Vista in a virtual machine

[Geoff]

I have recently built a new computer (Vista Ultimate capable) and wish to
run XP and Vista.At the moment I have XP Pro SP3 running on it and need to
install Vista.

I do NOT wish to run a dual boot system.

Recently I downloaded VM Ware but I don't know how to proceed from here!

The 500GB hard drive has three partitions (XP running on C. Reading the
Gigabyte motherboard manual, one of the advanced BIOS features is
Virtualization which is currently Disabled. To quote the manual
"Virtualization allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and
applications in independent partitions." Do I turn this on before installing
VM Ware and Vista?

I look forward to some precise instructions of what to do now or a pointer
to a website that will give simple to follow instructions.

Thanks

also posted to xp.general (not sure where I should have posted to) :-(

 

[Malke]

I have recently built a new computer (Vista Ultimate capable) and wish to
run XP and Vista.At the moment I have XP Pro SP3 running on it and need to
install Vista.

I do NOT wish to run a dual boot system.

Recently I downloaded VM Ware but I don't know how to proceed from here!

The 500GB hard drive has three partitions (XP running on C. Reading the
Gigabyte motherboard manual, one of the advanced BIOS features is
Virtualization which is currently Disabled. To quote the manual
"Virtualization allows a platform to run multiple operating systems and
applications in independent partitions." Do I turn this on before
installing VM Ware and Vista?

I look forward to some precise instructions of what to do now or a pointer
to a website that will give simple to follow instructions.

You can easily run Vista in a virtual machine (vm) using VMware. I installed
it yesterday on my MacBook using VMware Fusion.

The BIOS virtualization has nothing to do with this so you can ignore that.
Someone wiser than I in the hardware world can tell you what that's used
for (or you can Google it), but it isn't for running vm's in an operating
system. So leave well enough alone in your BIOS!

1. Install VMware on your host (XP).

2. Start VMware and create a new virtual machine. Save the new vm anywhere
you want; the default is in My Documents>Virtual Machines. You may want to
put it on one of your storage partitions.

VMware is slick and will walk you through what to do. Put in your Vista DVD
when called for and the installation will start. You are installing Vista
exactly the same way you would on a standalone, non-virtual, machine.
Prepare to be patient. The Vista installation process takes longer than
XP's and my VMware Fusion install took quite a while. There was a point
where I wasn't sure whether anything was happening and so I went out to a
client's to do some work. This was a good choice because when I got back,
Vista was ready for me to log in.

There is excellent documentation available from VMware's website and there
is an active user forum.

Malke

 

[Richard G. Harper]

I can add very little to Malke's post except to say that if your processor
supports virtualization technology, you do want to turn this option on. It
provides added support to the Virtualization Machine Manager and improves
the performance of virtual machines. If it were not present that would not
preclude you from running virtualization, but since it is present turn it
on.

 

[Geoff]

Thanks Malke for your excellent instructions. Much appreciated.

 

[Malke]

Bob Campbell wrote:

The BIOS virtualization feature is indeed for things like VMWare and
Virtual
PC. It uses CPU features to keep things separated, instead of only
software. It is not necessary, but it does improve performance. With
this BIOS option enabled, there will be additional features enabled in
VMWare and VPC.

Thanks for explaining this, Bob. It is probably a feature of newer
motherboards. I appreciate the information.

Malke

 

[Malke]

I can add very little to Malke's post except to say that if your processor
supports virtualization technology, you do want to turn this option on.
It provides added support to the Virtualization Machine Manager and
improves
the performance of virtual machines. If it were not present that would
not preclude you from running virtualization, but since it is present turn
it on.

Thanks for adding to Geoff's post, Richard. I hadn't ever seen this before
but then I don't have a very new motherboard in my Windows testbed box and
the Mac doesn't have a BIOS as I understand it.

I appreciate the information from both you and Geoff. I love to learn new
things.

Best regards,

Malke

 

[Geoff]

Thanks also to Bob and Richard, regarding the BIOS option.

I have a Gigabyte AMD motherboard which obviously allows for this with AMD
processors not just Intel.

We all live and learn