How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Wes — Thu, 08 May 2008 05:47:53 GMT

Just swinging by to say Hi and thanks for posting this tip -- greatly appreciated!

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Almost right — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:26:08 GMT

You need to add a /d or /c to the dismount command for discard or commit changes so the line should be:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell\Dismount\command]

@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /u /d \"%1\""

For dismount changes or

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell\Dismount\command]

@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /u /c \"%1\""

For commit changes

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Dermott Renner — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:02:28 GMT

Instructions seem missing something.

Created vhdmount.req file but cannot run it. It is not an executable file?

Also the comments by PM indicate the the registry key settings should be different.

Is this correct?

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

cschotte — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:05:11 GMT

Dermott - the extension of the registry file is .REG, it is only difficult to read by the underline.

I updated the post and added the dismount command /c option.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

KComp — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 09:38:25 GMT

First, thanks for the info, very handy and to the point but I've noticed that with each mount a new device is discovered and a new

MS Virtual Server SCSI Disk Device

entry is made in the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\SCSI\Disk&Ven_MS&Prod_Virtual_Server&Rev_1.0

Or you can see them in the device manager using commands or batch file.

SET DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

START DEVMGMT.MSC

Then in the view menu selecting Show hidden

Not that it matters too much in my case but someone doing this a lot is going to end up with lots of hidden no more used device listings in the registry. Just a heads up. Thanks again.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

KComp — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:11:20 GMT

Just add to this, it doesn't seem to redetect the device when don't dismount and restart the computer and mount again.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

KComp — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:31:32 GMT

I guess I should have tried this some more, it doesn't redetect everytime the same vhd is mounted but it did a couple of times.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

WW — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:30:54 GMT

I'm just wondering, how do I actually access the disc once I've mounted it?

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

cschotte — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:49:20 GMT

You can access your files like on a normal hard drive, for example D: or E: (depending on your configuration). You shoed see a new drive letter.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

James — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:23:13 GMT

There is only one additional action required if you have UAC enabled - go to the location of vhdmount.exe and in compatibility properties check 'Run as the administrator' to make this working.

Vhdmount on Vista

Dennis Mulder - Convert.ToString(My.Core.Dump) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:17:27 GMT

Lately I have been running into the following error message when unplugging a VHD file that I mounted

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

b2dac — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:01:43 GMT

I recommend using the /f switch so that an undo disk does not get created by default. All changes are then written directly to disk, like you would expect.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Bryan — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:32:20 GMT

This is Frustrating!! Using best practices..running as a restricted user..meaning I have to run as everything as administrator with domain admin credentials. You can't mount as a restricted user..so I open command prompt and type my administrator credentials. I added C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount to my paths in system variables.

So I run, vhdmount /m /f WCUeBriefcase.Staging.vhd K As and administrator and I get this message below..and It never mounts!!

The Virtual Hard Disk is successfully plugged in as a virtual disk device. However, not all the volumes on the disk were successfully mounted. Use Disk Manager

to mount the volumes.

My God why can't Microsoft just get it together and make a nice tool like vmware. It's like you have to pull teeth for everything you do. Sorry I had to vent.

If anyone can help me out..much appreciated.

Regards,

Bryan

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

win 7 — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:11:31 GMT

trying to do this under windows 7 but it's always giving me an message, something like:

The specified virtual hard disk <snip> is being plugged in using the default Undo Disk option. Use /c to commit or /d to discard the changes to the mounted disk.

Then there was one more line that I couldn't read before the thing cmd window disappeared, but not drives that I could see.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Jeff — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:22:36 GMT

I tried this and followed all the instructions carefully. Everything appears to work (no errors) but nothing happens (no new hard drive letter.)

So, I'm loading a full vpc install to see if I can access my vhd once it's up and running.

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Bob Dole — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:32:23 GMT

I get the same problem, here is the issue, not sure how to fix. This drive i'm mounting (my backup from vista) is greater than 128GB (even if the file isn't the file thinks it is...) so it has be mounted as a scsi virtual device with vhdmount, i can do this fine within virtual server, but no joy using vhdmount, any hidden options to associate it with virtual scsi controller?

VHD mounting under Windows 7

Clemens Schotte's Blog — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:31:25 GMT

Windows 7 has native support for VHD mounting (and booting). In my earlier blog post about VHD mounting

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Jez — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:40:42 GMT

Getting similar issues with Vista x64. using /m and /f VHDMount says the drive has been plegged in ans has been mounted but no new drive appears. In computer management the drive is shown as active but with no drive letter and the only option allowed for it is to delete the volume - cant assign a drive letter to it?

Anyone have any ideas?

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Derek — Fri, 08 May 2009 21:05:44 GMT

Try manually installing both INF files in teh vhdmount folder through add hardware... Then after mounting the drive (may have to unmount then remount), go into device manager and look for the warning symbol under Disk drives. Right click, update driver, and point it to the directory holding the INF files.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1: How to Install

Paul Cornell — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:57:20 GMT

How to download and install Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1: http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/10-4/10-4-Episode-20-Downloading-and-Installing-Visual-Studio-2010-Beta-1/

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

sampath — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:07:41 GMT

Just what i was looking for.....thanks!!!

re: How to mount a VHD under Vista by double clicking

Ron — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:18:50 GMT

Please help, have tried everything to open my 2008 vhd file with not success. NT Backup and Restore reports unrecognizable data.