Windows 7 in a virtual machine

If you want to try out installing Windows 7 in a virtual machine and you have a SATA hard disk then use Sun's VirtualBox rather than Microsoft's Virtual PC.

I have installed it on both here at work and the VirtualBox one is much, much faster.

To make sure that you get the best speed out of it, once you've created a virtual machine but before you start it up and install Windows do this:
- go to the Settings window
- select the 'Hard Disks' item
- check 'Enable SATA Controller'
- change the 'Slot' drop-down for your virtual disk to 'SATA Port 0'.

Disk access will then be a lot faster than Virtual PC's emulated IDE drive.

Once Windows 7 is installed you'll need to install the VBox Guest Additions, but this won't run under Windows 7 without a little cheating. Here's what you do:
- with the virtual machine running, mount the VBox Guest Additions CD image
- when the autorun dialog appears, select 'Open folder to view files' (not 'Run VBoxWindowsAdditions')
- right-click the 'VBoxWindowsAdditions' file and choose 'properties'
- click the 'Compatibility' tab
- tick 'Run this program in compatibility mode for' and choose 'Windows Vista' in the drop-down then click 'OK'.

You should now be able to double-click the VBoxWindowsAdditions file and it will install drivers for the graphics, network and other devices.

Regards

Nelviticus

Thanks there Nelveticus...

In addition, Windows 7 will install just fine on a VMWare Workstation (I've chosen VISTA as GUEST) and the VMWare Tools will also install without any problems...
 

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

I'm running it on VMWare server with the Guest OS set to Windows Server 2008. It works perfectly and the VMware tools installed without any problems.

Steve

Thanks for the VBox info...

minor screen resolution problem on wide screen laptop

using VMware Server Console 1.0.8 build 126538

how can I set the screen resolution of Windows 7 to
eg, 1280 by 800 or any other setting that's not 0.75 (eg, 1024/768 or 800/600)?

BTW, 'AutoFit Window', 'AutoFit Guest', and 'Fit Guest Now' all do not work for Windows 7 on my machine.
'Fit Window Now' is disabled too.

Can you make any adjustment in Windows 7 Display settings itself, or do they have to be made in the Host operating system, or is it that there no such suitable settings in Windows 7 due to the Host systems virtual display driver limitations?

> Can you make any adjustment in Windows 7 Display settings itself,

yes I can but all my choices are 4:3 ratios

> or do they have to be made in the Host operating system,

my host is at 1280x800 (WinXP; Dell Latitude D620)

> or is it that there no such suitable settings in Windows 7 due to the Host systems virtual display driver limitations?

I also have Win2K and WinXP guests and, for these, I can use wide-screen settings.

I would really recommend installing Win7 on a second partition, makes it run alot smoother in my tests.

I guess this would only be for testing, but to enjoy it fully you'd need to install it physically :)
Mainly because it would run faster than in a VM.

The same thing is true on Virtal PC until you install the VM Additions.  Then I had many more options including widescreen formats.

Although the other resolutions are not shown, if you move the slider bar up or down, they appear.

Make sure you have installed the VMWare tools, as I said earlier in this thread, I used the Windows 2008 server tools.
 

Steve

Using a machine with a CPU supporting hardware virtualization extensions helps performance too.  I'm running Win7 under VPC very nicely using my cheapie Intel Q6600 machine.

Upgraded VMware from 1.8 to 2.0 and got wide-screen resolution for my Windows 7.

Loaded and runs fine on my Vista 32 bit Virtual PC 2007.

But when I try to install the VM additions, I get BlueScreen and error - fs_rec.sys so right now running without those tools.

Anyone come across this problem?

From this linked site comes this information.

"Hey guys, found the fix though. I too had the older VPC2007SP1 installed (6.0.156). I upgraded my VPC to the latest build (6.0.192) and tried the newer vmadditions. It works now. So check your VPC versions and make sure you upgrade (or replace the vmadditions with the newer one.)"

Windows 7 Beta in Virtual PC 2007 - BSOD in Fs_Rec.sys after adding VM Additions

http://blogs.msdn.com/jmanning/archive/2009/01/08/windows-7-beta-in-virtual-pc-2007-bsod-in-fs-rec-sys-after-adding-vm-additions.aspx

alas I am on 6.0.192.. :(
 

And are the Virtual Machine Additions the latest too?

You could try uninstalling Virtual PC, then reinstall it via the right-click "Run As Administrator" option, and also setup the eventually installed .exe to always run as an Administrator, via the Advanced option on any Shortcut, or the Privilege button under the Compatibility tab of the .exe.