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Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta 2 includes 'vhdmount' - a tool to allow you to mount a virtual hard disk directly on your host operating system.  While vhdmount is provided as a command line tool - a very small amount of work will allow you to mount VHDs by just double clicking on them.  By creating a .reg file with the following contents:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell]
@="Mount"

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

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell\Dismount\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /u \"%1\""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell\Mount]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Virtual.Machine.HD\shell\Mount\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /p \"%1\""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.vhd]
@="Virtual.Machine.HD"

And then double clicking on the .reg file (to load it into your registry) you will be able to double click a VHD to mount it, and right click on it to dismount it.

Cool...

Cheers,
Ben

Published Friday, September 01, 2006 5:29 PM by Virtual PC Guy

Comments

Saturday, September 02, 2006 2:06 PM by Off Campus

# Another good use for vhdmount, mounting Vista backups

I just read a great post on MSDN blogs regarding vhdmount, a tool in Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Beta...
Saturday, September 02, 2006 4:49 PM by Thomas

# re: Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Awesome tip, thanks a lot
Saturday, September 02, 2006 6:49 PM by Andrew Dugdell

# NICE: Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Very Nice.
Sunday, September 03, 2006 6:52 PM by Martin Pavlis - pavlis.net / mvp|mct|mcse

# Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (beta 2): novinka

Sunday, September 03, 2006 6:54 PM by TechNet Blog CZ, SK

# Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (beta 2): novinka

Trochu víc jsem si začal o víkendu hrát s touto verzí Virtual Serveru (VS2005R2B2) a nadchla mě jedna...
Sunday, September 03, 2006 7:03 PM by The Daily Ramblings of an SMS Engineer

# How To Mount a Virtual Hard Drive Locally

Very nice Ben! See below to discover how to mount a VHD by clicking it with Ben’s reg key. Original
Sunday, September 03, 2006 7:09 PM by How To Mount a Virtual Hard Drive Locally « System Center Products

# How To Mount a Virtual Hard Drive Locally « System Center Products

PingBack from http://systemcenter.wordpress.com/2006/09/03/how-to-mount-a-virtual-hard-drive-locally/
Monday, September 04, 2006 1:41 AM by manoj

# customize the Microsoft virtual server

I want to customize the Microsoft virtual server, what i want is the admin gui page it shows I want to customize that like I want to create 4 VirtualMachine at a time by running a VB script ,can u provide that script to me which take input  for creating many VMs at atime.

please provide me the script. thanks
mithu_manoj@yahoo.com
Monday, September 04, 2006 9:47 AM by Goospy

# re: Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Hi,
how is it possible to use vhdmount with WinXP SP2?
Monday, September 04, 2006 11:23 AM by Jose Aguilar's Blog

# Excellent tip... Mounting a .VHD by double clicking on it

Last Friday on the Virtual PC Guy's WebLog,  Ben Armstrong, Virtual Machine program manager at Microsoft,...
Wednesday, September 06, 2006 10:16 AM by VMblog.com - Virtualization Information

# Double Click a VHD to mount it

Ben Armstrong sends along another great tip for Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 beta and the new VHDMount utility.

This time, Ben writes that while the tool provided is a command line tool, a very small amount of work will allow you to mount a
Wednesday, September 13, 2006 4:15 AM by Shigeya Tanabe's blog

# VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) をオフラインマウントする

Virtual Server や Virtual PC で利用するディスクイメージは、VHD というファイル形式になっています。先日公開された Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta 2...
Wednesday, September 27, 2006 6:28 PM by Gorm

# re: Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Very nice, this. Look forward to drv being signed
Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:20 AM by Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition

# Speaking of VHDMount...

The VirtualPC Guy posted this ROCKIN tip on how to associate VHDs with VHDMount. The result is double-click

Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:31 AM by Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition

# Speaking of VHDMount...

The VirtualPC Guy posted this ROCKIN tip on how to associate VHDs with VHDMount. The result is double-click

Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:32 AM by Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition

# Speaking of VHDMount...

The VirtualPC Guy posted this ROCKIN tip on how to associate VHDs with VHDMount. The result is double-click

Sunday, October 29, 2006 9:07 PM by John’s Website » Blog Archive » vhdTools

# John’s Website » Blog Archive » vhdTools

PingBack from http://www.kelley.ca/wordpress/2006/10/29/vhdtools/

Saturday, December 30, 2006 2:11 AM by harbar.net

# Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

Monday, January 15, 2007 2:58 PM by Building Better Software - One Line At A Time

# Preparing for Vista Backup and Restore - Part 2

Happy New Year! Last time we finished with using CompletePC to backup the OS partitions/drives as well

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 9:20 AM by My DasBlog! - Mount VHD Files to explorer

# My DasBlog! - Mount VHD Files to explorer

PingBack from http://blog.modin.nu/Mount+VHD+Files+To+Explorer.aspx

Thursday, March 22, 2007 12:12 PM by Andrea SOLDANO

# MOUNT VHD ON HOST OPERATING SYSTEM

Lo sapevo ... era da un pò che ci pensavo ... mi è bastato cercare su google utilizzando

Thursday, April 19, 2007 3:10 AM by .: Stefan Gabriel Georgescu's blog :.

# Virtualization - 2005-R2-SP1-RC now available.

Gee what a name. The Release Candidate build of Virtual Server R2 SP1 is now available Before anyone

Thursday, April 19, 2007 6:09 PM by Double clicking on a VHD to mount it « KTS Blog

# Double clicking on a VHD to mount it « KTS Blog

PingBack from http://kazmarek.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/double-clicking-on-a-vhd-to-mount-it/

Thursday, May 17, 2007 11:35 AM by Erwyn van der Meer

# Windows Vista Crash without BSOD

I just experienced my first Windows Vista crash that didn't even display a Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD).

Monday, July 09, 2007 1:44 PM by p2vd.com ?? VHDMOUNT without Virtual Server

# p2vd.com ?? VHDMOUNT without Virtual Server

PingBack from http://www.p2vd.com/?p=81

Monday, July 09, 2007 2:08 PM by p2vd.com ?? VHDMOUNT without Virtual Server

# p2vd.com ?? VHDMOUNT without Virtual Server

PingBack from http://www.p2vd.com/?p=82

Monday, July 09, 2007 2:10 PM by p2vd.com ?? VHDMount Tricks

# p2vd.com ?? VHDMount Tricks

PingBack from http://www.p2vd.com/?p=84

Monday, July 09, 2007 2:14 PM by p2vd.com ?? Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

# p2vd.com ?? Double clicking on a VHD to mount it

PingBack from http://www.p2vd.com/?p=85

Tuesday, August 14, 2007 9:54 PM by Larry Smithmier: C# For You » Blog Archive » Registry entries to automatically mount VHD when double clicked

# Larry Smithmier: C# For You » Blog Archive » Registry entries to automatically mount VHD when double clicked

PingBack from http://smithmier.com/blog/?p=39

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 5:13 PM by Mark’s (we)Blog » Mounting virtual hard disks in Windows Vista

# Mark’s (we)Blog » Mounting virtual hard disks in Windows Vista

PingBack from http://www.markwilson.co.uk/blog/2007/09/mounting-virtual-hard-disks-in-windows-vista.htm

Thursday, November 22, 2007 5:10 AM by Alex's Weblog

# Mount di dischi virtuali (.VHD)

Mount di dischi virtuali (.VHD)

Sunday, March 09, 2008 10:20 AM by Andrea Soldano Blogs

# MOUNT VHD ON HOST OPERATING SYSTEM

MOUNT VHD ON HOST OPERATING SYSTEM

Monday, March 10, 2008 11:36 AM by Mainfram Reality » Mounting Vista Complete PC backup files (.vhd) as local drive

# Mainfram Reality » Mounting Vista Complete PC backup files (.vhd) as local drive

PingBack from http://www.mainfram.com/?p=244

Sunday, May 11, 2008 11:39 PM by goospy com

# goospy com

PingBack from http://paula.freemultimedianews.info/goospycom.html

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