Operating System within an operating system?

[Ika]

So I have a Vista x64 machine and I have a Gamebridge AVC1410 (composite/svideo input and TV tuner in one), which doesn't have Vista x64 drivers; it does, however, have XP x86 drivers. Thusly I have an XP Pro partition on my machine, but to use it I have to reboot and load into Win XP, which is a chore, to say the least. Can I use something like VMware to load XP within Vista? In essence what I"m asking for is something that lets me load my XP partition while I'm still in Vista x64, removing the need to reboot.

I'm not familiar with virtualization at all so I'm really not sure what to look up.

Thanks!

 

[Nothinman]

Sure you can use VMWare or VirtualServer to run XP but neither of them support giving the guest OS direct access to a PCI device so it won't do you much good.

 

[AstroCreep]

VMware makes a product called VMware Converter which, when run from a second PC, would allow you to create a virtual PC from that XP partition (as long as it's running).
The problem is that the free version of the VMware Converter only allows you to Import, not export machines, and I don't know how much it would cost to get the full Converter app.

Best bet? Download one of the many free virtual machine apps and just create a new virtual system. Be careful though, as I don't know if all VM apps will see/configure TV tuners.

 

[Nothinman]

Be careful though, as I don't know if all VM apps will see/configure TV tuners.

AFAIK only Xen lets you give a guest full access to a PCI device but if it's USB then it might work in other products.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Be careful though, as I don't know if all VM apps will see/configure TV tuners.

AFAIK only Xen lets you give a guest full access to a PCI device but if it's USB then it might work in other products.

It is USB.

From the sound of it, VMware Converter as described by AstroCreep seems like a program that 1) requires my XP partition to be running, and 2) requires another PC. That makes it worse than the way I'm doing it now. I'm looking for a single-PC solution. Something that, while I'm still in Vista x64, lets me open up my XP partition in something like a window and use it.

 

[Nothinman]

It's possible to boot an existing XP installation in a VM but it's a PITA because the hardware presented by the VM software is completely different from what's really in your machine. It's usually a lot simpler to just do a fresh installation in the VM.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
It's possible to boot an existing XP installation in a VM but it's a PITA because the hardware presented by the VM software is completely different from what's really in your machine. It's usually a lot simpler to just do a fresh installation in the VM.

That's fine, I've only got drivers, InterVideo and FF7 PC installed on my XP partition anyway. Should I use VMware or is there something else you would recommend?