Many virtualization (VPC) questions

[VirtualLarry]

First off, I know that XP Mode is available for download for Win7 Pro. However, that requires VT support in the CPU+mobo. Is this true, even if you just want to run VPC on Win7, without using MS's XP Mode? Is it VPC on Win7 alone that requires VT? If so, why is that so, when XP can run VPC without VT support?

I want to virtualize my multi-boot box, which has Win98se, W2K SP4, and XP SP2 on it.

How would I set up VPC for that arrangement? Doesn't VPC ask which guest OS is going to be installed onto it? How do I answer that question, if I'm going to have multiple OSes booting on it?

How much RAM should I allocate, given that Win98se is flaky with more than 768MB or 1GB of RAM? I'm thinking 1GB, or 768MB to be safe.

Should I have multiple VMs, one for Win98se, and one for W2K/WXP, sharing the same .VHD file? Can you do that (share a single .VHD file between independent VMs?) Is it wise?

Can you cram multiple partitions into a singular .VHD file?

Is every version of Win7 capable of mounting a .VHD file as a disk, or is that only with Pro, or is that only if you have VPC installed onto Win7?

Does VPC have emulated USB flash drive support? Will it ever get pass-thru USB support?

Edit: I have now learned that there are two different versions of VPC. 2007 SP1, and 7. VPC 7 supports USB, but requires VT support in the CPU. 2007 SP1 apparently does not require VT support, but also does not support USB.
I'm trying to figure out which laptop I own might support VT.

I have a Gateway, with a C2D 1.6Ghz dual-core, that I think supports VT in the CPU, unsure about mobo.
I have an MSI, with a Celeron T3100 1.9Ghz dual-core, that probably doesn't support VT.
I have an eMachines with an AMD TF-20 1.6Ghz single-core, that MS's HAVtool says doesn't have VT enabled in BIOS. (I'm guessing, but will verify, that the AMD CPU includes VT support. I guess I'm screwed if the BIOS has it locked out though.)

Edit: None of my laptops support VT.

 

[lopri]

Well your questions are overwhelming so more knowledgeable users should reply, but as far as I know you cannot even install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 on Windows 7. You'll be told that the program is not compatible. At least that's what happened to me when I tried to install it. So that leaves Windows 7 with Windows VPC, which requires hardware virtualization support.

I have no idea how dual-boot and VPC gets along. I see your need, but one of the main purposes of virtualization is to avoid the hassle of dual-booting so I suppose it's a rare situation. I also don't know Windows VPC can create a .vhd from an existing physical volume, but I know it can mount one. You may need a different application to convert an existing physical volume to a virtual disk.

You can use a single .vhd file with multiple VMs, but unless it's a networked disk only one VM can access to it at a time. For example, if I have WinXP.vhd, WinVista,vhd, Data.vhd and you can use the Data.vhd for either OS, just as you can have a data disk for physical systems. I suppose this isn't your scenario, though.

Personally I have moved away from VPC to VMware Workstaion some time ago (thanks in large to collective advice of this forum) and I haven't looked back. I've used both Microsoft VPC and Windows VPC (XP Mode), and while they get the job done they don't do it as efficiently or as painlessly as VMWare. (It's not free, though)

 

[sourceninja]

Save time and money. Use virtualbox. It will handle everything great.

 

[ViRGE]

Save time and money. Use virtualbox. It will handle everything great.

I second this suggestion. VPC is old and busted; Microsoft is only keeping the Win7 XP Mode variant up to date. If you want a true virtual machine setup, you need to use something up to date - VMWare, Parallels, or VirtualBox.

 

[JackMDS]

VPC 2007 SP1 is not supported by Microsoft on Win 7 but it can run on it.

If the Win 7 has a previous installation of VPC, or an attempt was made to install the XP Mode, it has to be uninstalled, and cleaned first. Then Win 7 will install VCP 2007 SP1.

Both Win 2000 and Win 98SE can run and do not need VPC memory configuration bigger than 512MB. Win XP as VPC needs 512MB to 1MB depends on what is planned to run on it.

It would run the way it ran on Vista. I.e. No USB support and No seamless.

The way to work on it is by Networking the Virtual computers via File sharing the same way it is done by any two independent Computers, and share resources through the Network.

While the recent release of VMware is more "fancy", but it is much more resource hogger than VPC. If the intention is mainly to run Win98, Win 2000, and Win XP VPC would work well.

According to my experience it is better to create a New VMC file when installing on Win 7. The VHD from Vista can be used on Win 7. I.e., if in-place upgrade it done from Vista, uninstall the VPC from Vista, erase the VMC files. Upgrade Vista to Win 7 install VPC 2007 SP1, make a new VPC computer, and point to the old VHD.

 

[theevilsharpie]

This thread serves only as a reminder of how far behind Microsoft is when it comes to virtualization technology.

VirtualLarry, just use VMware Player. It's free, it'll run on all of your machines regardless of whether they support Intel VT/AMD-V or not, it supports more guests than any other product, and it'll do whatever you need it to do.