Windows 7 on a virtual machine

Question

I know this question isn't "directly" programming related, but since I want to be able to be well-prepared on windows-programming when Windows 7 is released, I want to try it out now. But since I don't have two computers, I can't risk to install it as dual-boot in case it screws something up, my experience with dual-booting XP and Vista isn't the best, so dual-boot in a pre-beta-world is even more scary ;)

Anyway, my question is this: Does there exist any Virtualization-programs that handles Windows 7 now? And if there is several, which one is best? I don't really need any detailed descriptions on how to install it and such, that I have google for ;) And the install-DVD is in my hands as we speak, so that isn't a problem either.

Answer 1

I'd imagine Microsoft VirtualPC would be your best bet.

Answer 2

I installed it using VMWare Fusion on MacBook Pro last night without any problems. I just told VMWare that it was Windows Vista 64Bit.

Answer 3

I'm using VMware Workstation (6.5.1) with the default "Windows Vista" settings.

Works great. Even the NIC works, despite of a few error reports found in google.

Edit: I installed the current beta of Windows 7 (Build 7000)

Answer 4

I installed it this week in VirtualBox with no problems.

Answer 5

I've had very good performance in VirtualBox, with a few caveats:

• Win7 has no driver for the default emulated NIC (PCnet-FAST III). Change it to an Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop, however, and it's fine.
• There's no driver in the install image for the default emulated sound card, but Windows Update will pick it up for you when the network's going.
• The Guest Additions whinge about the OS being unsupported and won't install, unless you run them in Vista Compatibility Mode (from Properties on the .exe). Windows will hang on startup after installing them, then Win7 will offer to 'repair' itself. It will claim to have failed, but afterwards it still all works fine anyway.
• ...except for the Shared Folders function. Presumably this clashes with the new homegroup stuff in Win7 and is responsible for the hang. You can still use normal Samba sharing or SFTP or whatever so it's not the end of the world.

Answer 6

As others say, free Microsoft VirtualPC 2007 runs Windows 7 Beta. But you need to be aware of some things.

1. Virtual PC 2007 SP1 needs to be installed
2. Virtual PC 2007 only supports 32-bit guest OS, so you need to download Windows 7 Beta 32-bit
3. Choose Windows Vista when creating new virtual disk

I gave it 512MB RAM, and it is running pretty smooth. I have a Quad-core CPU though.

Answer 7

I personally use VMWare and I would imagine that it would support windows 7 without any issue.

Good luck with testing, I wished I could get a copy of it to test myself.

Answer 8

VMWare is simply amazing....as an option.

Answer 9

I have it up and running using the free VMWare Server 1.0.8, using the Vista settings.

Answer 10

I installed it this weekend in a Parallels 3.0 machine on my mac. The install went smoothly, and it boots fine, but it acts like there is no network card installed. I guess I need to upgrade to Parallels 4.0, which is supposed to have more complete support.

Answer 11

I installed it on two machines using both VMWare and VirtualBox. On one system, neither install recognizes the NIC while both installs work fine on the second system. Vista works fine on both systems in both virtual machines. It appears that the beta of Windows 7 has driver issues.

Answer 12

You can use free Xen Server Express from citrix.com. I've installed Windows 7 using Vista template. Didn't have much time to play with it, but seems to work pretty well (well, as for beta).

There is a little tweak you have to in order for it to run. Once you create VM from template:

• Open console on XenServer
• execute "xe vm-list" and copy the UUID of the VM you created
• execute "xe vm-param-set uuid= platform:viridian=false"
• Reboot the VM and enjoy install process.