Today, I installed the pre-release copy of Microsoft Windows 7. Instead of totally screwing up my own PC, I decided to attempt the install on a Microsoft Virtual PC lab. By the way, this is what Virtual PC is supposed to be used for.....testing beta software. At least that is what I use it for.
A couple of things to know if you decide to try out Windows 7:
1) You must already have a copy of Windows Vista SP1 installed in order to upgrade to the pre-release version of Windows 7.
2) If you have an actual DVD in ISO format, that would be best. But for those of you who "obtained" a copy like I did....with a setup file and the rest of the files just in folders on the DVD. I had to copy the entire contents of the DVD to the desktop first and then run setup.exe from there.
3) Supposedly, you will need the Windows Vista RC1 key or Vista beta key from last year if you wish to activate Windows 7. I personally do not care to do this, I just wanted to see how it works and how it looks. There are ways around activation....but I do not recommend doing it since its against Microsoft TOS.
After the installation was finished....Windows 7 looks almost exactly like Windows Vista. It did seem to load faster than Vista but I was running it on Virtual PC which makes all versions of operating systems faster. I will follow up with another post about Windows 7 and its features sometime this week.
Read more about Windows 7 here: Windows 7 news
Showing posts with label Virtual PC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virtual PC. Show all posts
Benefits of Microsoft Virtual PC
I have another "testimony" of using Microsoft Virtual PC. A few months ago, I wrote about one reason to use a Virtual PC on your desktop/laptop. Well, just recently, one of our network administrators purchased a fiber optic cable inspector. Besides installing the drivers for the cable inspector on to Windows XP, he also needed software to be able to view inside the cable. Well, he found out that the old application called Imaging for Windows that worked with this type of cable inspector on Windows 95/98/2000 did NOT work on Windows XP. Why, you say? The answer is the company that created the Imaging for Windows software did not include their software with Windows XP for free. You would need to dish out about $200 for a license. At the time, he said he could not find another free application to use and our department was not going to spend money on something that is not used too often.
So I suggested that we install Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 on his laptop, setup a virtual machine with Windows 2000 and then he could use the cable inspector. Without delay, he told me to go ahead. About an hour later, he had his Windows XP laptop with a virtual copy of Windows 2000! I really do love this application! It definitely can save a business or even a home user some money if you know what you are doing.
How have you used Virtual PC, or any other Virtual Machine applications?
So I suggested that we install Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007 on his laptop, setup a virtual machine with Windows 2000 and then he could use the cable inspector. Without delay, he told me to go ahead. About an hour later, he had his Windows XP laptop with a virtual copy of Windows 2000! I really do love this application! It definitely can save a business or even a home user some money if you know what you are doing.
How have you used Virtual PC, or any other Virtual Machine applications?
1 Reason to use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Background: Our office uses Microsoft SMS 2003 to remote to other PCs in the office. We also use it to distribute software to the PCs like most companies do. The majority of our PCs are Windows XP and SMS works great on XP. I love having the ability to remote to a user's PC and helping them (yes, I do whatever I can not to have to leave my desk!). I fix probably 95% of my PC troubleshooting issues this way. Its awesome!
Situation: Our office just upgraded our PCs and now some of the brave Support Techs have the option to use Windows Vista if we want to. Of course, I chose that option. I love Windows Vista (keep your tomatoes in your pocket). I love learning new technology and although I think Microsoft has enough money, I would still promote them.
Problem: Microsoft SMS 2003 is not compatible with Windows Vista!!! The only way I can use SMS on Vista is to wait....and wait....and wait....until our office upgrades our SMS server to the new System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
Solution: Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 on my Vista PC. Here is what I did:
On my Windows Vista PC, I downloaded and installed Virtual PC 2007. I created a new VPC (that's Virtual PC for short) and when you do this, you must install an operating system. So I installed our volume licensed Windows XP image since I know SMS 2003 works OK with it. I then joined the PC to our domain (something else I learned in the process, to use SMS, the PC must be on the domain).
Next, I installed SMS 2003 and and tested it.....it worked! I am now able to remote into other PCs just like if I were still using my old Windows XP desktop. Virtual PC is amazing and now, I actually have 4 VPCs installed on my Vista PC....I know, why do I need 4 right? I can do multiple things like troubleshoot XP issues, test software on XP since we as an organization are not upgrading to Vista anytime soon.
The only issue is that Virtual PC is somewhat memory intensive because you have to decide how much RAM to use during the installation of the VPC. I usually use 512MB for them. So after booting up 1, my RAM jumped up to almost 1.5 GB, after 2, basically I was maxed out at 2GB and my PC started locking up. (Solution to this.....I sold my boss on the fact that using Virtual PC was a necessity....so he purchased more RAM for me, now I am maxed out at 4GB)
I know some readers may be asking why I did not use VMWare. My answer, I just feel more comfortable with Microsoft products. VMWare is a great product as well.....its just not Microsoft!
Anybody care to comment?
Situation: Our office just upgraded our PCs and now some of the brave Support Techs have the option to use Windows Vista if we want to. Of course, I chose that option. I love Windows Vista (keep your tomatoes in your pocket). I love learning new technology and although I think Microsoft has enough money, I would still promote them.
Problem: Microsoft SMS 2003 is not compatible with Windows Vista!!! The only way I can use SMS on Vista is to wait....and wait....and wait....until our office upgrades our SMS server to the new System Center Configuration Manager 2007.
Solution: Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 on my Vista PC. Here is what I did:
On my Windows Vista PC, I downloaded and installed Virtual PC 2007. I created a new VPC (that's Virtual PC for short) and when you do this, you must install an operating system. So I installed our volume licensed Windows XP image since I know SMS 2003 works OK with it. I then joined the PC to our domain (something else I learned in the process, to use SMS, the PC must be on the domain).
Next, I installed SMS 2003 and and tested it.....it worked! I am now able to remote into other PCs just like if I were still using my old Windows XP desktop. Virtual PC is amazing and now, I actually have 4 VPCs installed on my Vista PC....I know, why do I need 4 right? I can do multiple things like troubleshoot XP issues, test software on XP since we as an organization are not upgrading to Vista anytime soon.
The only issue is that Virtual PC is somewhat memory intensive because you have to decide how much RAM to use during the installation of the VPC. I usually use 512MB for them. So after booting up 1, my RAM jumped up to almost 1.5 GB, after 2, basically I was maxed out at 2GB and my PC started locking up. (Solution to this.....I sold my boss on the fact that using Virtual PC was a necessity....so he purchased more RAM for me, now I am maxed out at 4GB)
I know some readers may be asking why I did not use VMWare. My answer, I just feel more comfortable with Microsoft products. VMWare is a great product as well.....its just not Microsoft!
Anybody care to comment?
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