Running a real install Virtually

For Mac, there is a program called Parallels that runs VM. One feature it has is if your Mac will dual boot to OS X and Windows, it will run the Windows install instead of making you set up a virtual OS. The only catch is you have to register it when it runs as the VM even if you registered the real run.

When you change one, it changes the other, so if you shut down OS X, and boot to Windows, the changes you made to the virtual ver really happened to the OS...

Is there a VM that can do that on a Windows machine?

Berton said:

I have VMWare Fusion [similar to Parallels] on my MacBook Pro, have not heard of a program as you describe for using Mac OS X on a Windows computer.

Parallels is for letting you run Windows on a Mac. I'm looking for a program that can run any VM off of a real install on a PC. [Unix in Windows, another Windows in Windows...]

JoesMorgue said:

For Mac, there is a program called Parallels that runs VM. One feature it has is if your Mac will dual boot to OS X and Windows, it will run the Windows install instead of making you set up a virtual OS.
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Is there a VM that can do that on a Windows machine?

Glenstrom said:

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One example is I was installing Corel Video Studio pro X5 when it complained it needed to see a previous install of X3 or X4 or a serial # from either. Since I had no X3 install I had to shutdown, restart booting off the original OS disk open up X3, write down the serial number, restart again, start X5 install again.

I was thinking how nice it would be to just point a VM to the partition my original OEM install is sitting on, basically booting up my old install in a VM when I need to.
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But if it's easily doable I'd like to try it. Having the ability to open other physical installations in virtual type windows would be nice to have I would think..

You can create a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) of an existing Windows installation quite easily with Disk2VHD tool from Sysinternals, see the tutorial: VHD - Create of a Physical Hard Disk.

You can then create a new VM (Virtual Machine) for example in Windows Virtual PC (Windows 7) or Hyper-V (Windows 8 and later), see the tutorial: Windows Virtual PC - Create Virtual Machine. Step 10 in this tutorial shows how to use an existing VHD, the one you created with Disk2VHD in new VM.

Notice that both machines, the real physical one and the virtual one you created of it are separate Windows setups; the changes made in one, for instance installing new software, will not apply to other.

You can also set Windows to boot from a VHD if for instance dual boot suits you better than using a virtual machine, see the tutorial: Boot from a VHD using Windows 7

Kari

Glenstrom said:

thanks! that looks like it may be just what I'm looking for.

Yes. In your case creating a VHD of your Windows installation and using said VHD as existing VHD when creating a virtual machine is an ideal solution.

Let us know if you have any issues with the procedure.

Kari