Installing and using windows virtual pc. How to install Microsoft Virtual PC on a computer? Pre-installation steps

Appearance new version operating system is stressful for most users. Therefore, one of the main tasks of developers is to make the transition as smooth as possible. This doesn’t always work out, but the creators of Windows 7 turned out to be understanding people, and therefore introduced a virtualization package into the system that was new at that time, allowing you to run XP inside the “seven”.

General information

The virtual machine emulates Hardware, creating an isolated environment inside the system into which you can install any OS. This allows you to solve many problems with software compatibility, and also makes it possible to “try” another system without deleting the current one. You will be able to work with physical drives, install games and programs for Windows XP without giving up the “seven”, save files and perform other tasks. Let's see how to install a virtual machine on Windows 7 to take advantage of all its useful features.

Checking for Virtual PC

If you installed Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise or Professional versions, then you have the Virtual PC feature by default. You just need to make sure that the processor supports hardware virtualization. This can be done using the utility from Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool.

Download the utility and run it. Depending on the results of the processor test, the following messages may appear on the screen.

Enabling/disabling virtualization is done in BIOS settings, so before installing Virtual PC manually, make sure the option is enabled.

The option may be called Intel_Virtualization Technology, AMD-V, Virtualization Extensions, etc. Find this feature in the BIOS and change the value from “Disabled” to “Enabled”.
If after this you cannot start the virtual machine, Windows offers to install a special patch. At this stage, it is important to choose the correct system bit size – x32 or x64.

Manual installation

Installing a virtual machine on Windows 7 includes two steps:

Installing Windows Virtual PC;
Installing a virtual Windows disk XP Mode.

First, let's deal with Virtual PC:

Then you can proceed to installation virtual disk Windows XP Mode:

First start

After installing XP Mode, the "seven" must further configure it to create a virtual disk. Therefore, after clicking the “Finish” button, the following window will appear on the screen, in which there will be another license agreement, the terms of which you must accept.
Specify the folder where the virtual disk will be located and create the first user.
Enable security features of the system you are creating. This is not necessary. Click "Start Installation".
The installation process will start; you just have to wait for it to end.

New virtual machine

The system is prepared, the virtual disk is installed. All that remains is to create a new environment and run Windows XP in it.

The newly created sandbox will appear in the XP Mode main window. Click on it right click and select "Open". Select the “DVD drive” option and specify the path to the physical drive (if you have a disk with the Windows XP distribution) or a pre-downloaded ISO image. The system installation wizard will launch.

All you have to do is install Windows XP as usual to start using this system in an isolated environment created using the hardware virtualization feature.

After the installation is complete, you can use all the features of the Microsoft OS: install gadgets for Windows XP, install games that do not run on the “seven”, launch outdated programs etc. – to do this, just run XP mode through the emulator.

Alternative virtual machines

In addition to the built-in hardware virtualization feature, Windows 7 supports third-party programs that help you create an isolated environment and install any operating system into it.

First of all, it is necessary to note such virtualization systems as VMWare Workstation and Oracle VM VirtualBox. Let's look at the example of Virtualbox to see how such programs work.

Oracle VM Virtualbox

Download and install Virtualbox. It is installed in the same way as any other program, so you should not have any problems.

Launch Oracle VM VirtualBox and click Create. The Create Sandboxed Environment Wizard opens.
Enter your name new car, system type and bit size, and then click Next.
Set volume random access memory, which will be automatically allocated when the virtual machine is started for its operation.
Create new hard drive and click Next.
Specify the disk type. If you don't know which is better, leave the first item on the list checked.
Select the storage format – it is recommended to select “Dynamic image”.
Specify the name and volume of the new virtual hard drive, and then complete the wizard by clicking the "Create" button.

The isolated environment is ready. To start working with it, mark it with the left mouse button and click the “Run” button in the top menu.
A new window will appear on the screen through which you will first install and then interact with Windows 7 or another installed operating system. Specify the path to physical disk or an ISO image with a Windows distribution and click “Continue”.
Process Windows installations 7 we will not consider in detail here, since it is no different from the usual installation on a physical HDD. You just need to wait until the system installation is completed.

The virtual machine is launched through the Oracle VM VirtualBox program. You will need to open this utility and select the desired virtual system image from the main menu on the left.

As for other utilities, in VMWare Workstation the process of creating a virtual machine almost completely repeats the procedure described above.
In some other programs you may need additional customization, so for beginners they may seem a little complicated.

Conclusion

Creating a virtual machine and installing a system on it is quite simple, but you need to be careful - since April 2014, Windows XP is not supported by Microsoft, therefore, even by emulating the mode of this OS, you make your system vulnerable.

Additionally, XP mode is not supported on machines with installed Windows 8, and there is no way you can fix it. The Virtual PC feature was originally created for a smooth transition between systems, so skipping versions will not work.

But you can try installing a system other than Microsoft Windows– for example, Linux.
It’s quite difficult to switch to it right away; besides, you have to give up most of your usual habits. Windows programs. In emulation mode, you will gradually get used to the features of interacting with new system and decide whether you need to switch to it completely.

How to install a virtual machine to your computer and most importantly, which virtual machine to choose? Before asking you this question, I surfed the Internet and realized that the easiest to install and configure are VirtualBox and Virtual PC, but there is also Hyper-V and VMWare. I understand that now you will ask me: “Why do I need a virtual machine?” My answer: “I want to install different operating systems and experiment with them, I’m very interested: Windows XP, Windows 7, but especially Windows 8!” The Windows 7 I have installed works fine with all the applications installed on it, but the hype around new Windows 8 is only growing and I don’t want to stay on the sidelines, so you have already written two dozen articles about the eight on your website and keep writing. So I’m thinking of installing a virtual machine (I just can’t choose which one), install Windows 8 into it and slowly study it, and then you see, in October, when the final version of Windows 8.1 comes out, I’ll install it as the second operating system. Mark.

Hello admin! on the Microsoft website and wanted to install it on my virtual VirtualBox machine, but the installation gives an error “ VT-x/AMD-V hardware virtualization features are enabled but not functioning" What to do?

How to install a virtual machine

Friends, if you have never dealt with a virtual machine, then I will explain to you in a nutshell what it is. Virtual machine is real computer, created inside your main operating system and on this computer, you can install other operating systems (several!) and not just Windows. You can experiment as you wish with the operating system installed in the virtual machine, access the Internet from it, install various software, without fear of infecting your computer with a virus, in short, use your imagination and you will find a use for it.

For example, one of my friends learned how to reinstall the operating system and divide the hard drive into several partitions only using a virtual machine.

As for choosing a virtual machine, an article will be written on our website about each of the existing ones. I recommend it to you install virtual machine VirtualBox, its capabilities are enough not only for a beginner, but also for an experienced user, and besides, it is free. Start with her. Simple and intuitive settings, stable operation, made it one of the most popular.

What types of virtual machines are there?

Virtual PC is free, very easy to install in Windows 7, follow the link to the Microsoft website, download and install.
http://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/download/details.aspx?id=3702
paid, costs 222.53 €, but there is a 30-day trial period. This virtual machine is needed primarily for system administrators and software developers.
So it’s decided, let’s install the VirtualBox virtual machine. Go to the website https://www.virtualbox.org/, click "Downloads", select
VirtualBox 4.2.16 for Windows hosts x86/amd64.

The virtual machine installer is downloaded; we must run it as an administrator, otherwise in the future you will be plagued by various errors when working with the virtual machine. Right-click on the installer and select "Run as administrator"

The program is very easy to install on our computer.

We launch the virtual machine as administrator.

Click on the “Create” button.

First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if you decide to install Windows 7 64-bit on a virtual machine, select Windows 7 64-bit from the list. If you decide to install another operating system, for example Windows 8.1 64-bit, then be sure to select Windows 8.1 64-bit in the drop-down list and enter the invented name of the virtual machine, for example Windows 8.1, then click Next.

In this window you need to specify the amount of memory that you can allocate to the virtual machine. Friends, you must understand that the RAM allocated to the virtual machine will not be available to the one installed on your computer. operating system. If you only have 2 GB of RAM, then you cannot allocate more than 1024 MB to a virtual machine; your operating system will be very slow when working with a virtual machine. If you are installing Windows 8 then optimal size for her it is just 1024 MB. As you can see, my computer has 8 GB of RAM, which means I can allocate more than 1 GB, for example 2 GB.

Create a new virtual hard disk.

File type select VDI

At this stage we need to specify the format of the virtual hard disk. If you check “Dynamic virtual hard disk”, this means that the space on your hard drive allocated for the needs of the virtual machine will not be used immediately, but as files accumulate in your virtual machine. I recommend that you use this option.

Specify the size of the virtual hard disk. If you are creating a virtual machine for the first time, specify 50 GB, this is enough to install Windows 8. But I personally will indicate a larger volume for myself. Why? While working with the virtual machine, I will be installing many operating systems, so I will specify the capacity as 240 GB.

You can create a virtual disk on something other than system disk, it’s very simple, click on the yellow folder and Explorer will open, in it specify any partition on your hard drive to place the virtual hard disk.

We see the result. So, we have created a virtual machine, now we need to configure it and finally install Windows 8 into it.
Select our virtual machine and click “Configure”.

System. Uncheck the “Floppy Disk” box. We leave first boot device CD/DVD-ROM, since we will boot the virtual machine from a Windows 8 installation disk or image, we leave the Hard drive as the second device.

The “Processor” parameter is left as it is.

“Acceleration” Hardware virtualization must be enabled; you will probably be installing a 64-bit operating system.

Display. Video. "Enable 3D acceleration" and "Enable 2D acceleration"
Video memory 128 MB

Carriers.

A little of your attention!
Your physical disk drive will be available in the virtual machine, in my case Drive “I” and if you have a Windows disk, you can use it to install the operating system, check the Live CD/DVD box. Also present here virtual disk drive

, let’s connect to it the image with the Windows 8 operating system, which we downloaded in yesterday’s article. In the "Media" option, select "Drive" and "Select optical disk image"

An explorer will open in which you can select the downloaded Windows 8 image, then click “Open”.

The Windows 8 image will be attached to the virtual drive. Net . Check the box "Enable" network adapter

" Connection type "NAT". USB . Check off the items. Turn on USB controller

. Enable USB Controller (EHCI) What is a USB filter? Imagine this situation: all USB devices connected to your computer will be detected in the operating system that is installed on your virtual machine. Naturally you don't need this. USB filters will determine which USB device should be detected in the virtual machine and which in your main system. To see how all this works in practice, we first need to install the operating system in our virtual machine 8.1, and then everything will become clear to you, read on.

To ensure that all connected USB-2.0 flash drives work normally in your virtual machine, install the plugin VirtualBox 4.2.16 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack, download it from. website https://www.virtualbox.org/

A virtual computer or "Virtual Machine" is installed on a real computer using various emulation tools. In this tutorial we will look at creating a virtual computer using software product Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.

Before we start creating a virtual machine, we need to install it. How to do this is described in the article.

Let's start creating a virtual computer in Virtual PC.

Step 1. Launch Virtual PC 2007 by double-clicking on the icon. A window will appear Virtual PC Console. The Computer Control Center consists of three areas. In the center is a list of used virtual computers. On the right are frequently used commands:

- New... (Wizard for creating a new virtual computer).
- Settings (Settings of the selected virtual computer).
- Remove (Deletes the selected computer).
- Start (Start a virtual computer).

So, in order to Create new virtual computer click on the button New...

Step 2. In the New Virtual Machine Wizard window, click Next.

Step 3. In the new window, select the option Create a Virtual machine(Create a virtual machine). Click to continue Next.

Step 4. Enter the name of the new computer in the field Name and location. Then click Next.

Step 5. In the operating system selection window in the section Operating system Click on the drop-down list and select the operating system that you will install on this virtual computer. Having selected the OS, click Next.

Step 6. Next, you need to configure the amount of RAM. You can use the recommended amount of memory by setting the switch to Using the recommended RAM or change the memory size by setting the switch to Adjusting the RAM. I advise you to use the installation wizard’s recommendations and click Next.

Step 7. Next in the virtual hard disk creation window, in the section Do you want to use set the switch to mode A new virtual hard disk .
(An existing virtual hard disk- this is connecting an existing hard drive with the installed system).
Click to continue Next.

Step 8. In the window virtual disk settings you can specify its future location by pressing the button Browse, and set hard drive size in field Virtual hard disk size. Leave the default settings and click Next.

Step 9. All. Creating a virtual computer in Virtual PC completed successfully. Press to exit Finish.

Now we start setting up the created virtual computer in Virtual PC 2007. To launch the created virtual computer, right-click on it once and then click Start. The computer will start, but nothing will appear, since there is no operating system installed on it.

In order for our computer to start working on it we need .
To do this, in the running window, in the top menu, click CD and select Capture ISO Image...

In the window that appears, specify the path to ISO operating system image. Double click iso image. After this, reboot the virtual computer by clicking on the cross and selecting Turn Off.

After the next start of the virtual computer, the operating system will automatically load into the virtual CD drive.
After which it will begin standard installation operating system. You can see how to install the Windows operating system in the section.

Before installing the add-ons, the mouse cursor will remain stuck on the virtual computer screen.

After the operating system installation is complete, you will need to install add-ons for the virtual computer.

To do this, in the top menu of the virtual computer window, click Action and select Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions.
In the window that appears autostart click Run Setup.exe.

The add-on installation procedure is standard. In the first and subsequent windows, click Next. When installation is complete, click Finish. After this, reboot the virtual computer by clicking in the window that appears Yes.

This method can be used if you do not want your guest system to be Windows XP. In this article, I will tell you how you can create a virtual machine and install the guest operating system that you plan to manage in Virtual PC.

To create a virtual machine, you can use the creation wizard virtual machines. The wizard will help you configure the virtual machine with basic settings, which you can configure as you need to use the virtual machine. For example, you can specify a certain amount of memory that the virtual machine will use. The amount of RAM allocated should be the same as what you would allocate to a physical computer. It is advisable to provide the virtual machine with sufficient memory so that you can easily manage the operating system and applications installed on it

You should also pay attention to how you will install the guest operating system. For example, to install an operating system you can use network server for installation or physical CD or DVD drive, in which you simply place installation disk with the system. If you are installing a Virtual PC-supported 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", select "Windows Virtual PC". If this item is not immediately in the menu, you need to click on the menu "Start" on "All programs", left-click on the folder "Windows Virtual PC", and then select "Windows Virtual PC".
IN Windows Explorer the folder will open "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, as well as from this folder you can open general access, create and modify virtual machines and virtual disks.
The Create Virtual Machine Wizard will open. After going through the wizard dialogs, you will 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
In the second step, the virtual machine creation wizard prompts us to specify memory parameters for the virtual machine.
Step 3
The third step requires you to specify the virtual machine disk settings.
At the end of the wizard, the virtual machine will be displayed in the list of files in the folder "Virtual machines".
Installing a guest operating system. If you are using a network installation server, you can safely skip this step. If you are using CD or DVD disc, 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 look for the installation disk. The installation will begin once the boot disk is found.
After the installation is completed, 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 desktop of the virtual machine and open the CD in it. After this, you need to double-click the left mouse button on the IntegrationComponents.msi file.
Complete the installation using the Integration Components Installation Wizard.
Reboot the virtual machine. From the menu "Action" virtual machine window select "Reboot".

Closing a virtual machine

Before you start performing some actions in the virtual machine, you may want to know how to log out of the virtual machine. When you close a virtual machine, it may hibernate, shut down, or shut down. When a virtual machine wakes up from 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 processing resources. The length of time it takes to open a virtual machine depends on how you closed it during your last session. The amount of memory you allocated when creating the virtual machine also matters.

By default, when you click 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 other virtual machines. You can change this option yourself.

Changes to the default action to close a virtual machine

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 guest operating system window that appears, click on "Close".
The operating system will be turned off, the resources consumed by it will be returned to the host system.

Attention!
If you want the installed software to appear on the desktop of the host operating system, you need to log out of your account before closing the virtual machine.

Virtualization is an umbrella term that covers the abstraction of resources for many aspects of computing. Some of the most typical examples of virtualization are given below. In turn, a virtual machine is an environment that appears to the “guest” operating system as hardware. However, in reality it is a software environment that is simulated by the host system software. This simulation must be robust enough to allow the guest drivers to operate reliably. When using paravirtualization, the virtual machine does not simulate the hardware, but instead offers the use of a special API.

Terms used:

Host system (host)- a computer running the virtualization platform
Guest operating system- operating system running inside a virtual machine
Virtual machine, virtual environment- virtualized computer hardware that can run a guest operating system and applications. Several virtual machines can be running simultaneously
Virtual application- a virtual machine with a pre-installed guest operating system and fully configured applications, aimed at solving a specific task

In this guide, I will talk about the new virtualization features of the Windows 7 operating system. Virtual PC Windows is a new optional system component that can be used to deploy and migrate compatibility support for applications in Windows 7 that can be managed on legacy operating systems. This component is available when you download the update package.

Virtual PC Windows provides an easy way to Windows management XP and support for compatibility of applications that must be managed on this operating system. Can be used to access virtual Windows image XP, which is ready to provide compatibility settings for the applications the user needs. You can even use Windows XP Mode and Windows 7 to run applications directly from Windows 7, when the applications are, in principle, installed on the virtual Windows machine XP. Windows mode XP Mode is available in Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, and Windows 7 Ultimate.

Under the Windows 7 operating system, other 32-bit operating systems can also be used in Windows Virtual PC. Namely:

Windows XP - only Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Professional is supported;
Windows Vista- only Windows Vista Enterprise and Windows Vista Ultimate are supported;
Windows 7 - only Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate are supported;

In this guide, I will describe several options for using Virtual PC - installing Windows XP Mode, as well as installing another operating system. In both cases, virtual machines are used to provide management of the operating system. Windows XP Mode is more in a fast way, because it involves fewer steps and effort. After the operating system test environment is installed, we will look at several key features Windows Virtual PC - such as sharing physical resources: USB devices, printers, and hard drives.

Pre-installation steps

To install Windows Virtual PC, you must download and install a specific system update. Before you install Windows Virtual PC, you need to review the requirements to determine whether your computer can run Windows Virtual PC. Windows Virtual PC requires Windows 7 hardware support for virtualization. Virtualization support is available for processors that include a virtualization option—namely, processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) and AMD Virtualization Technology (AMD-V), as well as some VIA processors. You can enable hardware support for virtualization using the BIOS. For more detailed information regarding hardware support for a specific virtualization processor, it is best to consult the hardware manufacturer's Web site.

In order to find out whether hardware virtualization is supported in Intel processors, you need to do the following:

Download, install and run Intel Processor Identification Utility;
Go to the “CPU Technologies” tab and read the value in the “Intel Virtualization Technology” field

To find out whether hardware virtualization is supported in AMD processors required to download, install and run AMD Virtualization Compatibility Check Utility

The following list shows some models Intel processors, which 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 n)
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

This section of the guide describes the process of installing Windows Virtual PC, as well as installing the virtual machine itself. Additional configuration and technical information in examples.

Installing Windows Virtual PC

After installing Windows Virtual PC, you need to install a virtual machine. You can use Windows XP Mode or create your own virtual machine. If you plan to use Windows XP, you can download it using the Windows XP Mode installation package discussed in the "Before You Begin" section.

A little about integration components

Integration components make a virtual machine easier to use by improving the interaction between physical resources and the virtual machine environment. They are installed automatically along with Windows XP Mode. For other operating systems, they must be installed manually after installing the operating system itself. Integration components are included with Windows Virtual PC and provide access to the following resources:

Installing Windows XP Mode

Installation process:

Attention

You should not uninstall a package if you will no longer use it. If you remove it, then the package Windows component XP Mode will no longer be available and you may lose important data. Uninstalling the package removes the virtual machine and also stops access to the data that was stored in the virtual machine;
Microsoft recommends keeping an archived copy Windows package XP Mode (WindowsXPMode_xx-XX.exe, where xx-XX is the system language) as a backup, in case you have to restore Windows environment XP Mode. For example, you can burn the .exe file to a CD or DVD. It is highly recommended to have a backup copy because the Windows XP Mode environment has 2 virtual hard drives- parent virtual hard disk and differential disk. A differential disk cannot be used without a parent disk. If the parent disk is deleted or damaged, you must update the existing Windows XP Mode environment. In this case, you need to use the same parent hard drive that was used previously if you will be installing Windows XP Mode again

The installation process is as follows:

After installing Windows XP Mode, you may want to create new accounts for this component. If you create accounts, you will need to add them to the Remote Desktop User and Administrators groups. Accounts can be either domain or local.

Installing a virtual machine manually

This method can be used if you do not want your guest system to be Windows XP. In this section, I'll 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 Create Virtual Machine Wizard to create a virtual machine. The wizard will walk you through configuring the virtual machine with basic settings that you can customize to suit your needs for using the virtual machine. For example, you can specify a certain amount of memory that the virtual machine will use. The amount of RAM allocated should be the same as what you would allocate to a physical computer. It is advisable to provide the virtual machine with enough memory so that you can easily manage the operating system and applications installed on it. You should also pay attention to how you will install the guest operating system. For example, to install an operating system, you can use a network installation server or a physical CD or DVD drive into which you simply place the installation disk with the system. If you are installing a Virtual PC-supported guest operating system, you will need to install the Integration Component Pack after installation.

You need to open the virtual machine folder. To do this, go to the menu “ Start", select " Windows Virtual PC" If this item is not immediately available in the menu, you need to click on the menu “ Start" on " All programs", left-click on the folder " Windows Virtual PC", and then select " Windows Virtual PC»
The folder " Virtual machines" From the menu area, click on “”.

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 Create Virtual Machine Wizard will open. After going through the wizard dialogs, you will select the required settings for installing the guest operating system.

The first step is to name the new virtual machine and specify its location.

In the second step, the virtual machine creation wizard prompts us to specify memory parameters for the virtual machine.

The third step requires you to specify the virtual machine disk settings.
At the end of the wizard, the virtual machine will be displayed in the list of files in the “ Virtual machines».
Installing a 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, insert it into the drive carriage and proceed to the next installation step. To use the .iso image you need to do the following:
a) Right-click on the created virtual machine and select " Options»;
B) In the left pane, select the drive where the image is located. In the right pane, select " Open ISO image" Click the button OK.
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 look for the installation disk. The installation will begin once the boot disk is found.
After the installation is completed, you need to install the integration components. Click on the menu " Service" in the virtual machine window and select the item "". If the installation does not start after a few seconds, go to the desktop of the virtual machine and open the CD in it. After this, you need to double-click on the file with the left mouse button IntegrationComponents.msi.
Complete the installation using the Integration Components Installation Wizard.
Reboot the virtual machine. From the menu " Action" in the virtual machine window, select " Reboot»

Closing a virtual machine

Attention

When you open a virtual machine, Windows Virtual PC provides it with memory and processing resources. The length of time it takes to open a virtual machine depends on how you closed it during your last session. The amount of memory you allocated when creating the virtual machine also matters. By default, when you click the “Close” button in the virtual machine window, the Windows XP Mode virtual machine goes into hibernation mode and prompts you to select the same action for other virtual machines. You can change this option yourself.

Changes to the default action to close a virtual machine

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 guest operating system window that appears, click on “ Shut Down».
The operating system will be turned off, the resources consumed by it will be returned to the host system.

Attention! If you want the installed software to appear on the desktop of the host operating system, you need to log out of your account before closing the virtual machine.

If you are using certain versions Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 on a virtual machine, then you have the ability to access the application directly from the desktop on the host computer when the application is installed in the virtual machine. With this feature, you can run existing applications on your Windows 7 host machine, avoiding problems that may arise if they are not compatible with the host operating system.

Business applications running on the Windows XP operating system are great for testing this feature. However, Windows Virtual PC does not support applications that require stereo sound or 3D graphics. This means that user applications, such as games, cannot be launched in this case.

Using USB devices in a virtual machine.

Windows Virtual PC supports USB devices version 2.0, and it is also possible to share a device or record from a device to a virtual machine. The method you use depends on the type of USB device you are using. If integration components are installed and enabled by the guest operating system, storage devices and smart card readers are automatically shared between virtual machines And physical computer. No required additional actions for these types of storage devices. For other types, their use is possible by attaching them to a virtual machine. For example, you can attach the following types of USB devices:

Digital cameras;
USB CD drive;
MP3 players;
Phone/PDA/mobile device;
Webcams/video cameras;
Wireless network adapters.

Printing from a virtual machine

There are several ways to make a printer available on a virtual machine. Some factors that influence the methods you can use include whether a printer driver is available on Windows 7 and whether the printer is connected locally or over a network. You can also use the XPS format if your computer supports this printing method.

Using a Local USB Printer

Attention! This method is suitable if drivers are available for both systems - the Windows 7 host system and the guest operating system. You only need to go through a few steps to install the printer on a virtual machine. The following steps assume that you have already printed to the printer using the host operating system.

Make sure the printer is turned on and available for driver installation. For example, you can install drivers on it using a CD.

Connect the printer to the virtual machine. To do this, in the virtual machine window, click on “ " Connection type "NAT"." and then to " DeviceName Sharing».
Install the printer driver on the guest operating system. You can install the driver via the Internet or use a CD.
Disconnect the printer from the virtual machine. To do this, from the virtual machine window, click on “ " Connection type "NAT"." and then to " DeviceName Release».
Reboot the virtual machine. To do this, from the virtual machine window, click on “ Action" and then to " Reboot».
The printer will be available on both systems, both the host and the guest.

If you are using a Windows XP guest system, you must manually install the driver for the printer that will be used.

Printing from a virtual machine

Go to the virtual machine and go to account, if necessary (you will be logged in automatically if the option to save your password is set).
Do the following:
a) On the desktop in the virtual machine, right-click on the file and select from context menu option " Seal»
b) Open an application that has a print option available and use the print command.
All printers that are available in the virtual machine are in the list of printers. Select the desired printer and click on the OK button

You can also use Print to XPS Document from your virtual application or virtual session to save the file you are printing to the host, and then you can print the file using a printer installed on the host computer. This option is useful when drivers are not available for the guest operating system or you do not want to install a printer on it. This method requires the following configuration:

Microsoft XPS Essentials Pack installed on the guest operating system. Microsoft XPS Essentials
The Pack can be downloaded from the following link: Windows Hardware Developer Central site.
The virtual machine is configured and has access to disks and partitions on the host computer, so you can simply save the file (By default, when Windows XP Mode is installed, the system is configured to have access to disks and partitions on the host system. For other virtual machines, you need to install components integration).
A working printer must be installed on the host operating system.