Windows virtual pc

Windows Virtual PC (formerly called Microsoft Virtual PC, later renamed Windows Virtual PC in Windows 7) is a virtualization manager software developed by Connectix and purchased by Microsoft to create virtual machines. That is, its function is to emulate, through virtualization, a hardware on which a certain operating system works. With this you can get several operating systems running on the same machine at the same time and have them communicate with each other.

This product has been superseded by Microsoft Hyper-V.

Hardware emulation

Virtual PC, in the case of the version for Windows, does not emulate the processor but allows it to execute the instructions in the emulated environment. On the contrary, in the version for MacOS it emulates an Intel Pentium III (32 bit) processor. The rest of the hardware that it emulates are: a motherboard with an Intel 440BX chipset, a SVGA VESA Standard S3 Trio32/64 video card with 8 MB. of VRAM memory, a BIOS chip from American Megatrends, a SoundBlaster 16 sound card and a DEC 21140 network card.

It does not present support for all programs, because there may be failures due to errors in the synchronization of operations or opcodes may be generated out of time.

The emulation on Macintosh is dynamically recompiled to translate x86 code into PowerPC-based Mac code, so it is not compatible with Intel-based Macs.

The emulation on Windows is also dynamically recompiled, but only translates kernel mode and x86 real mode to x86 user code, while the original user runs native or true.

Virtual Machine Additions

To facilitate the exchange and sharing of files, folders and data between the host and the guest, Virtual PC provides a system called Virtual Machine Additions. These can be installed in the guest operating system to provide the following functionality through the host and guest:

• A better Performance in the host operating system.
• Integration with the mouse.
• Optimized video controller
• Dynamic screen resolution (the resolution of the host's screen can be easily changed only by resizing the virtual machine window).
• Synchronization of time with the host.
• Synchronization of clipboard
• Capabilities to drag files between the host SO window.
• Shared folders

Supported operating systems

• Host operating system:
  • Windows 7 Ultimate (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows 7 Enterprise (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows 7 Professional (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Ultimate (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Enterprise (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Business (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Business N (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows XP Home (support added with Feb 20, 2009, hotfix rollup)
  • Windows XP Professional
  • Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (32 bits)
  • Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
  • Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Home Basic (32 and 64 bits)

• Virtual PC 2007 supports, and will not install on the following operating systems as host:
  • Windows Vista Starter
  • Windows Vista Home Premium N (32 and 64 bits)
  • Windows Vista Home Basic N (32 and 64 bits)

• Virtual PC 2007 officially supports, but can be installed on the following operating systems as host, despite a possible alert message:
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bits)
  • Windows Server 2008
  • Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bits)
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004
  • Windows XP Home Edition

Virtual PC 2004 is the last version to support Windows 2000 as the host OS.

• Windows Virtual PC supports the following operating systems as host:
  • Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Professional
  • Windows Vista Enterprise Service Pack 1 (SP1)[b]
  • Windows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 (SP1)[b]
  • Windows 7 Professional
  • Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise

System Requirements

• AMD Athlon Dual Core X2 Processor at 1.50 Ghz or Intel Celeron
• 1 GB of RAM memory
• Activated Virtualization Hardware (recommended, though not required)
• Video card at least with 64 MB of VRam (Geforce MX)
• Screen resolution 800 x 600
• Broadband Internet connection
• 48.5 MB free On hard drive (it is recommended 2 GB for virtual system installation)
• Windows Vista Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium is not supported. In the case of Windows 7, it is just like in Windows Vista

Windows XP Mode

Windows XP Mode will be disabled in Windows 7 Home Basic and Home Premium. However, it is possible to set up a customized Windows XP virtual environment (requires a Windows XP license and the Windows XP installation CD or files), and install the Integration Components update (available for download on the Web site from Microsoft) to enable Fluent mode and other features of integration with Windows 7.

Windows Virtual PC has an x64 version, but an x64 guest OS cannot work. This was confirmed on the Microsoft TechNet forum.

An update enabling Fluent mode and other integration components for Windows Vista SP1 as a guest on Windows 7 as a host is available for download on the Microsoft website

Guest operating systems

• Virtual PC 2007 supports the following operating systems as host:
  • Windows Server 2008 (All 32-bit editions)
  • Windows Vista (All 32-bit editions)
  • Windows XP (All 32-bit editions)
  • Windows Server 2003 (All 32-bit editions)
  • Windows 2000 (All Editions)
  • Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Windows NT Server 4.0 (All editions)
  • IBM OS/2 Warp

• Virtual PC 2007 does not support the following operating systems, but if compatible with these:
  • Windows NT Server 5.0 Build 1592
  • Windows ME
  • Windows 98 Original version
  • Windows 95 (All versions)
  • Windows NT 4.0 Workstation
  • Windows NT 3.51
  • Windows 3.1 and 3.11
  • Windows 3.0
  • MS-DOS 6.22
  • Windows 2.03
  • Windows 1.01

In Virtual PC 2007, the Virtual Machine Additions are not available for early operating systems such as Windows 95 or MS-DOS 6.22; however, the Virtual Machine Additions version of Virtual PC 2004 can be used with Windows 95 and MS-DOS.

For the Windows Vista guest OS on Virtual PC 2007, the Windows Vista aero graphical theme is disabled due to limitations of the S3 emulated graphics card. However, the aero theme can be implemented by connecting to the guest machine via remote desktop connection initiated from a host that supports Vista Aero.

Emulation of a Linux-based environment

Installing Linux systems as a guest on Virtual PC is possible, but not seamless. To date, Windows Virtual PC does not officially support Linux as a guest, although Virtual Machine Additions for Linux were available in Connectix Virtual PC releases prior to the Microsoft acquisition. However, Microsoft Virtual Server Virtual Machine Additions do support Linux, and these should also work on Windows Virtual PC.

Some Linux distributions must be installed in text mode, since Windows Virtual PC only emulates graphics with 16-bit or 32-bit color depth, but not 24-bit. Thus, to work, X Window must be configured for a 16-bit color depth by specifying it in the xorg.conf configuration file of the guest operating system. Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) can only be installed in SafeMode.

Some websites specialize in the listed operating systems that successfully run as guests in Virtual PC, to help users avoid problems installing Linux distributions or other operating systems that lack official support from Microsoft.

Other alternatives

• VMware, proprietary software but with free versions.
• KVM
• VirtualBox license GNU.
• Xen
• GPL license BOCHS.
• GPL license QEMU.
• Virtuozzo, proprietary software
• Mac on Linux
• Basilisk II
• SheepShaver
• Proxmox_Virtual_Environment