Ceder wrote:
> VanguardLH wrote ...
>
>> Ceder wrote:
>>
>>> How to set Virtual PC for Windows XP? I need test programs in virtual
>>> environment, for safe testing, as it may contain viruses, etc.
>>
>> VirtualPC newsgroup: microsoft.public.virtualpc
>>
>> So do you have *separate* licenses to allow you to install another
>> instance of Windows on your host (inside a VM)? The instance of Windows
>> running inside a VM requires its own license. Every *concurrently*
>> running VM will require its own license for Windows (or you could use a
>> free distro of Linux inside the VM).
>>
>> Have you yet installed VirtualPC 2007? If so, have you used their
>> wizard to create a new VM? That only creates the shell (the VM). Then
>> you have to install the OS just like you would in a real host. As I
>> recall, I had to go into the VM's BIOS screens to change the boot order
>> so the CD drive got detected before the hard drive (but it's been a long
>> time since I last setup my VM).
>>
>> Asking "how to set up" is way too vague. When you post over in the VPC
>> newsgroup, you should provide more details of what you have and what you
>> plan to do.
>
> no, I am not going to instal ms Virtual PC 2007, it very slow, bulky
> tool. Will not work anyway. I need something that use less than 0,5%
> percent of system resources, very small, very fast, coded in pure C (not
> Visual C++).
Then you lied. Just what did you think "How to set Virtual PC for Windows
XP?" was supposed to mean? Expect replies based on the question you
actually asked, not what you meant to ask. You said that you wanted to use
VPC and that means running an ENTIRE operating system as a guest on another
operating system. You thought an entire operating system would run with as
little resources as 0.5% (CPU usage presumably)? Uh huh. What does your
real OS use *now*?
I use VPC all the time as a test vehicle for unknown or untrusted software.
Yes, of course, it won't run as fast as the real host. Do you even know
what is a virtual machine? Everything in the hardware for the VM is
emulated in software except for the CPU. You thought software-emulated
hardware would run as fast as the real host that has access to the real
hardware?
Seems like what you want is to use multi-booting (to have multiple operating
systems in different partitions and select which one to load at boot time)
or to use swappable hard drives where each one has it own instance of an OS
(you pull out one hard drive and insert another to switch between the
operating systems but that requires powering down).
If you plan on using virtual machines then you should really do *some*
research beforehand. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualpc
http://www.goodells.net/virtualpc/index.htm
Sandboxing is a whole other story. Maybe that's what you want to use.
However, until you make up your mind there's no point in wasting time in
further replies.
Sandboxing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(computer_security)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandbox_(software_development)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandboxie (30-day trial, becomes nagware)
Virtualizing file I/O in the OS:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Returnil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_SteadyState
other similar products: Deepfreeze, Shadow Defender
You said that you wanted a safe environment to test your programs. Swapping
hard drives to change the OS is the safest. Using multiple partitions where
each loads a different instance of an OS is next. Virtual machines come
next. Sandboxing and virtualizing your OS are last but still quite usable.
I use both VirtualPC 2007 and Returnil to test new software or tweaks.
Alas, Returnil will wipe all changes when you reboot (they are working to
retain changes across Windows sessions and later let you discard all changes
in their next version but who knows when that'll show up). For unknown
software that could contain malware, I use a VM. For software that I might
not want to keep and simply want to check out (and which doesn't require a
reboot to complete their install), I use Returnil. VMs will be slow because
all the hardware is emulated in software. Returnil has little impact
because you are using your real host to allow the changes and hoping that
Returnil will catch them all and also hope that Returnil will undo all those
changes (by discarding the virtual disk to which all the caught changes were
applied).
Nothing makes up for doing backups, preferrably image backups (full or
incremental) to ensure that you can revert your hard disks back to a prior
state. If you don't backup then you deem your data as worthless or
reproducible. So despite using VPC2007 and Returnil, I still rely on my
daily scheduled image backups to let me revert my host back to a prior
state.