[e-t-c]

Gizmo Central (Drive) http://arainia.com/software/gizmo can also mount VHD Images ...

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&...st&p=856454

cheers

[chuckr]

spacesurfer, on Apr 24 2009, 11:33 AM, said:

... is to install it in Virtual PC, then sysprep, then add the VHD boot entry, then boot from it.
You will need windows 7 installed, however, because windows 7 bootmgr supports vhd boot ...

Firstly, let me thank you with the same enthusiasm that "Jake" did, above.
This is awesome...

Next, me being a dummy of sorts, can you explain exactly what the term "sysprep" means to do, in the
above quote?

I have the Win 7 RC in a vhd, boots fine, etc. I do understand everything you've written thus far,
but do not understand what the "sysprep" is, or -how to do it-.

I've got various OS's as .vhd under MS Virtual PC 2007 SP1, and would like to put one or more under the
Win 7 bootmgr, just for testing fun, but will have to "sysprep" their copies beforehand, I guess...

Thanks again for your amazing post and thank you for any further assistance.

Best regards,
Chuck R.

[cluberti]

Sysprep "generalizes" the OS back to (as much as possible) as pristine and unused a state as is possible. This process is actually documented pretty well on Technet, part1 and part2, so I suggest reading these a bit if you're confused.

[MagicAndre1981]

How do I update (unattended) an existing Bootmanager (Vista) to the the new Win7 Bootmanager so that I can later add the VHD, I've created with WIM2VHD, to the Bootmenu?

[spacesurfer]

not exactly sure but a thought might be to overwrite all existing cased of vista's bootmgr with windows 7's bootmgr on dvd and all install.wim images. thus, when copied to hdd, they will be the new one.

[MagicAndre1981]

I don't use the DVD to boot. I've converted the WIM to a VHD with WIM2VHD and now I would like to check if there is an existing Os install like WinXP or WinVista. If such an OS is detected the Bootmanager should be updated to the Win7 Bootmanager so that I can add the VHD file. On Technet I only found a way to completely clean the partition

[net_user]

can this be done with all versions of win7?
ie..home..pro..ultimate

[cluberti]

net_user, on Aug 18 2009, 09:41 AM, said:

can this be done with all versions of win7?
ie..home..pro..ultimate

Officially supported, no - but works, yes.

[tomcom2k]

Does this mean we can setup a software raid 0 in windows, then install windows 7 to a vhd disk inside that software raid 0?

as of now its impossible to install windows to a windows software raid / dynamic disk setup

[unawave]

cluberti, on Aug 18 2009, 02:45 PM, said:

net_user, on Aug 18 2009, 09:41 AM, said:

can this be done with all versions of win7? ie..home..pro..ultimate

Officially supported, no - but works, yes.

What do you mean with "Officially supported, no - but works, yes." ?

I have tested this:

• Vista's boot manager ("bootmgr") can not boot VHD installations
  
• Any Windows 7 boot manager ("bootmgr") can boot VHD installations
  
• Only Windows 7 Ultimate can be booted from VHDs

I have made an installation of "Windows 7 Home Premium" into a VHD.
Installation process works fine - two reboots.
Then: Username, computer name, keyword, product key, date and time, network, welcome screen ...
Then:
License Error
Booting from a VHD file is not supported on this system

[MagicAndre1981]

like all other features, the VHD boot is controlled by licensing.

It is only licensed to Ultimate and Enterprise, only those 2 version have the Kernel-NativeVHDBoot Policy enabled.

[hack1vip]

Thank you for sharing

[epic]

Would be nice to see a tool that can do all this... drag and drop your VHD to boot (or a boot menu manager), set a VHD virtual drive, etc...

This post has been edited by epic: 07 November 2009 - 04:46 AM

[helpdesk98]

I have a question: I received the windows 7 upgrade DVD I did a clean install (rather then installing it over my vista installation), but what I for got was my blue ray drives codac was p reinstalled on the vista installation. Now what I want to do is make an Image of my Win7 install create a .VHD and put the image on that and save it to a flash disk then I want to run the HP vista restore disk (so I get all my stuff back) then I want to mount the VHD so I can boot off of it.

Will it work (I have 64bit 7 Home Premium)

[unawave]

helpdesk98, on Dec 13 2009, 05:56 PM, said:

Will it work (I have 64bit 7 Home Premium)

Home Premium can not boot out of VHD file.
Only Ultimate and Enterprise can boot out of VHD file.

[MagicAndre1981]

all versions are technically able to boot from VHD, but MS only licensed Enterprise/Ultimate to use this feature. When you try to use other Edtions, the Software License service won't allow you to use this feature.

[helpdesk98]

ok well that saved me some time I gess ill just make a backup of my windows 7 install and burn it to a disk and go back to Vista that way I have 7 if i decide to go back.

[hoak]

When you have a bootable Windows 7 VHD installed on a Vista or Sever 2008 R2 primary host partition, and boot the Windows 7 VHD system; can it 'see' the host file system (Vista or Sever 2008 R2) on the primary (NTFS on bare metal) partition?

There are contradictory comments about this on several forums and blogs; neither I can find no definitive statement in the Microsoft documentation regarding whether the booted VHD system can see the primary boot/host partition (assuming there's only one), though it is clear it can 'see' other volumes...

This post has been edited by hoak: 04 March 2010 - 05:54 AM

[Jake]

hoak, on 03 March 2010 - 11:54 PM, said:

When you have a bootable Windows 7 VHD installed on a Vista or Sever 2008 R2 primary host partition, and boot the Windows 7 VHD system; can it 'see' the host file system (Vista or Sever 2008 R2) on the primary (NTFS on bare metal) partition?

There are contradictory comments about this on several forums and blogs; neither I can find no definitive statement in the Microsoft documentation regarding whether the booted VHD system can see the primary boot/host partition (assuming there's only one), though it is clear it can 'see' other volumes...

Going by my own personal experience with installing W7 to, and running it from, a VHD, I can confirm that it will see the host partition's filesystem. However, it will see the virtual filesystem as C:/, I believe, if I recall correctly (I haven't actually used it that much), and the host partition as some other drive letter.

[hoak]

Thanks Jake!