What is virtual pc?
Windows Virtual PC is a virtualization program for Microsoft Windows operating systems, and an emulation program for Mac OS X on PowerPC-based systems. The software was originally developed by Connectix, and was subsequently acquired by Microsoft. In July 2006 Microsoft released the Windows-hosted version as a Free product.
Virtual PC virtualizes a standard PC and its associated hardware. Supported Windows operating systems can run inside Virtual PC. Other operating systems like Linux may run, but are not officially supported.
Virtual PC provides a computer with a working platform in which another operating system can run just like a software program. With virtual pc, you don't need install a new operating system like Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 on a computer. You can just install it on the virtual pc platform and run inside of the existing operating system installed on the machine.
Multiple operating systems installed on virtual PC can be run at the same time. Each requires dedicated resources on the computer so enough memory, processing power and drive space must be available for each image being used. Virtual PC will run on most Windows XP, Vista or Server 2003 and higher platforms. The operating system being used in the image can be non-Microsoft such as UNIX, Linux or OS/2. Virtual PC does not support Windows XP Home, but you can use it with no problems.
How virtual pc works?
Each virtual PC image will have a virtual hard disk that is represented on the file system as a file with a ".vhd" extension. The ".vhd" file will contain all the configuration information of the virtual operating system. These files can be created and managed using the virtual PC console.
The hardware resources allocated to the ".vhd" file are managed by means of another file that has a ".vmc" extension. It controls the size and configuration of resources given to the image such as memory, network, and peripherals. The number of ".vhd" files and the configuration of the ".vmc" used to control the image can be modified whenever it is necessary.
What can virtual pc do?
You can use virtual pc to run old programs that require an older operating system. Someone who has some old games that need to run on Windows 98 could do so without needing another machine. Even MS-DOS and their programs can be run in this environment.
You can run another operating system without having to remove the existing one or setting up a dual boot configuration. It is a good idea to test new programs in a virtual environment so that you don't need to change the configuration of your existing os.
With the above-mentioned advantages, it is highly recommended that you have it a try.
