Yes you read that correctly ALL of your older programs
MediaStudio Pro - any version
DVD Workshop - any version
Cool 3D Production Studio
Cool 3D
CD&DVD Picture show - any version.
Plus - They will ALL run correctly as intended with no missing sound (or any other) issues! Best of all - providing you have a spare legitimate copy of the Operating System that the item of software in question was designed to work with - it will not cost you a penny. Absolutely FREE.
You may have a spare legitimate copy of the required operating system without realising it. I am going to make the assumption that you had a fully working computer with the item of software running on it but for one reason or another you have either changed your computer and it came pre-installed with Vista, or perhaps you are one of those people who just like to have the latest operating system and so upgraded your existing computer to Vista. If you fall into the latter group then from a legal point of view, to use this system I am about to describe you should have purchased the Full Edition of Vista and not the upgrade version because technically if you bought the upgrade disc you should no longer be using your older operating system.
However - I am not here to be a Policeman on behalf of Microsoft - I am simply going to show you the procedure to install a Virtual Computer into your existing operating system, it is your responsibility to ensure you have a legitimate second operating system.
If you bought a new computer pre-installed with Vista then you can transfer your existing operating system from your old computer to the new one. Legally you are then no longer allowed to use the operating system on the old computer and it should be removed. Perhaps you intend to scrap the old machine - if not then you can always install something else on it instead of a Microsoft system such as Linux.
To transfer your old operating system to a new machine you simply install it from the original set up disc. It will then require the usual Windows Genuine Advantage procedures such as Activation. There is no \"deactivation\" process for XP. If you need to move XP to a new PC or transfer to a new owner, the steps below must be completed.
- Remove XP from it's current location.
- Install XP on the new PC.
- When setup checks Activation status, setup will detect you are installing on significantly changed hardware. You will receive a message that you have exceeded the allowed installations to install XP and you will be prompted to call the telephone number listed on the screen. This is a toll free call where available.
- Tell the activation center you removed XP from one PC and installed it to another PC in compliance with the EULA. Other than supplying the AC with the 50 digit key, nothing else should or needs to be conveyed. If you did not register, there will not be any record of your personal identity transmitted during the activation. If the optional registration was completed, then that information will be transmitted during the activation process.
- You will be given a 42 digit key to activate XP on the new PC.
- Moving an OEM version of XP or replacing the OEM motherboard with non-OEM is usually not allowed by the OEM EULA, so a call to the activation center will probably disallow activation on the new PC even when removed from the old PC. According to Microsoft©, OEM versions are technically linked to the PC to which they are first installed. Consult the vendor EULA and OEM EULA for exceptions and requirements. I.E. the Dell EULA allows transfer with the motherboard.
What we are going to create is something called a \"Virtual Computer\" - this is in fact a complete and fully functional computer that works and behaves just as though it was the only operating system you have installed. The alternative is to create a multi-boot system - however this is not always possible - perhaps you cannot find drivers for your Sound/Audio/Network cards. This is not a problem when you use a \"Virtual Computer\" because it uses the sound/video and network belonging to your existing operating system, The virtual computer software acts as an interpreter and translates the audio/video/network stuff from your virtual computer to something that works with your host computer.
You need to understand two terms.
Host Computer: This is the one you are using now.
Guest Computer: This is the new virtual computer that we are going to create.
You must now be asking these questions:
1. How Fast is the Virtual Computer?
This depends upon your processor. When you are working inside the Virtual computer then your host computer should be using very little processing power. Therefore the bulk of your processor will be available to the virtual machine.
2. How much RAM does it use?
When you create a virtual machine you tell it how much RAM it can have.
Obviously this is deducted from the physical amount of RAM you have installed. So if you have 2GB of RAM installed and then tell the Virtual Computer that you are giving it 1GB, then 1GB is deducted from the amount of RAM available to your host computer.
A quick way to check how much RAM is reasonable to dedicate to the guest computer is to start up your Host Machine and wait until it has settled down from the start up sequence. Press the [CTRL]-[ALT]-[DEL] keys together and bring up the task manager. You can now see how much RAM is being used by the Host operating system and from that you can decide how much you can afford to give to the guest operating system.
If you think you need to install some additional RAM but are unsure of how much and what kind of RAM to install then there is a free RAM Advisor tool you can download and run. This will identify what RAM you have installed, any free RAM slots available and your available upgrade options Once you have the results of the RAM Advisor you can shop around for some extra RAM or purchase it from the Ram Advisor Tools Website.
3. How much hard drive space will it use?
You specify the maximum hard drive size when you create a Virtual computer. However it only uses the amount actually being used (up to that maximum size) so if you create a Virtual computer with a 100GB hard drive it will begin small and slowly grow up to that amount as you add new software to it - or store things such as documents, spreadsheets, photographs, music files etc.
What is a Virtual Computer?
A virtual computer is in fact a real computer. After creating a \"Virtual Hard Drive\" you must format that virtual hard drive - just as you do with your \"real one\" - you then install an operating system of your choice such as Windows XP. One last step is to install into that new \"virtual computer\" some software termed \"Guest Additions\" - these contain the various sound,video and network drivers for your virtual machine. These guest additions ensure that your new operating system will have sound, a decent graphics card and connection to the internet.
The Virtual Computer can either be run inside a window (Like the 4 shown above) or in Full Screen Mode. When in Full Screen Mode, if someone was to walk into the room and sit down at your computer, they would not even know they were using a virtual computer, they would think it was a computer installed with that particular operating system.
So hopefully you're now eager to try this out. You have a choice of two systems - both FREE and both are very similar in how they work.
Choice #1 - Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Choice #2 - Virtual Box by Sun Microsystems.
Virtual Box is more powerful than the one from Microsoft - it has more settings that you can set yourself so you have more control. For example you can \"set the boot sequence\" just as you do with a real BIOS. You can stipulate the amount of Video RAM (up to 128MB) there is a choice of virtual sound cards, video cards and network cards. The Microsoft version allows you to set the amount of RAM and the size of the virtual hard drive, but everything else is more or less fixed. Virtual Box will also work with a \"hard drive\" created by Virtual PC.
Having said that, I find the Microsoft System is better with the older Microsoft products (such as Windows for Work groups.) I therefore tend to use Virtual PC for Microsoft Guest Operating Systems, but Virtual Box for Non-Microsoft Guest operating systems - such as Linux.
Virtual PC - System Requirements:
System Requirements
- Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003 x64 editions; Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86); Windows Vista 64-bit Editions Service Pack 1; Windows Vista Business; Windows Vista Business 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Enterprise; Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition; Windows Vista Service Pack 1; Windows Vista Ultimate; Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Service Pack 3
- Processor: AMD Athlon/Duron, Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium II, Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Core Duo, and Intel Core2 Duo
- CPU Speed: An x64-based or an x86-based computer with a 400 MHz or faster (1 GHz recommended) processor with L2 cache
- RAM: Add the RAM requirement for the host operating system that you will be using to the requirement for the guest operating system that you will be using. If you will be using multiple guest operating systems simultaneously, total the requirements for all the guest operating systems that you need to run simultaneously.
- Available disk space: To determine the hard disk space required, add the requirement for each guest operating system that will be installed.
Apparently VHP isn't \"officially\" supported by VPC 2007, but it still lets you install it anyway. I'm now happily running XP Pro under Vista without any problems. I have also been able to install Virtual PC onto Vista Home Basic and then install an XP Home Edition guest operating system.
I'm not a EULA wizard, so I can't decipher the language any better than you. Take my post with a grain of salt. But there is a difference between \"unsupported\" and \"disallowed\". It sounds just unsupported. Tech support will not answer any questions on it, you will not get bug fixes for free, etc. If it works, you can do it.
Virtual Box - System Requirements:
In order to run VirtualBox on your machine, you need:
- Reasonably powerful x86 hardware. Any recent Intel or AMD processor should do.
- Memory. Depending on what guest operating systems you want to run, you will need at least 512 MB of RAM (but probably more, and the more the better). Basically, you will need whatever your host operating system needs to run comfortably, plus the amount that the guest operating system needs. So, if you want to run Windows XP on Windows XP, you probably won't enjoy the experience much with less than 1 GB of RAM. If you want to try out Windows Vista in a guest, it will refuse to install if it is given less than 512 MB RAM, so you'll need that for the guest alone, plus the memory your operating system normally needs.
- Hard disk space. While VirtualBox itself is very lean (a typical installation will only need about 30 MB of hard disk space), the virtual machines will require fairly huge files on disk to represent their own hard disk storage. So, to install Windows XP, for example, you will need a file that will easily grow to several GB in size.
- A supported host operating system. Presently, we support Windows (primarily XP) and many Linux distributions on 32-bit hosts and on 64-bit hosts. Support for Mac OS X and Solaris and OpenSolaris appeared in 1.6.
- A supported guest operating system.
For those interested in using Virtual Box, there is a step by step guide available - including videos here:
Installing Ubuntu as a virtual machine plus Here are some Virtual Box screen shots - Don't let the fairly complex looking instructions for installing ubuntu put you off - Linux systems are simply not so easy for a newbie to grasp as a Microsoft system. Having said that Many Linux systems are now looking and behaving more and more like a Microsoft system - plus of course they are Free!
Project - Create a Virtual Windows XP Computer.
Step 1.
(Obviously) is to download and install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1. Nothing magical here - you simply install it like you do any other software you have.
Step 2.
Run the software from its short cut icon that was created when you installed it. Again nothing magical here - its what you do with all other software that you install.
Here is a screen shot of Virtual PC now running - yours will of course by empty because you have no yet installed any guest operating systems.
Step 3
Create a New Virtual Machine. Press the \"New\" button.
A wizard appears!
Now pop your installation CD into your CD/DVD drive and click the START
button
You see this screen and nothing much seems to happen
This is because you now need to tell your Virtual Computer to use your CD Drive. You can also point to an iso image on your hard drive (if you have a copy of the CD in iso format). Click the drop down box and select use Physical drive (and your CD/DVD drive letter)
Now reset your virtual machine (Similar to hitting the reset button on your physical computer)
Now just like a \"real computer\" your machine will boot up from the CD
When you see this screen DON'T PANIC - yes you DO want to format your hard drive - Gulp
Yes - I admit the first time I did this I was worried also.
You are not formatting your \"Real Hard Drive\" - you are formatting the Virtual Hard Drive - which in fact is just a computer file on your hard drive.
Then continue just as if you were dealing with a physical computer and install your operating system in the normal manner.
To save time I will now open \"one I prepared Earlier!!\"
The final step you need to perform is to install the guest additions.
These are the things that enable your sound card/graphics card and network card on our virtual machine.
To do this you need to have the virtual machine in a Window rather than Full Screen. If you are in Full Screen mode then press the [Alt GR] key - that's the one on the right of the spacebar and then press the enter key.
This key combination will toggle between full screen and window modes.
You need to be able to see the Virtual PC Menu Bar - which you cannot see in full window mode.
You then select \"Action\" and \"Install or update virtual machine additions\"
That's it - you;re new XP machine is all set up and nothing on your Host machine has been changed or messed up in any way. No MBR Changes, No Registry changes, your original operating system is perfectly intact as it was before we started.
Now all that remains is for you to grab hold of those set up files for
MediaStudio Pro
DVD Workshop
Cool 3D Production Studio
Cool 3D
CD&DVD Picture show
and any other software that you simply couldn't use with Vista.
Install them and take then for a test drive!!
