Virtual PC on Home Premium

[drewpul]

Hi,

Right now on my Mom's computer, we are running Windows Vista x64. To use some of our older applications I have Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 with Windows XP. I recently received our upgrade copy of Windows 7 Home Premium in the mail.

If I upgrade to Windows 7, I wont be able to install Virtual PC (I tried it on my win 7 laptop), and Windows XP mode is available only on Win 7 Pro and higher.

What should I do to keep these old apps running?

-Drew

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I tried virtualization briefly on a Windows 7 machine, but I didn't use "Virtual PC 2007". I used some other downloadable Microsoft virtualization applications.

I wasn't impressed with virtualization and would use it only as a last resort.

Your other option is to dual boot Vista or XP and Windows 7.

In reality, most of your applications, maybe all of them, are likely to work well on Windows 7.

 

[Kari]

Hi Drew, welcome to the Seven Forums.

A good alternative is Sun VirtualBOX. You can download it here. You can even transfer your VPC 2007 virtual XP machine to be used in VirtualBOX.

Kari

 

[drewpul]

Thanks, but it looks like I wont have to go that route.

I upgraded to 7 Home Premium last night and Virtual PC 2007 still works fine!

Do any of you know any advantages with XP Mode in Professional over Virtual PC?

 

[kronwhon]

virtual pc 2007 is outdated .. try windows virtual pc, which has official support for windows 7

Download details: Windows Virtual PC

 

[kronwhon]

Thanks, but it looks like I wont have to go that route.

I upgraded to 7 Home Premium last night and Virtual PC 2007 still works fine!

Do any of you know any advantages with XP Mode in Professional over Virtual PC?

xp mode uses virtualization at the CPU level (requires compatible hardware)

 

[kronwhon]

sorry, windows virtual pc uses hardware virtualization as well, so if you don't have it, you'll have to stick with 2007

 

[pparks1]

I wasn't impressed with virtualization and would use it only as a last resort.

Maybe your host computer isn't up to snuff to run concurrent systems.. As a systems admin for a living I absolutely depend upon virtual machines. Setting up physical boxes or dual boots are my absolute last resort.

With virtual machines I can quickly and easily
1). reboot
2). backup the hard drive file
3). move to another machine
4). create a snapshot and roll back to test something or formulate documentation.

For me, the only thing VM's are suitable for are gaming machines. You need direct access to the hardware in order to make a gaming machine. Light-weight games are fine...but don't expect to play modern 3D games with any level of playability in a VM.

In my opinion, virtualization is the most useful and most exciting technology that I have used with computers in the past 5 years.

With regards to performance, virtual PC is outright spanked by other products such as VirtualBox or VMWare. If you like what virtual PC can do...please do yourself a favor and evaluate the other free product offerings.