I am probably late to the show, but recently I bought a wicked (for me) new computer and it came pre-installed with Vista. Ahh Microsoft, what the heck are you thinking when you make new software. I am unsure. I can’t say I completely hate it, because it is not that bad. I have heard some horror stories, but in my case, there was only a few older programs that I could not get running on Vista. Another problem was finding drivers for a USB Wireless Key I had, but that is besides the point of this article.
I needed VPN to work, and my companies VPN does not work with Vista, and they have said they won’t support it for a long while. I didn’t feel like partitioning the drive, although it is a simple process, having so many drive letters is a pain. I didn’t have another drive, or wanted to purchase one, So I went looking for an alternate route and came across Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.
And although Microsoft usually get the short end of the stick, and people complain about them a lot, I think they have done a pretty decent job with Virtual PC 2007. It was very easy to install in Vista, then when it came time to install Windows XP is was quite easy with no problems. I installed VPN and the other programs that didn’t work in Vista, and ta-da! I got the best of both Worlds (not really, would be nice if I could get Mac OSX running on this as well, but that is another article)
Window Vista is my operating system, and I got Windows XP running in another Window. I gave the Virtual PC Window 1gig memory, so it is just as fast as my old computer running XP, and so far (fingers crossed) it has worked flawlessly. I shared a drive from XP Virtual PC to my Vista PC so if I wanted to transfer files it would be a simple task.
Next I want to try to install another OS, maybe Win98 (my favorite Windows of all time) just to see how it goes.
All and All this is a great product from Microsoft, and the very best part is that it is completely FREE. Thats right, Micro$osft is giving it away for Free.
Quote from the main site :
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.
