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Running Virtual PC under February CTP of Vista

  • Article

So it will interest you to know that running Virtual PC 2004 under the February CTP release of Windows Vista is a much nicer experience than it has been in prior builds of Windows Vista. For one thing - networking is now completely functional. In fact there are only two issues with running Virtual PC under the February CTP release of Windows Vista:

  1. Desktop composition will be disabled while running virtual machines

    Desktop composition (also known as 'Glass') is what gives you all the cool 3D desktop stuff under Windows Vista. Unfortunately desktop composition requires that all video data be written to an offscreen buffer and then composited through its 3D engine. Virtual PC uses DirectDraw - which locks the physical display and draws directly to it. When this happens - desktop composition is disabled. Normally this is not a problem - as most DirectDraw applications run in fullscreen mode - so you do not notice. This is something that we are going to need to change in Virtual PC in order to be fully compatible with Windows Vista.

  2. With desktop composition disabled, moving an active virtual machine will result in corrupted graphics until the virtual machine updates its display

    This is a bug in Windows Vista - but it is fairly easy to deal with.

Cheers,
Ben

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2006
    Nice infos... and what about the opposite side? Is the last Vista CTP supported by Virtual PC? I've listened rumours about problems and I'd like to know something before doing the test by myself.
  • Anonymous
    February 27, 2006
    February CTP of Vista is pretty well-behaved (if Glass-less) under Virtual PC, especially if you install the Virtual Server R2 VMAdditions.
  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2006
    Thanks for the infos Peter, 'll try to install it under VPC too.
  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2006
    I realize this is unrelated, but I figure you might know something I don't.. hehhe

    I have a Virtual PC system set up and I would like to make it "real".  I figure I can do this using Ghost or something ???  Any experience with this?  Guess I'll check back to see if you comment on it.
  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2006
    Stefano -

    Works great here.  Checkout the link in todays post for detils.

    Peter -

    Yes the NAT issue is a known problem

    Kirk -

    This is possible, but you should uninstall the VM Additions first.  You will also have to do the neccesary work to deal with the fact that Virtual PC has different hardware to that of your physical computer (though this is no difference than imaging one physical computer on to another).

    Cheers,
    Ben
  • Anonymous
    February 28, 2006
    Kirk - there are a number of posts on this topic in the Virtual PC newsgroup.  Check it out.
  • Anonymous
    March 01, 2006
    Can I be cheeky here (better here than somewhere more public) and say that "This is something that we are going to need to change in Virtual PC in order to be fully compatible with Windows Vista." is the first time that I, for one, have noticed anyone imply that there is a future for Virtual PC.
  • Anonymous
    March 02, 2006
    Virtual PC Guy,
    My experience was that the ISO download from MSDN  (en_windows_vista_ctp_february_2006_32bit.iso) doesn't seem to be recognized as a valid ISO when you try to "capture" it through VPC.  It mounts fine under Daemon Tools and can be installed that way.

    Also, I was wondering about installation under VPC... can we now skip those command prompt commands you recommended during install of the Dec CTP Vista?

    Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    March 02, 2006
    Virtual PC Guy,
    My experience was that the ISO download from MSDN  (en_windows_vista_ctp_february_2006_32bit.iso) doesn't seem to be recognized as a valid ISO when you try to "capture" it through VPC.  It mounts fine under Daemon Tools and can be installed that way.

    Also, I was wondering about installation of Vista under VPC... do we still need those command prompt commands you recommended during install of the Dec CTP Vista?

    Thanks!

  • Anonymous
    March 02, 2006
    Virtual PC Guy Help me
    I've installed Vista on Virtual Server 2005 R2
    My problem is I don't know how to set network on host and guest because I have only one IP and I need to connect to internet for activating Vista.
    Thank's
    Sandu
  • Anonymous
    March 03, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    March 03, 2006
    Virtual PC Guy
    I've done what you said in  http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2005/10/04/477195.aspx but now what settings shoul I have to made to my virtual machine
    Please help me
  • Anonymous
    March 05, 2006
    I get this error a minute after clicking Install Now:

    Windows Setup: setup.exe - Application Error

    The exception unknown software exception (0xe0000100)
    occurred in the application at location 0x77e4028b.

    And if I click OK it takes me back to the first screen. Any ideas?
  • Anonymous
    March 05, 2006
    Hi Nicolas

    Got the same error. Did increase memory for VPC to 512 and i got past that error. However I am stuck with install on a partition..dont get next, its greyed out!

    Help! ;-)

    -AN
  • Anonymous
    March 08, 2006
    ohh so needs 512MB of ram..... :(

    I have 512MB physical memory so I won't be able to test it :'(
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2006
    grey out partition - create a new one, format it (it still says it's unusable) then reset the vpc - go through the install again and, hey presto, you can use the partition.
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2006
    Oh - i should mention - with 600+ of ram it still crashes as soon as the cd key screen comes up :(
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2006
    I had just installed the Beta when the Feb CTP was release. Based on the information here about setting up the drive first, everything went great. I downloaded the Feb CTP and have tried numerous times to install. It gets into step 2 of installing goes just a little way on the progress bar, looks like it is working, runs the DVD drive the whole time, shows disk activity every once in awhile, but I have let it run for many hours and it never does anything. Any ideas?
  • Anonymous
    March 13, 2006
    I have the same problem as Nicholas -

    I get this error 30 secs after clicking Install Now (BOOTING only off dvd not from windows -  works if I 'upgrade' from XP):

    Windows Setup: setup.exe - Application Error

    The exception unknown software exception (0xe0000100)
    occurred in the application at location 0x77e4028b.

    And if I click OK it takes me back to the first screen ('install now', 'release notes', etc.). Any ideas?

    Thanks!
  • Anonymous
    March 13, 2006
    Hi All,

    If you are talking about Vista under Virtual PC - please checkout http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/02/28/540822.aspx.  This post is about Virtual PC under Vista.

    Cheers,
    Ben
  • Anonymous
    March 13, 2006
    Whoops didn't read the whole thing... its working now
    sorry