I guess this virtual machine stuff is too much for me. I don't understand
it
(i.e. what it is, how it works). So ... I guess I'll just bid farewell to
my
beloved software program.
Don't give up so easily. Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 is just a program, like
any other, that runs in Vista. You install it in the same way - nothing
hard about that.
The clever bit is what it does: it creates an imaginary, or virtual,
computer inside itself. The virtual computer has its own screen, hard disk,
BIOS, and so on.
These don't exist physically - they are emulated by Virtual PC 2007. You -
the operator - know they don't exist. But to a program running on this
virtual PC, the whole thing is indistinguishable from a real PC.
Just out of interest, the "screen" of this virtual PC is actually a normal
window from the operator's point of view. But it looks exactly like a
graphics card with medium resolution monitor from "inside" the virtual PC.
Similarly, the hard disk inside the virtual PC is actually implemented as a
file on your real hard disk. But from "inside" the virtual PC it looks
exactly like a real hard disk.
Your virtual PC will need a CD drive. There are two ways of providing that,
but the easiest is to "lend" one of your real CD drives to the virtual PC.
And so on.... you get the idea.
In fact, VPC 2007 will let you create any number of virtual PCs. For each
one you create, you must allocate a certain amount of memory, and decide on
how big its hard disk will be. After that there are various other settings
you can adjust, such as the screen resolution, and so on.
You can install a different operating system in each. So you can have a
virtual Windows 3.1 machine, a Windows 95 machine, a Windows XP machine, an
Ubuntu machine, and so on.
When you create your first virtual PC and start it, the "screen" will appear
and you'll see it going through a standard BIOS startup procedure.
Eventually it comes up with the "Insert Boot Media" message, indicating that
it can't find an operating system. In other words, it's exactly like
starting up a brand new PC that hasn't had an operating system installed
yet.
To install XP into your newly created virtual PC, you insert your XP
installation disk into the CD drive you've "lent" to it, and reboot the
virtual PC. After the BIOS has done its thing, it will find the XP disk and
begin the installation. An hour later you will have what looks rather like
a miracle: an XP computer running inside a Vista window.
You can then install any software you like into this computer, surf the net
with it, and so on.
I've left out some details, not least the "Virtual Machine Additions", which
greatly improve the integration between the virtual PC and Vista. But
that's for another day. Today I just wanted to give you an overview of what
a virtual machine is, and how easy it is to use one.
Finally, there are other virtual PC programs. I would recommend Sun
VirtualBox, which does everything VPC 2007 does, but also lets the virtual
PC see your USB ports (not supported in VPC 2007).
If you have an ounce of curiosity, and are willing to learn, then I urge you
to try VPC 2007. You'll be impressed!
SteveT
