[hoak]

Does anyone know the minimum size fixed VHD that Windows 7 will install to? I'm about to try Mark Wilson's Legacy Boot Chain from Server 2003 on bare metal...

[CafeVincent]

So is this VHD boot method recommended only for testing or could/should I use it as a primary method of running Windows? I'm asking this because having Windows in a VHD file would make it very easy to do a fresh install. I would just need to install Windows once to a VHD and then make a backup copy. In my mind this sounds similar to Ghost images that you could directly boot into.

[spacesurfer]

There are 2 features not available in VHD boot as far as I know: calculating the Windows Experience Index and hibernation. If these are important, than I recommend not.

Otherwise, it's all the same. Some people say there's a performance degradation but I've never seen that when beta testing.

[MagicAndre1981]

spacesurfer, on 16 March 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

There are 2 features not available in VHD boot as far as I know: calculating the Windows Experience Index and hibernation. If these are important, than I recommend not.

missing hibernation is really a blocker why I don't use it for daily usage. My VHD installation is only used for VS2010 testings.

[LittleRed]

hello.. I am wanting to start with windows xp... can
you do the same thing with this os (boot the OS 7 from a VHD)
or does it only work with vista...?

Also is there any way to make a regular bootable 7 disk
from the backup disks made from the backup utility
on a Toshiba machine...?

Thanks for all your previous advice
you all have a great help... LittleRed

[MagicAndre1981]

You can only boot Windows 7 from a VHD

[unawave]

MagicAndre1981, on 21 March 2010 - 06:11 AM, said:

You can only boot Windows 7 from a VHD

You can only boot Windows 7 Ultimate (or Enterprise) from a VHD.

LittleRed, on 21 March 2010 - 12:43 AM, said:

I am wanting to start with windows xp... can you do the same thing with this os (boot the OS 7 from a VHD) or does it only work with vista...?

If you have Windows XP you can install Windows 7 Ultimate into a VHD.

Whilst the installation of Windows 7 the boot manager of Windows 7 will be copied into the Windows XP partition. The installation will also build a boot menu where you have the choice to boot "Earlier Windows version" (means XP) and "Windows 7".

[LittleRed]

Windows 7 Home Premium ...?

Also can you boot from VHD made from the backup 4 disk set created by the backup
utility from Toshiba machines...?

This post has been edited by LittleRed: 21 March 2010 - 06:58 AM

[unawave]

LittleRed, on 21 March 2010 - 06:49 AM, said:

Windows 7 Home Premium ...?

See post #50:

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

[LittleRed]

I thank you guys for all your help i will keep trying ...

Im sorry for not introducing myself i get preoccupied
sometimes .. If there is anything i can do for
anyone dont hesitate to ask...

LittleRed...

[wower]

Being able to boot only win7 is useless,if it's able to boot other OSes,that would be more convenient for us

This post has been edited by wower: 25 August 2010 - 08:30 PM

[MagicAndre1981]

you can boot other OS with this tool:

http://www.vmlite.co.../products/vboot

[crashnburn4u]

When this VHD boots, except for the Virtual Hard Drive.. does it run inside a VM or is the OS, all its processes and other stuff actually running without a VM?

[MagicAndre1981]

booting from VHD is like normal native Windows 7/Server2008R2. The only different is, that the data are not stored on a partition. They are stored inside the VHD.

[spacesurfer]

The OS data is not stored on a partition but is stored on a VHD.
Your other data can be stored anywhere, another partition or another drive.

[Schiiwa]

Does anyone know if it is possible to boot the VHD, which comes along with the XP-Mode??? Would be a nice feature to boot XP this way without installing it from CD! I'm not able to test this right now...

This post has been edited by Schiiwa: 05 December 2011 - 07:05 PM

[unawave]

Schiiwa, on 05 December 2011 - 07:04 PM, said:

Does anyone know if it is possible to boot the VHD, which comes along with the XP-Mode???

No, that's not possible.

The operating system needs a special disk driver which redirects the access from the virtual disk to the real disk. XP (and Vista) doesn't have this driver.

[zamarac]

How to transfer control from Win7 Host Bootmgr to Bootmgr inside a Win7 VHD instead of booting the VHD from the host? How the VHD BCD Store settings should be modified to do that?

This post has been edited by zamarac: 07 January 2012 - 07:06 AM

[MagicAndre1981]

this is afaik not possible. The loader must be outside the VHD. If you have an empty HDD, try this to boot from the VHD:

http://reboot.pro/15815/

[zamarac]

The reason I asked, Win7 Bootmgr allows to transfer control to ntldr and boot WinXP, also to boot WinPE from VHD. So it might be possible to transfer control from host Bootmgr to VHD Bootmgr too, if knowing the right BCD settings.

This post has been edited by zamarac: 08 January 2012 - 09:29 AM