What You Can Expect In Virtual PC 2007 Part I
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Virtualization software lets you run multiple operating systems on a single computer at the same time. Instead of using a dedicated computer for every operating system, you can run them all from your Windows desktop. This provides a cost efficient way of testing and supporting application compatibility.
Virtual PC 2007 is Microsoft’s latest release of its virtualization software and includes new capabilities and enhancements over its predecessor (Virtual PC 2004). Here are just a few of the new things that you can look forward to seeing in the latest release of Virtual PC.
Price
Virtual PC 2004 has a price tag of US $129. One of the new features of Virtual PC 2007 is that it is now available to users free of charge. This is unlike one its direct competitors, VMWare Workstation, which costs US $189. This makes Virtual PC 2007 an attractive option if you are looking for virtualization software.
Host/Guest Operating System Support
Virtual PC 2007 supports Windows Vista as a host and guest operating system. The host is the operating system on which you install Virtual PC. You can install the latest release of Virtual PC on any of the following host operating systems:
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
- Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
The guest operating system runs inside of a virtual machine. The guest operating systems supported by Virtual PC 2007 include:
- Windows Vista Ultimate
- Windows Vista Enterprise
- Windows Vista Business
- Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Windows 2000 Professional
- Windows 98 Second Edition
- IBM OS/2 Warp 4 Fixpack, OS/2 Warp Convenience Pack 1 and OS/2 Convenience Pack 2
64-bit Host Support
You can run Virtual PC 2007 on x64-bit versions of Windows. This lets you take advantage of increased performance and provides greater memory scalability. Keep in mind this only applies to host operating systems. Virtual PC 2007 does not support 64-bit guest operating systems.
[tags]virtual machine, networking[/tags]
3 Comments
Howard Young
August 7th, 2007
at 8:44am
I’ve been running Virtual PC for about a year now and have found that it is one of the most reliable virtual platforms out there. Plus the cost is hard to beat! Free!
You actually can run just about any guest OS on Virtual PC. I have installed several flavors of Linux, and all appear and work seamlessly. I’ve even installed MS DOS 6.0.
adam
August 10th, 2007
at 10:51am
You say that Virtual PC 2004 costs $129, but I just checked and it’s available as a free download (and was earlier in the year, when I snagged it, too). Is there some licensing issue you’re talking about? For users like me, it seems free.
aromal
June 9th, 2008
at 3:40am
can we install 64bit os (eg: 64bit 2003 and 2008 servers) in virtual pc 2007 64bit. i am having windows vista 64bit as gust and virtual pc 2007 64bit