Windows Vista December CTP under Virtual PC
Gah... I have just realized that as I was away on holidays during December I missed the December Customer Technology Preview release of Windows Vista. Thankfully this build is quite easy to install inside of Virtual PC. Before we get started - you will need two things:
- The December CTP install media (build 5270)
- Virtual Machine Additions from Virtual Server 2005 R2
For the latter - if you are using Virtual PC you can download the Virtual Server 2005 R2 trial (from https://www.microsoft.com/virtualserver) and use the Virtual Machine Additions from there. This version is supported on both Virtual Server and Virtual PC - and has a number of Vista optimizations.
Once you have this - you should follow these steps:
- Create a new virtual machine with a 16GB (or larger) virtual hard disk and at least 512mb RAM
- Boot off of the install media (note: most ISOs for the December CTP are under 2.2GB in size - which means that you can boot off the ISO directly under Virtual PC)
- On the first page select 'Install now'
- On the next page, hit 'Shift-F10' - this will bring up a command prompt window
- Type in:
- DISKPART
- SELECT DISK 0
- CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
- EXIT
- EXIT - Now you will need to reset the virtual machine (hit host-key + 'R') and boot off of the install media again
- You should now be able to go through with the default installation of Windows Vista
- When you are finished you should be able to log in and install the Virtual Machine Additions
It runs quite well under Virtual PC:
Cheers,
Ben