Virtualization with Windows 7

With Windows 7, home users can easily create virtual hard disks to install a test system or a second operating system. With a virtual hard drive, you can even run a second Windows 7 installation parallel to your productive system, with almost no loss of speed.


Virtual Windows 7


With the Windows XP mode in Windows 7, users also receive a free virtual Windows XP PC for applications that would otherwise not work in Windows 7. These applications even integrate into the Windows 7 startup menu.


Even for users with Windows 7 Home, there are free ways to get a virtual Windows XP computer. Microsoft provides free tools to backup your data or create a test system to copy your hard drive to a virtual hard disk with a few mouse clicks, with all data and programs installed.


If you installed Windows 7 Ultimate Edition on your computer, you have the option to create a virtual disk and boot from it. To do this, you do not use a virtual machine, but access your physical disk, which hardly affects performance.


This disk saves Windows 7 as a vhd file on the local disk. The other editions of Windows 7 can also create such virtual disks (vhd) and access them in Explorer, but not boot from them.


You can easily boot the computer with this virtual vhd file, giving you a second operating system parallel to your Windows 7. You can use this system as a test system for drivers or as a second system, even if you only have a single physical disk in the Computer.


Any changes you make in the Virtual Secondary System will save Windows 7 within the vhd file. Your productive operating system does not affect you at all. Back up the vhd file, so perform a full-fledged backup of your virtual machine


In normal operation are no speed disadvantages to notice, Microsoft speaks of a speed loss of 3 percent. The Windows 7 installation on the virtual disk behaves exactly as when you install the operating system on a traditional hard drive. The procedures for this are very simple


There are now two operating systems available in the boot menu of your PC: your productive system and your secondary system on the vhd file.


To install a second operating system, you must first create a new virtual disk. This feature is also available in Windows 7 in the Home Edition. However, you can boot only Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise from such virtual disks.


You create a virtual disk in your productive Windows 7 system, you bind this virtual disk to the boot manager of Windows 7. You start your computer with the virtual disk and install Windows 7 in this vhd file