Very Disappointed
When I read the post about MSP8 working in XP virtualization mode on Windows 7 my hopes were raised. Up until this time I had looked at Windows 7 Beta using it from Virtual PC from within XP.
Having read the above post I grabbed hold of Windows 7 RC and then using my removable hard drive system installed a "Proper copy" onto a spare 160GB Hard Drive. It took an absolute age to install - very slow.
I soldiered on in keen anticipation of the prize awaiting me at the end of the long gruelling task.
After installation my first fight with the new system was to get my Belkin USB network adapter to work. Eventually from another machine I located the correct driver from the Belkin site and managed to get my shining new copy of Windows 7 onto the internet.
I then began to hunt around for this Virtual XP and discovered that you have to download a new version of Windows Virtual PC together with a fully working copy of Windows XP with Service pack 3 in VHD mode (A Virtual Hard Drive.)
However..... as mentioned in the preceding post it is not all as it first sounds. Your processor must conform to a specific specification - not any old processor will do. The Microsoft Website provides two links to some software that will test your computer to see if it is capable of running Virtual PC for Windows 7 - and the provided copy of XP Service Pack 3.
The one link is for those of you with an Intel Processor, the other link for AMD.
Rather than going into great detail of what lies ahead I shall simply provide you with this link that will explain it all.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/
In my humble opinion the vast majority of computers now in use will NOT be able to run this Virtualized software.
See also this
Google Search Result.
