Virtual PC 2007 FAQ
26th February, 2014. Even though it seems that Virtual PC 2007 falls over at the first hurdle
and refuses to run in Windows 7/8, there is a very simple way to get it running. After installing
Virtual PC 2007 SP1 as per the instructions found below, all you have to do is rename the executable
file from VirtualPC.exe to something like VPC.exe and away you go. Windows
was only checking that the file name wasn't on some list of deprecated programmes it didn't want you
to run any longer :-)
28th June, 2008. I've just been informed by one of my readers that Virtual PC 2007 doesn't
support Windows 95. But Virtual PC 2004 does, so I've included instructions for downloading
and installing it below. Virtual PC 2007 and 2004 are identical in all other respects.
And, I've just been informed by another reader (Dr. Pavlo Bobrek - thanks for the tip :-) that
Virtual PC 2007 does in fact support Windows 95, just not 'officially'. When creating a new
virtual machine, choose 'Other' for the operating system in the drop-down list, and enter
the amount of RAM you want to allocate to it, etc., manually. What it all boils down to in the end
is that there's very little difference between the two versions of Virtual PC currently on offer,
so take your pick.
Q. What is Virtual PC 2007?
Q. What's the advantage of using Virtual PC instead of
setting up your machine to 'dual boot'?
Q. What do I need in order to use Virtual PC?
Q. Where can I download Virtual PC?
Q. Where can I download Virtual PC 2004?
Q. How do I create a virtual machine?
Q. How do I switch between a virtual machine and Windows XP?
Q. How do I install Windows 98 on a virtual machine?
Q. How do I install Windows 95 on a virtual machine?
A. Virtual PC 2007 is a product originally developed by Connectix, which
Microsoft purchased. Until recently, you had to pay upwards of $250 to obtain
Virtual PC (we'll leave off the '2007' from now on to save the ol' carpal tunnel).
But now Microsoft have released it as freeware :-)
Virtual PC allows you to create virtual machines that will run inside
of Windows XP or Vista. You can install any older Microsoft operating system in a virtual
machine. For instance: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, etc.
A. Dual boot means that you have your PC set up so that it can start in more than
one operating system. However, this is usually not an easy undertaking. Most PCs
nowadays come factory installed with a single NTFS (New Technology File System)
partition on your hard drive. Older Miscrosoft operating systems like Windows 95
OSR2 and Windows 98 used FAT32 (File Allocation Table), and cannot use NTFS. So
setting up a PC to dual boot Windows 98 and Windows XP means reformatting the hard
drive, setting up a FAT32 partition for Windows 98, and an NTFS partion for Windows
XP. I can assure you that this procedure is not recommended for the faint of heart!
On the other hand, using Virtual PC couldn't be simpler. It emulates FAT32 on NTFS,
meaning that you don't have to so much as touch your existing Windows XP installation.
A. While Microsoft may be giving away Virtual PC, they're not so keen on giving away their
old operating systems, no matter how obsolete. So in order to install an operating system on
a virtual machine you have created, you will need the original CD along with its product key.
If you're a pack rat like me, this should be no problem.
Officially, you need Windows XP Professional with SP2 to use Virtual PC... but that's only
'officially', as in 'supported'. I can testify that it works just fine on XP Home, even with
SP1 :-)
A. Download and install via:
-
Direct link to Virtual PC 2007 SP1
- Download (
setup.exe)
- Save to
C:\VirtualPC2007
- Double-click on
C:\VirtualPC2007\setup.exe to install (ignore any
messages about not having a supported operating system. XP Home, even SP1,
will do fine :-)
- Install to default folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC
A. As noted above, they 'officially' dropped support for Windows 95 in Virtual PC 2007 (though you can
still create a Windows 95 virtual machine). So you may want to use Virtual PC 2004 if you want to run
this older operating system (or even older ones, like WFW 3.11) with more confidence. Download via:
-
Direct link to Virtual PC 2004
- Download (
Virtual PC 2004 SP1.zip)
- Save to
C:\VirtualPC2004
- Important: though you can install Virtual PC 2007 over the top of Virtual PC 2004 (it's an 'upgrade'),
I don't think you can do the reverse. So if you already have Virtual PC 2007 installed, go to the
Control Panel > Add or Remove Programs, and un-install 'Microsoft Virtual PC 2007' first.
- Un-zip the file you just downloaded.
- Double-click on
C:\VirtualPC2004\Virtual PC 2004 SP1\setup.exe to install (ignore any
messages about not having a supported operating system. XP Home, even SP1,
will do fine :-)
- Install to default folder:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC
- Aside from supporting older operating systems, Virtual PC 2004 is identical in all respects to
Virtual PC 2007, so the instructions below work for both products.
A. Using Windows 98 as an example:
- Launch the Virtual PC Console via: Start
-> All Programs ->
Microsoft Virtual PC
- Virtual PC Console comes up, along with New Virtual Machine Wizard: Create a virtual machine
(note: as when installing, ignore any messages about not having a supported operating system)
- Virtual Machine Name and Location: Windows98VirtualMachine
(will create: My Documents\My Virtual Machines\Windows98VirtualMachine\Windows98VirtualMachine.vmc
- Operating system: Windows 98
- Memory: Using the recommended RAM (64MB)
- Virtual Hard Disk Options: A new virtual hard disk
- Name and location (take default):
\Windows98VirtualMachine\Windows98VirtualMachine Hard Disk.vhd
- Finish
A. Once you have a virtual machine running and it has captured your cursor, you will need
to know the following in order to switch back to XP to use the virtual machine menu. This
information is helpful even when you are installing an operating system:
- To switch from the virtual machine to XP: hold down Right-Alt (Alt Gr) and move your cursor
to somewhere on the XP screen, then left-click
- To set the virtual machine to full screen: Action
-> Full Screen Mode
- To go from full screen virtual machine back to minimised virtual machine: Right-Alt (Alt Gr) + Enter
- VERY IMPORTANT: if you have auto run disabled in XP, as I do, every time you put a new CD into the drive
you have to Release (via the CD menu) the physical drive and then Use it again in order for it to recognise
any of the files on that CD. Repeat after me: if you have auto run disabled...
A. The moment you have been waiting for:
- Insert the Windows 98 CD in your CD/DVD drive
- On the Virtual PC console, select the virtual machine you have created for Windows 98
and hit the Start button
- The first time you bring up the new virtual machine with the Windows 98 CD inserted,
you get the following error message:
Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device
- From the virtual machine menu, select: CD
-> Use Physical Drive D: (or
whatever the letter is of your CD-ROM drive)
- From the virtual machine menu, select: Action
-> Ctrl+Alt+Del (to reboot)
- Then choose:
2. Boot from CD-ROM
Note: I was lucky, but I've subsequently discovered that not all Windows 98 CDs are bootable. If you
get stuck in a loop here trying to boot off the CD, then skip to the section below entitled:
If you can't boot Windows 98 from CD, otherwise, continue here at Step 7.
- Then choose:
1. Start Windows 98 Setup from CD-ROM
- When prompted, press Enter to start the installation process
- Choose:
Configure unallocated disk space (recommended).
- Choose:
Yes, enable large disk support
- Setup restarts your virtual machine
- When it comes back up, choose:
2. Boot from CD-ROM
- Then choose:
1. Start Windows 98 Setup from CD-ROM
- Setup formats your virtual
C: drive. Don't worry that you only allocated
and formatted a 16MB primary DOS partition. The virtual machine hard disk you created is
*expandable*, and will take anything you can subsequently throw at it :-)
- The process then picks up at ScanDisk. You can either wait for ScanDisk to complete, or
hit the 'x' key to exit. Then follow the rest of the on-screen instructions to install
Windows 98 to your virtual machine.
If your Windows 98 CD isn't bootable, then we're going to have to boot from a (virtual!) floppy, much
like the process we use to install Windows 95. Just save this
win98se.img file to your XP hard drive. Then follow the steps below to install Windows 98 to your
virtual machine.
- Insert the Windows 98 CD in your CD/DVD drive
- On the Virtual PC console, select the virtual machine you have created for Windows 98
and hit the Start button
- The first time you bring up this new virtual machine, you get the following error message:
Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device
- Not so fast. First, while we're here, we capture the CD for subsequent reboots. On the virtual
machine menu: CD
-> Use Physical Drive D: (or whatever the letter is of your
CD-ROM drive)
- Then, we capture the
win98se.img file from where ever you saved it to on your XP
hard drive via: Floppy -> Capture Floppy Disk Image...
- Now reboot the virtual machine via: Action
-> Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Your virtual machine should boot off the floppy image, and you eventually wind up at the A:\>
prompt :-) For future reference, note which drive letter the CD-ROM has been mapped to. Mine
was D: (you see something like: Drive D: = Driver MSCD001 unit 0)
Next, we create a primary DOS partition:
- At the A:\> prompt, enter:
fdisk
Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)..............? [Y]
Choose: 1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
- Choose:
1. Create Primary DOS partition
Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N).....................? [Y]
- You get a message that:
You MUST restart your system for your changes to take effect.
- So...
Press Esc to exit FDISK, then from the virtual machine Action menu,
select: Ctrl+Alt+Del
(you boot again from the floppy image)
- When your virtual machine boots this time, choose:
1. Start computer with CD-ROM support.
(again, note which letter your CD-ROM drive has been mapped to. Mine changed from D to E here)
Now we format the DOS partition:
- Now comes the really fun part, and your trust factor has to be high for this :-)
At the A:\> prompt, enter: format c:
(the virtual 16MB primary DOS partition you just created will be formatted in FAT32 format)
- After that, just hit Enter to accept a blank volume label. Now we're ready to install
Windows 98 to the virtual machine you have created. Don't worry that you only allocated
and formatted a 16MB primary DOS partition. The virtual machine hard disk you created
is *expandable*, and will take anything you can subsequently throw at it :-)
Install Windows 98:
- Now remember which drive letter your CD-ROM is mapped to, and switch to there via
entering something like:
e:
- Begin installing Windows 98 by entering:
setup
(allow ScanDisk to run, then the Windows 98 install 'splash' screen comes up)
- When prompted, DON'T create a startup disk
- The very first time you're asked to restart the computer, go to the virtual machine menu (remember,
hold down Right+Alt and then move your cursor). Choose: Floppy
-> Release
"win98se.img". This way, when the virtual machine reboots, it will now boot off the hard
drive rather than the floppy image!
- Windows 98 should now boot from the virtual machine hard drive. Each time you're susequently asked
to restart the machine during the installation process, choose option 1 to boot from the hard drive (instead
of the CD).
- Bear with it for a few more restarts, and finally you should have Windows 98 up and running :-)
A. Installing Windows 95 in a virtual machine is a slightly more involved process than
installing Windows 98, in that Windows 95 will not boot from the CD. You must have a bootable
Windows 95 floppy. But not to fear. Even if you don't have a floppy drive in your PC, like
in the case of a laptop, we can get you through this. As a matter of fact (AAMOF) we're
going to make this the same experience, floppy or not. Just save this
win95b.img file to your XP hard drive. Then we are almost ready to 'boot' and install
Windows 95 in a virtual machine. You will need to create a new virtual machine first, if you
haven't already done so. See Q. How do I create a virtual machine?,
substituting in '95' for '98'. To install Windows 95 in this virtual machine:
- Insert the Windows 95 CD in your CD/DVD drive
- On the Virtual PC console, select the virtual machine you have created for Windows 95
and hit the Start button
- The first time you bring up this new virtual machine, you get the following error message:
Reboot and Select proper Boot device
or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device
- Not so fast. First, while we're here, we capture the CD for subsequent reboots. On the virtual
machine menu: CD
-> Use Physical Drive D: (or whatever the letter is of your
CD-ROM drive)
- Then, we capture the
win95b.img file from where ever you saved it to on your XP
hard drive via: Floppy -> Capture Floppy Disk Image...
- Now reboot the virtual machine via: Action
-> Ctrl+Alt+Del
- Your virtual machine should boot off the floppy image, and you eventually wind up at the A:\>
prompt :-) For future reference, note which drive letter the CD-ROM has been mapped to. Mine
was R: (you see something like: Drive R: = Driver BANANA unit 0)
Next, we create a primary DOS partition:
- At the A:\> prompt, enter:
fdisk
Do you wish to enable large disk support (Y/N)..............? [Y]
Choose: 1. Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive
- Choose:
1. Create Primary DOS partition
Do you wish to use the maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition
and make the partition active (Y/N).....................? [Y]
- You get a message that:
You MUST restart your system for your changes to take effect.
- So...
Press Esc to exit FDISK, then from the virtual machine Action menu,
select: Ctrl+Alt+Del
(you boot again from the floppy image)
Now we format the DOS partition:
- Now comes the really fun part, and your trust factor has to be high for this :-)
At the A:\> prompt, enter: format c:
(the virtual 16MB primary DOS partition you just created will be formatted in FAT32 format)
- After that, just hit Enter to accept a blank volume label. Now we're ready to install
Windows 95 to the virtual machine you have created. Don't worry that you only allocated
and formatted a 16MB primary DOS partition. The virtual machine hard disk you created
is *expandable*, and will take anything you can subsequently throw at it :-)
Install Windows 95:
- Now remember which drive letter your CD-ROM is mapped to, and switch to there via
entering something like:
r:
- Begin installing Windows 95 by entering:
setup
(allow ScanDisk to run, then the Windows 95 install 'splash' screen comes up)
- Hit the Continue button to install Windows 95. Take all the defaults.
- When the Analyzing Your Computer screen comes up, tick the Sound, MIDI, or Video Capture
Card box, but DO NOT tick the Network Adapter box. An unnecessary complication. Your virtual
machine emulates a SoundBlaster 16, so it should be able to detect that and install drivers.
- When prompted, DON'T create a startup disk
- When you get to the Finishing Setup screen, go to the virtual machine menu (remember,
hold down Right+Alt and then move your cursor). Choose: Floppy
-> Release
"win95b.img". This way, when the virtual machine reboots, it will now boot off the hard
drive rather than the floppy image!
- Windows 95 should now boot from the virtual machine hard drive. It's going to go looking
for a bunch of files that it can't find on the CD. Just hit Skip File for all of them. Note:
this may be happening to me because I have auto-run turned off in XP.
- Now the setup process boots your virtual machine for a final time. At the DOS prompt,
again it may complain about all the files it can't find. Just keep hitting Enter.
- Windows 95 should now start up, and you get that wonderful 'Microsoft sound'! From now on
when it goes looking for
.dll or .drv files (like when you try to
change the display setttings to 16-bit color), it should be able to find them on the CD. Just
point it at, for instance, D:\WIN95
- If you keep getting bothered about missing files at startup, this is how you can fix that:
Start
-> Settings -> Control Panel -> Network,
and Remove everything but your network adapter. Then after the reboot, go back into the
Control Panel -> Network and: Add... -> Client ->
Add... -> Microsoft -> Client for Microsoft Networks
-> OK. Fixed :-)
Copyright © Steve Metzler 2008. All rights reserved.
See also the
metzomagic.com Help! page
for links to additional help in getting games to run.
|
