Creating virtual machines with Windows Virtual PC

If you have read about Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP mode, you may mistakenly think that Windows Virtual PC can only be used for running applications in Windows XP mode.  While this is one of the major features, Windows Virtual PC allows you to create multiple virtual machines and use them for multiple operating systems.

The process of creating virtual machines has been improved a bit since Virtual PC 2007, so I thought I would go over the process:

  1. From the start menu, open the Windows Virtual PC folder and select Virtual Machines.
  2. From the Virtual Machines folder, click on Create virtual machine.
  3. On the first page of the Create a virtual machine wizard you can specify the Name and Location for the virtual machine.
  4. Next you can configure the amount of Memory for the virtual machine, and whether Networking will be enabled or not.
  5. Finally you can choose to create a new virtual hard disk or to use an existing one.

createVM1 createVM2 createVM3 createVM4 createVM5

After completing this 5 step the virtual machine will be created, and you can install the operating system you want to run.  On the virtual hard disk configuration page of the create a virtual machine wizard you also have the option of selecting to create a virtual hard disk using advanced options.  If you select this option you will then see a number of extra pages that allow you to create a dynamically expanding, fixed-size or differencing virtual hard disk of any size that you want.

Cheers,
Ben