Virtual PC Virtually Doesn't Work With Vista
Fred, Glad to have you back. Your column has been sorely missed. I am not a novice, but darned if I understand how to work a Virtual PC. I want to run a VPC to try Vista but I cannot figure out how to make it work. Maybe there are other "dummies" who don't get it. ---Ed Clabaugh
Microsoft's Virtual PC (VPC) can be a wonderful
thing. It fools software into "thinking" it has a complete PC all to itself. The
"PC" it interacts with, however, is software in disguise. It's a great way to
test software (like Windows Vista) without committing your entire system or
putting your main environment at risk (
http://tinyurl.com/63smp ). VPC used to be a fairly expensive application,
but nowadays Microsoft gives it away.
I don't know where in the installation or configuration processes you're hitting
snags. The first item on your VPC installation troubleshooting checklist,
however, should be this: Make sure you're using the right versions of Windows.
Some users try to install VPC with Windows XP Home Edition, which is incompatible. To run VPC, you'll need Windows XP Pro or 2000 Pro.
Different builds of pre-release Vista have their own unique VPC installation
issues; and there are also two different versions of VPC floating around--- both
the 2003 and 2004 versions. Mike Elgan is running Vista RC1 on VPC 2004, installed on an XP SP2 machine, and it installed
and runs without snags. Fred Langa, on the other hand, found that Vista RC1
runs very slowly on VPC 2003; and without sound support.
Your best bet will be to start with the most recent version of Vista you can get your hands on -- preferably (as of this writing) Build 5728 or at least RC1. A fellow named Jonathan Maltz maintains a very good list of precisely which OS versions work on VPC and which don't ( http://vpc.visualwin.com/ )--- and for those that do, what known problems might occur.
You can download VPC 2004, free, at
http://tinyurl.com/6twu3 . And VPC 2007
is in the works; it will provide native Vista support, both as host and guest;
and still will be free.
In the meantime, if your OSs pass the compatibility test, you might want to run through
WindowsSecurity.com's very good, step-by-step tutorial for installing and using
VPC ( http://tinyurl.com/dxbyb ). There's
also at least one good blog devoted to the subject (
http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/ ).
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