Windows Virtual PC Everywhere
With our recent update to Windows Virtual PC that allows it to run on systems without hardware virtualization support – I have been flooded by a stream of people asking what hardware it will run on / if it will run on their system.
The short answer is: If it can run Windows 7, it can run Windows Virtual PC. Note that Windows 7 has a requirement of needing a 1GHz processor – so that should help you qualify your system.
To drive this point home, I provide the following bit of evidence:
This is a photo of OS/2 Warp 3 running on Windows Virtual PC on Windows 7 on my Dell Vostro A90 netbook (the Vostro A90 is basically the business version of the Dell Mini 9). This is a system with an Intel Atom N270 processor – which means it runs at 1.60 GHz and has no hardware virtualization support.
And as you can see – it works just fine.
Cheers,
Ben
P.S. Friday afternoon nerd challenge: Can you identify all the hardware that is sitting in the background / around the netbook?
Comments
Anonymous
March 19, 2010
i spy a c-64 back there. does vpc work there, too? maybe under GEOS?Anonymous
March 19, 2010
I see a GameCube controller, and a MadCatz (or however you spell it) XBox controller. 360 controller on the right. A poor, unplugged, lonely VGA (or DVI?) monitor cable sits in the back. Game Informer Aug 2010 issue there too. Some weird Logitech trackball thing on the left? REALLY old keyboard back there, I'm not gonna try to guess what that's from. It's probably older than me.Anonymous
March 19, 2010
Good work guys! Sean - yes that is a c-64. No it does not run Virtual PC :-) Dan - Fantastic job nailing the controllers! And yes, it is a logitech trackball. And the "old keyboard" is the Commodore 64 that Sean caught. Of course - no one has identified the two laptops beside the netbook yet :-) Cheers, BenAnonymous
March 19, 2010
It's a Commodore Pet. Did I win a prize?Anonymous
March 19, 2010
The laptops looks very much like my toshiba portege m400...? PS: Does this change to vpc mean that it will be availabe on win2k8r2 also? (I have hyper-v, but the "integrated" mode of vpc looks nice)Anonymous
March 19, 2010
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March 19, 2010
Hi, Can you run Virtual PC on the Windows 2008. I am aware of Hyper-V but it is bit of an overkill for me.Anonymous
March 19, 2010
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March 19, 2010
Steinar - Yes! Actually it is a m400 siting on top of an m200. Sean - Also correct. The Wico works with Atari / Commodore / Sega Megadrive (happy coincidence on that one). It is currently connected to the Commodore 64. Steinar / Kris - No, Windows Virtual PC is still limited to running on Windows 7. Cheers, BenAnonymous
March 19, 2010
Do you need more Commodore 64s? I have a couple as well :-)Anonymous
March 19, 2010
BrianEh - Oohh, I may have to take you up on that. I have a side project on modding my Commodore 64. I have converted my one to use composite out (instead of RF out) and have been working on a parallel adapter for it :-) Cheers, BenAnonymous
March 19, 2010
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March 19, 2010
The gray cables snaking in the back are KVM cables (Monitor/PS2 keyboard/PS2 mouse). Now what is that dial near the C=64 power supply?Anonymous
March 19, 2010
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March 19, 2010
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March 21, 2010
Ben,I have an Acer Netbook that has the Atom N520 (which supports VT) but Acer did not provide an option in th eBIOS to enable it. When I try the patch from your link to use XP Mode (VPC) without the need for VT, the patch stops saying my computer does not need it. So, the obvious question is, how do I get around this cicular issue? Acer has no intention of releasing an updated BIOS. Thanks.Anonymous
March 21, 2010
Does VPC really work well with these lower based hardware? Does x64 host Os helps in the performance of the guest Os? I love the VPC with XP mode. it does wonders supporting "should be thrown away n upgrade " software in my office. I have a .net programmer who need both SQL 2000 and 2008 manager on her windows 7 desktop. It works great with the apps published on her shortcuts.Anonymous
March 22, 2010
Laptop; Toshiba Portege M700?? Anyhow a tablet PC! :)Anonymous
March 22, 2010
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March 22, 2010
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March 22, 2010
just wondering if it supports Desktop Integration features with non MS OSes... I want to run a virtual Ubuntu install, but want the painless desktop integration I get with VMWare Player...Anonymous
March 23, 2010
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March 25, 2010
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April 07, 2010
I'm trying to install OS/2 on Windows Virtual PC now that doen't need hardware virtualization anymore. But I got two
- I can not found how to mount a diskette image on the settings. Any tips on how to mount diskettes now ?
- There is no longer the additions software for OS/2 available on the ISO image. Can the one from the older Virtual PC be used ?
Anonymous
April 10, 2010
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April 18, 2010
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April 20, 2010
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April 27, 2010
I installed Win 7 on my desktop JUST to try the new VPC. Great that it runs OS2 (albeit slower than any previous version), but what happened to OS2 Additions? Drag and drop between host and guest was a GOOD thing, as was "capture floppy/CD".Anonymous
April 27, 2010
martin, I feel your pain. I cannot believe that they killed the floppy access. Ben, I just read through the posts you referred martin to. You have to be joking with the scripts. You have a great site here and your posts have helped me through some major problems, but your team missed this one by a mile. I have been using VPC since long before MS bought Connectix. The support they used to offer was INCREDIBLE, as I'm pretty sure they understood what VPC was being used for. Legacy systems.Anonymous
May 13, 2010
Hi Ben, I'm getting a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL when I try to run VirtualPC on a PC without hardware VT: BCCode: d1 BCP1: 00000000 BCP2: 00000002 BCP3: 00000000 BCP4: 00000000 0xD1_CODE_AV_NULL_IP_vpcvmm!VmmExecuteVp Why?