Windows 7 - Boot from a VHD using Windows 7

There's nothing special involved. Just start setup as usual and follow the instructions. Although I haven't tried it with XP, Windows 7 should take care of the boot menu.

Hi guys can i use this method of booting if i currently am running Windows 7?
Also can i use this method for using the VHD I downloaded for build 7231?
And if i can use the downloaded VHD 7231 where does it need to be located?
Do i just need to follow this Virtual Hard Disk - Create and Attach VHD Tutorial to attach it and thats it or does the original VHD need to be somewhere spacific?

Hello Cashis,

Yes, you can use this tutorial to boot your 7231 VHD with. Just start with step 2 instead since you already have a VHD file. It does not matter where you save the VHD file at.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Great thanks for the Reply/Help/Tutorial much appreciated.

You're welcome Cashis.

Here is a video you could add to your tutorial :

Virtual Varia : The Virtualization Nation Podcast – Episode 3: Want to boot a physical computer from a VHD?

I got a question =O!

Will the OS boot like a normal OS. supports video card, loads hardware drivers and everything! or will it be like OS in a visualization software? (sorry haven't tested it :P)

Thanks
Mercurial~

Hello Mercurial,

It will operate just like a normal OS.

Shawn

Hi Steven,

Great Job. Could you throw some light as to how to move this vhd to a bootable primary partition on a USB HDD and subsequently create a BCD entry for it.

I created a vhd on my laptop (on another partition), used imagex to capture an image of Windows 7 installed on the same partition, applied the image to the vhd. I then created a bootable / system partition on the USB HDD (also contains Ubuntu Jaunty) and modified grub to point to the correct partition for the Windows entry. I copied the vhd to the partition, however, when I edit the bcd, it edits my existing BCD on the local disk, does not create / edit the BCD on the USB HDD. On booting from the USB HDD and selecting Windows 7, i get the message "No Loader".

Any ideas as to where I am going wrong ? I will try to install Windows 7 as you have suggested, copy this to the USB partition and modify the BCD. What would the drive mapping be in this case for the VHD ?

Thanks,
Sandy

Does anyone know what retail version of Windows 7 will be required to utilize the Boot from VHD option ?

Windows 7 Professional ?

Windows 7 Ultimate ?