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[oldfogy]

I'm thinking of installing a Virtual PC on my XP Home PC, but to be honest do not really know much about it, so here go's.
The program I think I will be using is Virtual Box, (although always open to recommendations)
It's only function will be for testing software before I install it on my main OS.

I have tried to keep the questions short and simple so as not to cause too much reading, but hopefully you will know what I mean.

1. Firstly, can I install it on a different drive other than my main C: drive ?
2. Am I right in thinking that XP, AV, FW & a internet connection will also have to be installed.
    (I will need a Internet connection for registering programs and obtaining updates) ?
3. Once installed how do I access and operate it ?
4. How do I install additional software onto the Virtual PC that I want to try ?
5. How do I remove any software that I may of installed on the Virtual PC ?
6. Are there any issues with programs that do not install properly ?
7. Could there be any issues with hidden Virus/Trojans in the test software once installed ?

Thanks as always and your input will be much appreciated.

[roseway]

VirtualBox is very similar in function to VMWare. What they both do is create a virtual PC inside your normal operating system. On their own they do nothing; you have to install an operating system inside the virtual PC, and this is done much like installing an OS normally - you stick the installation CD in the drive and click a button to boot the virtual PC and launch the installer.

To deal with your questions:

1. I presume that you can install VirtualBox just like any other Windows program, and specify where its files are to be kept.
2. It will use your already existing internet connection, so you shouldn't have to do anything extra.
3. You get a control centre from which you can manage everything.
4. Just like a real OS. In Windows you can use Add/Remove Programs, or just run the setup executable.
5. Ditto.
6. The only programs which might give problems are those which access the hardware directly.
7. I think you can rely on VirtualBox or VMWare to be clean in themselves. What you install on the virtual machine is up to you.

[Floydoid]

Sounds ideal for having a tinker with Linux... there is Microsoft's virtual PC to consider too.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&DisplayLang=en

[roseway]

The MS virtual PC only supports Windows of course.

[mr_chris]

Just as an addition to question 7:

> 7. Could there be any issues with hidden Virus/Trojans in the test software once installed ?

Depends what you install, as Eric said. However the virtual PC will to all intents and purposes act just like a separate computer, it will even have a separate IP address and everything, so in order to access the main "real" PC, you have to access it over the network, so the only way a virus would get from the virtual PC to the main one would be through network access, which of course a lot of viruses do nowadays.

If you install Windows inside the virtual PC, you can always install a virus checker into that, if you want. Depends on what you want to use it for of course

But yeah, think of the virtual PC like a separate PC, and treat it as you would any other PC on your network.

[Floydoid]

The MS virtual PC only supports Windows of course.

DOH!

[robinsteele]

Hi,
    im going to install virtual pc and was wondering how i find out if my pc is 32bit or 64bit.I went to a link to try to find                       

out :- http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html  , but it told me everything about my pc,apart from the info i was


looking for.

     Also,ive tried to install both versions of virtual pc , the 32 bit one says "operating system not supported--------"

   and the 64 bit one says "not a 32 bit------------".

[oldfogy]

Sounds ideal for having a tinker with Linux... there is Microsoft's virtual PC to consider too.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=04d26402-3199-48a3-afa2-2dc0b40a73b6&DisplayLang=en

Microsoft's virtual PC does not work with Windows XP Home edition.
But it will work with Windows XP Pro edition. (and a few others)

MY apologies for the late reply but I have not been around lately.
But thanks for all the replies and I will make a start within the next couple of days and let you know how I get on.

Depends what you install, ..................
what you want to use it for of course

To be used only for testing new programs to make sure they register and work correctly, then providing they work OK I would want to delete it and install it properly on my main system.
That way if the program does not either work properly or is not what I want, then once removed there should not be any remnants left lying around anywhere, including the registry (I hope)

The reason for this, is to save me from constantly having to run a Ghost image each time I want to try something then have to re-run the Image to remove it.

[mr_chris]

wondering how i find out if my pc is 32bit or 64bit

It's dependent on the version of Windows you have (presuming Windows XP?). Even if you have a 64-bit processor, if you have 32-bit Windows on it then it won't run 64-bit software.

More than likely you will have the 32-bit version, because 64-bit Windows doesn't appear to be all that common yet.

You can find out by going to Start / Run and typing winver in the box, then click OK. The graphic at the top of that window sill say something about 64-bit, like the attached screenshot I found online, see below. More info here.

Hope this helps

[attachment deleted by admin]

[robinsteele]

wondering how i find out if my pc is 32bit or 64bit

It's dependent on the version of Windows you have (presuming Windows XP?). Even if you have a 64-bit processor, if you have 32-bit Windows on it then it won't run 64-bit software.

More than likely you will have the 32-bit version, because 64-bit Windows doesn't appear to be all that common yet.

You can find out by going to Start / Run and typing winver in the box, then click OK. The graphic at the top of that window sill say something about 64-bit, like the attached screenshot I found online, see below. More info here.

Hope this helps

hello mr.chris

                     ive typed that in and strangely it says ive got windows xp sp 2 as i loaded xp pro,and the
system asks me which os i want to boot from,obviously ive got both.with what phil said about windows xp home edition not working with virtual pc,it seems something is telling software etc that my main os is xp,when im thinking its xp pro.
any ideas what i should do........

cheers