Windows Virtual PC running Windows XP Mode on a Windows 7 host
Developer(s) Microsoft
Initial release September 19, 2009
Stable release 6.1.7600.16393 /
February 10, 2011; 18 months ago
Operating system Windows 7
– All editions except Starter
Size 32-bit: 9.1 MB
64-bit: 9.9 MB
Type Virtual machine
License Proprietary
Virtual PC was originally developed as a Macintosh application and released
by Connectix in June 1997. The first version of Virtual PC designed for
Windows-based systems, version 4.0, was released in June 2001. Connectix sold
versions of Virtual PC bundled with a variety of guest operating systems,
including Windows, OS/2, and Red Hat Linux. As virtualization's importance to
enterprise users became clear, Microsoft took interest in the sector and
acquired Virtual PC and Virtual Server (unreleased at the time) from Connectix
in February 2003.
Virtual PC 4 requires Mac OS 8.5 or later on a G3 or G4 processor, but
running Windows ME, Windows 2000 or Red Hat Linux requires Mac OS 9.0 or later.
Virtual PC 4 was the first version with expandable drive images.
Virtual PC 5 requires Mac OS 9.1 or newer or Mac OS X 10.1 or later. For
USB support Mac OS X is recommended. To run Virtual PC 5 in Mac OS X a 400 MHz
or faster processor is required.
Older versions of Virtual PC (v5.0 or earlier) may have the hard disk
formatted after creating the Virtual Hard Disk file. Newer versions must
partition and format the Virtual Hard Disk file manually.
they give us a Virtual Switch available in Virtual PC version 4.1 or
earlier allows adding multiple network adapters.
The older operating systems are
supported with Virtual Machine additions.
New features include:
USB support and redirection – connect peripherals such as flash drives and
digital cameras, and print from the guest to host OS printers.
However, USB isochronous transfer
mode is not supported. Other methods involve simply just treating an active
drive letter from a USB flash drive as a virtual hard drive.
Seamless application publishing and launching – run Windows XP Mode
applications directly from the Windows 7 desktop
Support for multithreading – run multiple virtual machines concurrently,
each in its own thread for improved stability and performance
Smart card redirection – use smart cards connected to the host
Removed features
The Virtual Machine console is replaced by an integrated Virtual Machines
shell folder. Several options from the console have been removed such as
Restore at start, CPU time performance settings, muting sound in inactive
virtual machines, full-screen resolution related options, configuring the host
key, mouse capture options and settings for requiring administrator
permissions.
Official guest support for operating systems earlier than Windows XP Professional
Drag-and-drop file sharing between the guest and the host
We can direct share folders between host and guest operating system (Only
volumes may be shared between operating systems)
Ability to commit changes in undo disks upon turning off virtual machines
(Doing so is now only possible through virtual machine Settings dialog box)
We can use physical and virtual
Parallel ports in virtual pc.
edited
by :- dadga chirag
