Virtual PC - Creating a new virtual machine

This article is one of a series relating to running whole operating systems as virtual machines. It continues on from Run Windows7 alongside XP or Vista, which introduced the concept of VMs. After downloading and installing the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 we can create a new virtual machine.

Start Virtual for the first time should reveal a blank console with no virtual machines yet.. Click on the New button to create a new virtual machine..

This starts the 'New Virtual Machine Wizard'. Click Next.. (screenshot)

2. Select Create a virtual machine and click Next.. (screenshot)

3. Give the virtual machine a name (such as 'Windows7') and click Next.. (screenshot). This will create the configuration files which VPC uses for the virtual machine. Unless specified otherwise, they will be created in the default location: \My Documents\My Virtual Machines.

4. Select the guest operating system to be installed. For a Windows7 virtual machine, select 'Windows Vista' here. Click Next. Note the VM will emulate a SoundBlaster 16 sound card to allow sound from the guest OS. This is good. Ignore the stated memory for now.. (screenshot)

5. ..because here you can adjust the amount of RAM to be allocated to this virtual machine. Windows7 should run on 1GB of RAM, so we type in 1024MB and click Next.. (screenshot).

6. We are recreating a new virtual hard disk; Next.. (screenshot)

7. This is where the size and location of the virtual hard disk is chosen. The Virtual Hard Disk is in fact a file (ending in the .vhd extension) on the host system which will appear as a physical hard disk to the guest operating system.

The size of the hard disk/file is important to allow for installation of the guest operating system plus extra space for program installation and data storage. In the example I have chosen 20Gb which translates to 20 000MB (screenshot). Note also the folder location of the .vhd file. Click Next..

8. Virtual PC double checks the creation of the relevant selections.. Confirm with Yes (screenshot).

8. Finished! (screenshot) The new VM is ready to run.

Editing the virtual machine settings

VPC allows for various aspects of the virtual machine to be tweaked as necessary. To modify an existing VM, open the console, make sure the VM isn't running and click on the Settings button (screenshot).

Most areas can be configured readily. To change the virtual hard disk settings, go to Hard Disk 1 and click on the Virtual Disk Wizard (screenshot).

Starting the virtual machine

To install the guest operating system, insert the installation disc. Select the relevant virtual machine from the list in the console and click on Start..

VPC will display a boot screen, just like a normal PC and will look for a bootable hard disk or CD/DVD to start the installation from.

If VPC doesn't seem to be picking up the installation CD/DVD, click on the CD menu at the top and select Use physical drive X: where x is the driveletter of your CD/DVD drive. It is also possible to install an operating system from an .iso image, by using the CD menu.. (screenshot).