共用方式為

Virtual PC is free!

  • 發行項

Today we announced a couple of cool things:

  1. Virtual PC 2004 SP1 will be available free - now!

  2. Virtual PC 2007 will be available for free in 2007, with support for Microsoft Windows Vista

  3. Windows Vista Enterprise customers will have the right to install four copies of the operating system on a desktop for a single user

A couple of questions I can see people having are:

  1. Why are you giving Virtual PC away for free?

    Microsoft views virtualization as a tool. Virtual PC is used for a number of reasons, but the primary reasons are for development and test scenarios and application compatibility. We already provide Virtual PC as part of MSDN for development and test users, and given that all our other application compatibility tools are free - charging for Virtual PC did not make much sense.

  2. Is the Windows Vista Enterprise licensing right restricted to Virtual PC?

    No - you can use any virtualization software for this. In fact - you do not even have to use virtualization software to exercise this right. You could - if you wanted - setup a quad-boot physical computer and be licensed for all four instances.

Well - enough talk - go check out the details and download Virtual PC from https://www.microsoft.com/virtualpc

Cheers,
Ben

Comments

  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    This is great news, I was wondering if microsoft would do this after making virtual server free.
    When are we likely to see a beta of Virtual PC 2007.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Is it possible to run Vista on Virtual PC 2004 SP1 today? I have not had any luck with it.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    That's going to make a lot of people legal that run multiple virtual machines.  Good call MS.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Is the Mac version free also?
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Will the Virtual Machine additions for Linux be made available for VPC 2004 SP1?

    Thank you!
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    i guess this also means that virtual pc express has been canceled
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Great news for developers, testers, and people who need a sandbox or two for security or compatability! Two unanswered questions:

    1. Will existing licenses for Win98, 2k, XP, and 2k3 be extended to also permit multiple instances through virtualization?

    2. What about VirtualPC 2007 for OSX host machines? Not developing for MacIntel might stymie a few would-be switchers, but IMHO Microsoft should continue playing in the Mac virtualization market so Parallels is not the only game in town.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    The comment has been removed
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    This is wonderful news.

    Is the second Service Pack still in the works for Virtual PC? You know, the one with the speed optimizations ;)

    Thanks
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Grrr.. just weeks after I purchased VPC 2004. :(
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Ben:

    How would one go about using the Virtual Machine Additions for Virtual Server 2005 with VPC?

    Perhaps a blog entry on how to do this? Or can someone else outline how to do it?

    Thank you.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    jace: VM Additions is just an ISO that sits somewhere in Program Files. When you choose "Install VM Additions" in VPC/VS, all it does is mount that ISO in the guest machine's CD, and let autorun work.

    So, you can just download VS, extract the ISO from there, and mount it to your VPC guest OS yourself.
  • Anonymous
    July 12, 2006
    Here was I getting my hopes up, too.  Of course the Mac version isn't free.  That would be silly.  That would be... nice.  What WAS I thinking?
  • Anonymous
    July 13, 2006
    Thursday, July 13, 2006 4:05 AM by Jonathan
    > So, you can just download VS, extract the
    > ISO from there, and mount it to your VPC
    > guest OS yourself.

    What extraction tool did you use?

    I found a tool that displayed the contents of an .msp file so I could see that an updated VM Additions tool was there, but the tool didn't actually do an extraction.  I found another tool that could do extractions from .msi files but not from .msp files.

    Of course I could install Virtual Server in order to install its patch afterwards and then take a copy of the resulting ISO file that contains updated additions.  But for some reason I thought there was a simpler way to extract the ISO file, and I just hadn't found an appropriate tool.
  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2006
    Q: Why are you giving Virtual PC away for free?

    <sarcasm>
     Because VMWare, the market leader, is also free on servers and has a free player ?
    </sarcasm>
  • Anonymous
    July 17, 2006
    We use VPC as part of an OS/2 based product we sell. VPC allows a piece of OS/2 software we currently offer to run on any PC.

    We currently have five new, unopened, shrink-wrapped boxed sets of VPC in our stock. Is there any way to return this now unnecessary product?

    I would also be interested in seeing Microsoft's licensing terms for redistribution of this free software. My plan is to burn the new free installer on a CD, give it a part number, and distribute it at no or minumal charge with our software.
  • Anonymous
    July 18, 2006
    Yag -

    We have announced that we are working on Virtual PC 2007.  We have made no announcments about any SP2 for Virtual PC 2004.

    John -

    I have not been able to get an answer on redistribution of the free Virtual PC.  But if you have stock as a retailer - you should be able to return that to Microsoft.  If, however, the stock was purchased as a consumer there is no way to return it at this stage.

    Cheers,
    Ben
  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2006
    That's a great news Ben!!!
    But I've an interesting question for you. Now that VPC 2004 is free, what happen with VPC 5.2 and previous versions? Let me explain: the system requirements for Virtual PC 2004 is the need for Windows 200x/XP running as host, but I still have some Windows 98 and ME computers running as host. Is this new about freeing VPC the include of previous versions (like for example Connectix VPC 5.1) that works on previous Windows versions?

    Thank you very much for your answers in advance.

    Greets.
    Akuma.
  • Anonymous
    July 22, 2006
    Norman: ISOs are not meant to be extracted as archives.  They are files that contain all data needed to burn a complete CD image, including boot sector.  You either burn them or, in this case, you mount them as a "fake" drive letter which the OS thinks is a real CD.

    However Virtual PC will take care of the CD mounting for you, just select "Install VM Additions" from the menu and then access the CD drive on your virtual machine and run the Setup tool for the appropriate guest OS.
  • Anonymous
    July 24, 2006
    I had to pay 200$ to get this software and now they gave it for free???? MS$ is just a bunch of stinking thieves...

    I was thinking of buying MS Office, but I think I am going to get a illegal copy instead.  Why waste money when MS$ will probably give it for free in a few years...
  • Anonymous
    July 24, 2006
    I must be dreaming
  • Anonymous
    July 31, 2006
    I downloaded VPC2k4SP1 today, installed it but it wont run.

    I get what is described here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B889508, but the workaround doesnt work for since I do not have a product key. Wasnt the product free now? ...
  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    Ryan, when you run the Virtual PC file from the MS Downlaod the key is already there. I imagine you can run the original install and write it down.
  • Anonymous
    August 03, 2006
    Ryan, when you run the Virtual PC file from the MS Downlaod the key is already there. I imagine you can run the original install and write it down.
  • Anonymous
    April 10, 2017
    Actually no matter if someone doesn't understand afterward its up to other people that they will help, so here it takes place.