Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is now a free download

Microsoft ^

[Gomez]

Virtual PC Is Now Free!

Whether Microsoft virtualization technology is an important component of your existing infrastructure or you're just a Virtual PC enthusiast, you can now download Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 absolutely free.

[Bigh4u2]

Got it!

Now I just gotta figure out what to do with it!

[Echo Talon]

you can run winXP and virtualize winME just to give yourself a hard time... :) hehe

[Bigh4u2]

Well I already run Windows2000 pro and WinME in a divided partition. (My wife likes to play DOS games)

How about Linux? I have Redhat.

[Echo Talon]

I have linux too(Mepis 6)... i just dual boot though. grub

[Echo Talon]

I ran winME for a while... man was I happy to get XP! :) WinME actually got better after awhile with updates and improved drivers.. :) its just still everyones favorite punching bag, we at least mine. :)

[Bigh4u2]

I just can't seem to figure out how to install anything to the 'virtual' drive.

I'll have to keep working on it then maybe I'll reinstall Redhat to it. Just for fun.

[Bigh4u2]

The problem I find with ME is that it crashes too much and Win2000 is constantly fixing the 'crashes'.

[js1138]

Win2000 doesn't crash. You have applications crashing. I have two Win2000 machines that are only rebooted when I shut them down for thunderstorms.

[Echo Talon]

heres some os that work with it

[SeaBiscuit]

Downloaded. Thanks for the heads up.

[Echo Talon]

Virtual PC FAQ

[Bigh4u2]

Nope!

WinME is what is crashing. NOT Win2000.

And yes, I know it's 'applications' crashing. But it's an 'unstable platform' (WinME) that causes it!

[js1138]

I have nothing good to say about Windows ME, except that it's better than ME plus GoBack, which is how a bunch of Gateway machines were configured.

[Bigh4u2]

Thanks for the link!

[Echo Talon]

Ok Wise Guy, so how do I make Virtual PC work with Linux (or BSD or whatever)?

In the virtual PC console, click NEW, and follow the wizard as you would to install any other kind of system. Pick "Create a virtual machine", go on and give it a name, and under "Operating System" select "Other". Now in the RAM and Virtual Hard Disk settings, specify suitable values for your "Other" guest OS.

See the list in the first section of what devices are emulated for a list of the drivers you need to have available for your Linux install. Remember, you need to install drivers for the emulated hardware, not your real hardware. Given that emulated hardware is usually a bit behind the curve of modern physical hardware you might actually find this isn't too difficult to do. Once sourced, drivers install in the virtual machine the same way they would on a physical one.

Job Done.

I never used Virtual PC just found that on his webpage... here at the bottom

[ShadowAce]

Now I just gotta figure out what to do with it!

I run WIn2K in a VM under Linux. The only reason I do so is because I'm testing a communications/control program I'm writing under Linux, and the manager program is proprietary from a another company that only runs under Windows.

So I run that program under windows, and connect to my program running on my host machine over the virtual network between the two, and monitor the whole mess with Ethereal.

VMs are great when you have to run more than one OS--I don't need multiple machines anymore.

[Bigh4u2]

Thanks.

But it still doesn't explain how you install the operating system after you set up the virtual system.

It keeps looking for a 'boot disk' in the A drive, so I am assuming that is the way to install.

[Bigh4u2]

Cool.

My programming experience was Microsoft Macro Assembler and DOS (with a little MS Basic thrown in) back in 1987.

Haven't done anything since.

[ShadowAce]

I've never had to really learn assembler (I took one assembler class in college that taught us on Macs in the early 90's), so I'm always a little in awe of assembler programmers.

Most of my career has been in COBOL, but I'm working in C/C++ and Perl now. I'm finally enjoying my career again... :)