VirtualPC experiences?

[Daftpanzer]

I wonder if anyone here would enjoy sharing their knowledge and experiences of VirtualPC?

I have a Vista (home premium) PC that won't run all my old stuff (most, but not all). I still have Win98 and XP on disk, and I've been reading about VirtualPC... However, I see Microsoft's site is only going on about the Windows7 version now. I see other downloads are still there if you search for them, but I don't know what I'm looking for, really.

I'd like to try a version that works with Vista HP and could run Windows 98 virtually. I have 3 Gigs of RAM, so I'm guessing XP would be too much of a stretch?

I'm still doing my homework on this, but thx in advance for anythin'

 

[Genocidicbunny]

VirtualBox may be better suited since its free. VirtualPC is nice, but the player is the only free version they have, which means you need a pre-made image to run. VirtualBox will allow you to make a new image and install your OS of choice. Its also compatible with almost every Microsoft OS since win 95 for a guest.

In addition, its extremely easy. You create a new HDD image, boot it, install your OS and you got a virtual machine running.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Well, with VirtualBox, Windows 98 does work, but there's no additions (which I think includes stuff like being able to change the screen resolution.) Source.

But overall, my experience with VirtualBox is pretty good. Its fairly simple to use, as long as you know a bit about computers (such as how much memory/HDD space the guest OS needs.)

 

[Methos]

I have 3 Gigs of RAM, so I'm guessing XP would be too much of a stretch?

The RAM should be fine, depending on what you're running. I have 4 gig, but just for giggles I setup my XP vm with the default of 512k (I'm using Parallels for Mac 4.0) and it runs fine. I'll bump it up eventually.

 

[Daftpanzer]

Thanks guys

So I am looking into Virtual Box. I see that it needs extra video drivers for win 98... I'm trying to get my head around installing drivers on a virtual machine for virtual hardware

 

[Methos]

Thanks guys

So I am looking into Virtual Box. I see that it needs extra video drivers for win 98... I'm trying to get my head around installing drivers on a virtual machine for virtual hardware

It sounds like the drivers are needed on your main PC and not the virtual one.

Regarding files for the VM, just install them while within the VM. For myself, since I'm running XP virtually on my Mac, I don't have to do that. When I put a PC disk in, or attempt to run a PC file, the virtual drive automatically grabs it. I'm not sure if VirtualBox does that, especially if your running a prior version of Windows virtually on a Windows machine.