portals and much more.
And of course, virtual machines are widely used to distribute server working resources.
Today we will not touch upon the industrial application of VM, but consider only what can be useful for home users of Windows.
Oracle Virtualbox
Let's take a look at the process of creating a new virtual machine and starting the installation of Windows 10 into it.
- Click the "Create" button in the top panel.
- In the first window of the VM creation wizard, we will indicate the OS name (it will be displayed in the list of guest systems), its type (Windows, Linux, etc.) and version. In our example, this is Windows 10 32 bit (you can also install 64 bit, but it will require more resources). Click Next to go to the next step.
- Next, we will indicate the size of the VM's RAM. By default, Windows 10 x86 is allocated 1 GB, but you can increase this amount by moving the slider to the right. If your PC does not have a lot of RAM, do not give the VM more than 2-3 GB, otherwise the main system will slow down due to lack of memory.
- Next, we create a virtual hard disk. If you are installing the system for the first time, select the "Create new" option.
- Leave the default virtual disk type.
- A storage format is an area on your computer's physical storage that is assigned to a VM. It can have a constant or dynamically expanding volume within the limits that you define further. To save space, we will choose a dynamic format.
- Next, we will indicate the name of the volume (virtual disk C) and its size. The default is 32 GB.
- After clicking the "Create" button in the last window, a new virtual machine will appear in the list. Its parameters are shown in the frame on the right.
- To proceed to the Windows installation, click the "Run" button in the top panel.
- In the window that will open after that, the window "Select a boot disk" will appear. Click on the folder icon and specify the path to the system distribution kit. It can be an image in .iso format or physical media (DVD, flash drive). After selecting the distribution, click "Continue".
- The further course of OS installation into a virtual machine does not differ from its installation on a physical computer.
Some VM and guest settings
Clicking in the virtual machine window captures the mouse cursor (that is, it will only move within the virtual screen). Press Ctrl + Alt to return the cursor to the main OS.
To access the entire set of functions of the guest OS, you need to install special add-ons. Go to the "Devices" menu, click "Mount Guest OS Additions Disk Image" and follow the further instructions.
To connect a folder to the guest system for sharing files with the main one, click on the "Devices" menu item "Shared folders". Click on the "folder +" icon in the window that opens and through the "path to folder" field specify it in the explorer (it shows the directories of the main system).
If you want the setting to work all the time, check Auto Connect and Create Permanent Folder. The shared folder will be accessible from the virtual machine explorer as a network folder.
To change the order of polling boot devices (for example, to boot a virtual machine from DVD), shut down the guest OS, open its settings (in the main Virtualbox window) and go to the first tab of the "System" section. In the Boot Order list, mark the media you want and use the arrow buttons to move it up.
VMware Workstation Pro
Some options for Hyper-V virtual machines
To take a snapshot of a running guest OS, open the top menu of its Action window and click Checkpoint. Or press the combination Ctrl + N.
Access to the settings of an individual virtual machine is opened from its context menu in the list of the main manager window and is hidden behind the "Settings" button.
Other features of the program are also very straightforward and are mastered without much difficulty.
The Windows operating system allows you to create a virtual machine (VM), which is another computer with a separate virtual disk, OS, system data, and software. Simply put, you are connecting another system that can be opened in a separate window. We will tell you how to install a virtual machine in this article. Follow the instructions carefully, and after 20-30 minutes a VM will appear on the computer
Create a virtual machine on Windows 10
The top ten includes a standard service for creating virtual machines - Hyper-V. By default, the components of this service are disabled - we need to start them. To do this, go to Control Panel, then go to section Programs – Enabling or Disabling Components... In the menu that appears, activate the item Hyper-V and confirm your action with the key OK.After installation, the computer must be restarted. Now we go to the search service Windows and drive in there Hyper-V Manager... It itself is located in Administration tools... Now let's move on to creating a VM:
Done. Opening Hyper-V, you will see a VM.
Launching is done by double-clicking on the name of the VM in Hyper-V. In the connection window, you need to click on the button Enable... You just have to go through the standard procedure for installing the system.
Important! It may happen that you have configured and installed everything correctly, but the operating system on the virtual machine does not start. This can be explained by the fact that the technical characteristics are not suitable for playing a virtual system. Carefully read the system requirements for installing a particular OS version. For example, you cannot put Windows 10 on a weak PC with a processor with two cores and 1 GB of RAM.
Creating a virtual machine on Windows 7
The "seven" has a built-in service for creating a VM, but it allows you to create a virtual machine only for Windows XP. We believe that the lack of choice is bad, so we have made instructions on using third-party software to create a VM. The program is called Virtual Box, and you can also use it to install VMs on Windows 10, 8 and even XP. You need to download Virtual Box from this link.
Install the program according to the standard scheme and run it:
- In the main menu, click on the button Create a.
- After that, the wizard for creating a new VM will open.
- We select the type of operating system and its version: if you want to install Windows 8, then select it from the list.
- In the next window, set the required amount of RAM for the new OS - 512 MB is enough for Windows XP, and the tenth version will not work correctly if you do not provide at least 4 GB for it.
Helpful advice! When specifying memory, set at least 515 MB and no more than 50% of all RAM that is in your computer.
We create a new hard disk for the VM by clicking on the corresponding item, and move on. We recommend choosing the fixed option so that the hard disk for the VM does not take all the space from the main Windows. After setting the size of the virtual HDD, you need to specify the path where it will be located.
Now we return to the VM creation menu and press the button Done... Now we need to configure the virtual machine and install the system itself on it - go to the section Properties... In chapter Display need to include 2D accelerator and 3D accelerator.
The next step is to select the media from which the new OS will be installed on the virtual machine:
- If you want to use the image with the installation, then go to the section Attributes and click on the icon with the image of the folder - the media manager will open - you need to add your image here.
- If the installation will be performed from a DVD or USB drive, then insert it into your computer and go to the section Attributes... After loading, the disk or flash drive you need will appear in the list of media.
Now press the button Install and go to the standard operating system installation wizard. We recommend that you study the Virtual Box program in order to customize the virtual machine completely for yourself.
Helpful advice! To create a Linux VM, it is better to use the Virtual Box program. You can also use the standard Windows 10 wizard, but user reviews indicate that Linux will be unstable.
Installing a Windows XP virtual machine
We have already looked at an example using Virtual Box, now we will study the VMaware Workstation program, with which we will install Windows XP on a virtual machine. You can download the VMaware Workstation application from here.After downloading, we launch the installation file and install the program according to the standard scheme. Now we go into VMaware Workstation and proceed as follows:
- In the application dialog menu, select the partition to install the VM. In the English version, it is called New virtual machine.
- First of all, the program will ask us to specify a DVD, Flash drive or ISO image. We took a regular XP DVD as an example. Click on the button Further and go to the system activation mode - specify the path to the XP activation file.
- Now you need to set up a separate hard drive on which the files with Windows XP will be located, and the software will also be installed there. We indicate the size: usually 40 GB is enough, but for trial use of a VM, 8 GB is enough for you.
- VMaware Workstation will then run a check and final configuration. Here we can change the amount of RAM for the WindowsF version, login methods and other parameters. The Russian version is now available on the VMaware Workstation website, we recommend that you read the description of each setting in the Help. If you skip this section, the program will automatically expose the RAM.
- After completing the configuration, VMaware Workstation will proceed to the installation of the XP system on the virtual machine.
Video installation of VM
The video is devoted to installing Windows XP on a VM and its subsequent configuration. A novice user can also install a VM according to this instruction. The video also explains in detail how to use an already installed XP as a virtual operating system.You now have a virtual machine to experiment with. If you have long wanted to use "unwanted" software, then it is best to install it on a VM. It is easier to use standard services for installing VMs, but third-party software provides more options. It all depends on your requirements - the instructions with Windows 7 are also suitable for other operating systems, there is also a link to download a convenient program.