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Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

You might be interested to know that this is a combination that works just fine.  Here is a screenshot of Windows 7 on Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7:

Win7VPC

Though there are a couple of things you should know:

  • Use Virtual PC 2007 SP1.  Earlier versions of Virtual PC will not work.
  • You need to tell the new virtual machine wizard that you are going to install Windows Vista - so you get the right sound device.
  • While all the integration aspects of Virtual Machine Additions work (mouse integration, shared folders, etc...) there is no performance tuning for Windows 7 at this stage - so for best performance you should use a system with hardware vitalization support.

Two other random points to make:

  • If you are upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 Beta, the virtual machine network services driver be uninstalled.  You need to reinstall Virtual PC to get this back - but you will not lose any of your virtual machines by doing this (so do not fear - it just takes a minute or to do - and you will be up and running).
  • Virtual PC's behavior of minimizing the Virtual PC console to the tray rather than the taskbar is a bit problematic with the Windows 7 super-bar.  To get this to work properly you might want to change the setting for Virtual PC to have its taskbar icon always displayed:

    Win7VPC2

Cheers,
Ben

Published Tuesday, January 13, 2009 12:04 PM by Virtual PC Guy

Comments

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:55 PM by Ivor

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Hello,

Bit off topic but when will Virtual PC support x64?

Thanks!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:22 PM by Jim

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I installed Win7 in VPC and am having problems with the networking inside the VPC.  It only has Local access, the machine cannot connect to the Internet.  

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 11:17 PM by Anon

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

easy solution to connect to internet is to select NAT as the adapter...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:39 AM by Simon

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Hi

I & a colleague have installed Windows 7 beta on our host PCs and installed VPC to run leagacy XP/Vista/MOSS VPCs.

Generally speaking it works OK but the screen is often goes black when focus returns to the host pc.  Moving the mouse back over seems to reveal blocks of the VPC desktop and moving the whole VPC app window redraws the entire desktop and you can return to working.

Just wondering if anyone else has experience the same issue.  Any suggestions?  All VMs have the latest additions but I'm thinking about re-installing them on the VMs just in case.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:04 PM by Simon

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

As a follow up to the above, we have also encountered problems with the mouse integration failing if 2 VMs are run at the same time.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 7:15 PM by Dan

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Wouldn't the "Notification Area Icons" control panel also solve the Virtual PC icon problem?

Seems to work for me.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 7:19 PM by Dan

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Whoops, I thought you meant somehow make Virtual PC appear in the Superbar when minimized, didn't realize you were talking about the tray.  Totally missed the screenshot. >_>

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 8:04 PM by Chaley

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I installed Windows 7 on VPC 2007 as "Other" type os. No sound. Is there a way to change the type to Vista or install a sound card w/o creating a new VPC?

Thursday, January 15, 2009 3:24 PM by Jeff

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I have the same issue as Simon, Intel Q35 on a Dell Optiplex 755.

If I turn off desktop compisition it works fine, but I'd rather just live it then make everything ugly :o

Thursday, January 15, 2009 4:34 PM by Chris

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

What about the other way around... I installed Windows 7 as the host and VPC 2007 SP1 (x64) but can't drag and drop files FROM the VM back to the host... always get the error "An error in Virtual PC has occurred (d3)."  Doesn't matter whether I am admin or not...

Any thoughts?

Saturday, January 17, 2009 2:29 AM by Virtual PC Guy

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Ivor -

Sorry, I do not talk about future releases / features.

Jim / Anon -

It is working fine here.  What do you see as options under the network adapter settings for the virtual machine?

Simon -

I am not seeing that.  Are you seeing this on one computer - or multiple?

Chaley -

If you reboot the virtual machine twice - it should get sound.

Jeff -

What video card?

Chris -

You need to reboot after installing Virtual PC in order to get full drag-and-drop support

Cheers,

Ben

Saturday, January 17, 2009 2:26 PM by Menashe

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Don't try to install the Virtual Machine Additions. This will crash Windows 7 at startup. The only way back is apparently to restore the last restore point.

Saturday, January 17, 2009 2:42 PM by Hermes

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I just fixed the sound problem!

I turned off, disabled the sound card and started Windows 7 again and just after it starts, I shut it down.

Enabled again the sound card on virtual pc.

Removed the Virtual PC Additions

Restarted and reinstalled VPC Additions.

Done!

I have sound on Windows 7 over VPC! =D

Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:52 PM by Bevan Mendy

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I did not tell the virtual machine that I was going to install vista and now I do not have sound (I had not read this blog before installing). Is there a way to get sound without having to reinstall after telling the wizard I was going to install Vista instead of Windows 7?

Saturday, January 17, 2009 6:10 PM by Hermes

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Bevan,

Just follow the procedure on my previous post.

It will fix the sound problem.

Regards,

HC

Sunday, January 18, 2009 10:42 AM by John

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I'm having the same problem as Simon, on an Acer TravelMate 4220. I would guess it's a video driver issue with Windows 7, but I haven't really tried anything to fix it yet.

Sunday, January 18, 2009 7:37 PM by sotos

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I had no sound although I installed Windows 7 in Virtual PC declaring it as "vista". I rebooted and rebooted but nothing. Then disabled sound-card, rebooted, re-enabled it, rebooted but nothing.

Then I installed additions and rebooted and the sound came!

So, either the last reboot did the job or the additions(maybe...both).

Anyway thanks all.

(By the way, for how long we can use(eeh test) windows 7 after activation?)

Monday, January 19, 2009 5:29 AM by Barfieldmv

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Im currently running windows 7 beta with windows xp on a virtual machine and im getting the same screen black-out when switching from 7 to xp. Just moving the mouse solves the problem.

Im just posting here because is you search for windows 7 and vpc the number of hits are enormous but all about running windows 7 on a vpc in xp.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:11 PM by Jeff

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Virtual PC Guy  -

Intel Q35 Express (MS WDDM 1.0), 8.15.10.1590, newest available via Windows Update.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:26 AM by Simon

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Dell Dimension 9200 with NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX.  I had the same experience with x64 and x86 versions of Windows 7 (as the host PC) as did a colleague with a Dell Dimension 9200 with NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS.

In all configurations, existing VMs (I've not created a new VM using VPC2007SP1 on Windows 7) when not given focus turn black and only reveal blocks of the VPC desktop via mouse roll-over or a complete re-draw following a move of the VPC VM window.  

Note #1: when a VM runs in full-screen mode the problem does not occur.

Note #2: both physical machines are running Windows 7 (1 x64 & 1 x86) natively and have dual monitor support (2 monitors running at 1600 x 1200).

Note #3: Windows Update offers a pre-release NVIDIA driver update but does not appear to address the issue.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 9:34 AM by Simon

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

UPDATE: Windows Update also offered a driver update for the Dell 2007FP monitors and that does seem to have had an effect.

I did apply the NVIDIA driver when trying x64 but it didn't (at that time) address the issue.  

Suspect that either the NVIDIA driver is updated or the Dell update has done the trick.  Will report any further issues.

Thursday, January 22, 2009 3:24 AM by Cyle

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I too, am experiencing the same problem as Simon.

Custom built machine, dual Dell 2407WFP monitors, NVIDIA GeForce 6800.

Host OS is Windows 7 x64, and I have installed the microsoft update NVIDIA prerelease driver.

Thursday, January 22, 2009 10:14 AM by Jeff

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Windows Update gave me a new driver for my Intel Q35 that did not resolve the black screen focus issue. Driver is now at 8.15.10.1620.

Thursday, January 22, 2009 9:51 PM by Steve

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Getting an 'Installer Failure' when starting to install VPC 2007 64 SP1 on Win7 64 Beta w latest updates? Tried to setup using 'Run as Admin', no difference. Windows 7 host is running fine. Anyone have any ideas?

Saturday, January 24, 2009 10:58 AM by Suren

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

There is a networking issue with this on the host Win7 OS after installing VPC 2007 SP1 64 bit (both host and VPC). At first everything works fine, then put your laptop (in my case CPQ 8510w) to hibernate or sleep mode. Wake it up and your wirless adapter will be spinning endlessley. It will show it as disabled and attempt to enable my freeze or it will say enabled wrongly. Only way to come out of it is to reboot. Things work fine until your laptop goes in the sleep mode. VPC itself works fine.

Sunday, January 25, 2009 7:34 AM by Visitor

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Is there any way to make Windows 7 Beta 1 have sound in VPC without the additions?

Sunday, February 01, 2009 6:01 PM by L

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I have installed Windows 7 Beta 1 in Virtual PC 2007 sp1 (as Vista). I have also installed virtual pc additions.

Everything is workingg fine, but there is one major problem.

The Windows 7 is running extremely slow. Going through the start menu or opening any window is slow slow, it is frustrating. So I have given up on playing with Windows 7.

Any ideas as far as how to speed it up?

Thursday, February 05, 2009 1:58 PM by Paul - MCSA

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I ran windows update and installed the drivers for my Dell monitors and a PreProd release of an Nvidia QVS driver, this corrected the "black screen" problem. Works great now.

Sunday, February 08, 2009 2:02 AM by muks

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Hi Ben,

I was looking for the info whether i can install Windows7 in VPC and got it here.

I've a problem. If I try to run it in full screen mode i get a resolution of 1152X768 and therefore it doesn't spread on the entie screen. My host OS resolution is 1280X800 on Sony VAIO 14" inch laptop. Any idea how can increase the resolution.

Thanks

Muks

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:01 PM by Chris Webb

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

Suren, I have the same problem on my 8530p laptop. Virtual PC messes up my pc, with sleep and my wireless etc. I also have problems shutting down as well. Glad I knew to uninstall vpc to fix my issues. Anyway, I may try to reinstall it again using Compatability mode or something and see if that helps by chance.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 9:32 PM by Andy Hopper

# re: Windows 7 on Virtual PC on Windows 7

I had VPC2k7SP1 on Win7x64 but shortly after installing my network stack died several times over a couple of days (dropped wireless connections, ethernet connections failing to acquire DHCP, etc). After uninstalling VPC the problem disappeared, so I'm inclined to think it was the culprit. Maybe the next drop of Win7 will behave better?

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