Installing Windows 7 on a VHD on a Running WinXP system

[~~Alan~~]

I have my Windows XP system running very nicely, thank you very much, and I
want to set up as a test, Windows 7 on the same system. I want to keep my
XP system in tact for the time being.

I just learned about VHDs (virtual hard disks) and was hoping I could create
a VHD on my WinXP system and install Windows 7 on that VHD.

abridged procedure:
1) create a folder c:\win7vhd
2) boot Windows 7 DVD
3 ) at the appropriate time, press Shift+F10 and enter Diskpart from CMD
4) issue the following from Diskpart:
create vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd" type=expandable maximum 32767
select vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd"
attach vdisk
5) Continue with the Windows 7 installation

Can I do this and what will happen if anything to my Windows XP installation
especially to my boot and system partitions?

~alan

 

[Big_Al]

~~Alan~~ said this on 9/29/2009 8:12 PM:

I have my Windows XP system running very nicely, thank you very much,
and I want to set up as a test, Windows 7 on the same system. I want to
keep my XP system in tact for the time being.

I just learned about VHDs (virtual hard disks) and was hoping I could
create a VHD on my WinXP system and install Windows 7 on that VHD.

abridged procedure:
1) create a folder c:\win7vhd
2) boot Windows 7 DVD
3 ) at the appropriate time, press Shift+F10 and enter Diskpart from CMD
4) issue the following from Diskpart:
create vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd" type=expandable maximum 32767
select vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd"
attach vdisk
5) Continue with the Windows 7 installation

Can I do this and what will happen if anything to my Windows XP
installation especially to my boot and system partitions?

~alan

If you get Microsoft Virtual PC software from MS (its free) it will load
on the XP machine. When you run the VPC console, it will allow you to
create a virtual machine and then a virtual drive and boot off the CD
and load Win 7. You can even mount an ISO file and install from the
ISO rather than a physical CD.

You can make as many machines as space allows on your HD(s). I had
win98, Vista and win7. Its harder to load Linux but I've read
articles that it can be done.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en
This is not the SP1 for VPC, its VPC with SP1.

 

[Guest]

OP,

Also what Big Al failed to mention is that not all Os' will work. Seems that
32 Bit's are fine in a virtual environment on Virtual PC but some 64 bit
versions aren't. 2008 Server 64 bit will come up with a load error in
Windows Setup, just as an example. So, if you see a similar message when you
go to install it then forget it. Also, you need a licence for the OS you are
installing, too

 

[Rey Santos]

Back up your data: We know you know this already, but please back up your
data and please don't test the RC on your primary home or business PC.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx

 

[~~Alan~~]

Everything in my environment is 1) 32 bit and 2) licensed

Thanks,
~alan

 

[~~Alan~~]

Backup???? Why I do this about as often as the Pope goes to church on
Sunday.

~alan

 

[Roy Smith]

I have my Windows XP system running very nicely, thank you very much,
and I want to set up as a test, Windows 7 on the same system. I want to
keep my XP system in tact for the time being.

I just learned about VHDs (virtual hard disks) and was hoping I could
create a VHD on my WinXP system and install Windows 7 on that VHD.

abridged procedure:
1) create a folder c:\win7vhd
2) boot Windows 7 DVD
3 ) at the appropriate time, press Shift+F10 and enter Diskpart from CMD
4) issue the following from Diskpart:
create vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd" type=expandable maximum 32767
select vdisk file="c:\win7vhd\win7.vhd"
attach vdisk
5) Continue with the Windows 7 installation

Can I do this and what will happen if anything to my Windows XP
installation especially to my boot and system partitions?

Well I don't know how well it will work as you've described, but how I
did the same thing was to use VirtualBox from Son. There are other
virtual machine type programs out there, but I prefer VB available from
www.virtualbox.org.

This software will allow you to create virtual machines and hard drives
so that the particular Operating System you install on it will think
that it's running on a totally separate PC.

 

[~~Alan~~]

I've tried both the VPC from Microsoft and Virtualbox from Sun, and they
both ran fine. I feel VB ran a bit better though.

What I want to test are the physical componants in a Win7 environment vs the
virtual componants. It seems for example the video driver on a virtual
machine is the standard VGA adaptor as it links to the physical Video driver
on my physical XP system.

So let me ask my question another way. I want to dual boot my XP system
with a new installation of Win7. I do not have any extra partition space on
my C: hard drive so I want try it with a virtual hard drive. Will the Win7,
installation allow me to change over my MBR to the new format during the
installation while letting me install to the VHD?

~alan

 

[Gordon]

So let me ask my question another way. I want to dual boot my XP system
with a new installation of Win7. I do not have any extra partition space
on my C: hard drive so I want try it with a virtual hard drive.

As a virtual HD will take up several GB of disk space anyway, I can't see
why you don't just create a separate partition of the same capacity....
Running Win 7 in a virtual machine WITHIN XP is NOT dual-booting....
If you want to test hardware properly then you WILL need to create a
separate partition to install Win 7 on.
However, unless you have really upgraded your XP machine, has it got the
specs to run Windows 7 properly in the first place?