Portable Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

Submit portable freeware that you find here. It helps if you include information like description, extraction instruction, Unicode support, whether it writes to the registry, and so on.
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nycjv321
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Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:42 pm

hmmm

#16 Post by nycjv321 »

@zoomtictac Gratz! at becoming a MCP, join the club :), I have two MCPs (one with XP and one with Server 2003, and still unemployed :,( ) I might get MCSA or MCSE later on, I dont know yet, since I got my Net+ over the summer and soon will be taking A+ as well as CCNA :). I have recently switched over to Linux so I might even take Linux+ certification.

Now back to this topic, Qemu is slow since it operates as a Ring3 app (hence it being truly portable), you can add kQemu (the kernel driver)(which would make it non-portable) which adds kernel level emulation and make it "faster". I would use VirtualBox any day over VirtualPC :) (in fact im using it to write this post :D ) Waiting for it to be become portable the problem is that ring0 driver :\ to run it in a portable manor you would need rights to install drivers and then remove them(I believe this is the same for VirtualPC) :\. For many other people on this forum VirtualPC is just fine :)

"I have QEMU, fully set up in a stripped-down optimised portable manner. It still does not compare to Virtual PC. QEMU is fine for virtualising Linux or BSD etc, but for Windows XP the perfomance leaves a lot to be desired."

hmmm. Does not compare in features or speed? in features, no VirtualPC cant compare LOL, in speed sure, VirtualPC will beat it for the most part (harder to tell if kQemu is added). and Finally it isn't the application's fault if the OS is CPU intensive and coded in an inefficient manor.

zoomtictac
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Re: hmmm

#17 Post by zoomtictac »

nycjv321 wrote:@zoomtictac Gratz! at becoming a MCP, join the club :), I have two MCPs (one with XP and one with Server 2003, and still unemployed :,( ) I might get MCSA or MCSE later on, I dont know yet, since I got my Net+ over the summer and soon will be taking A+ as well as CCNA :). I have recently switched over to Linux so I might even take Linux+ certification.
Thanks. ;-) I am also currently unemployed in the IT field, lol. Just fresh out of school though - graduated in August. MCP in XP Pro, 1 out of 3 tests down for my MCSA for Server 2003. The funny thing is, the 3 tests for the MCSE are (at least in MY opinion) easier than the previous two certs... all it covers is indepth Active Directory! What a breeze. I'm struggling with ISA right now - what a b!atch of a test... sheesh. Otherwise I'd have my MCSA already.

But yeah, back on topic... sorry for the hijack. :-) I'm gunna go see what kind of knowledge there is around here for Sandisk U3 drives and their coding/software options.

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lococobra
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#18 Post by lococobra »

:( I think Andrew must not like me cause he never adds anything of mine to the database...

M@tty
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#19 Post by M@tty »

I don't think it will be added to the database, as although it is all freely downloadable tools Microsoft probably wouldn't like the idea of their software being used portably, and Andrew wouldn't want any of that kind of trouble I don't think.

Onesimus Prime
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#20 Post by Onesimus Prime »

Hi Lococobra,
A question about your VirtualPC package... In your instructions, you mention installing VirtualPC, then running it. I try to avoid installing whenever possible (hence using portable freeware :D ) Anyway, in these situations I usually install it in wraithdu's "launched" Portable SandboxIE, then copy the needed files out. But you mention actually running it while installed. What is the purpose of this? I tried running it within the sandbox, which didn't work so well. So I'm not sure if I accomplished whatever purpose you said to run it for! I think I managed to get the VMM.sys, if that was all...

Also, in your instructions you say "COPY %Program Files%\Microsoft Virtual PC -> \App" I assume you just mean the files in that folder, not its various subfolders too?

Referring back to Portable SandboxIE, wraithdu included an .exe called something like "crash clean-up tool" which, as the name implies, you can use to go back later and clean the registry, etc. in the event of the program crashing. Would you consider something like this for your VirtualPC launcher too, or do you somehow avoid the need for one?

Sorry for the rather basic questions. I do really like this idea and think it shows much promise! Looking forward to "playing" with it when work slows down a bit.

Onesimus Prime
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general st00pid n00b question...

#21 Post by Onesimus Prime »

I'm not really used to forums (as you might guess by my not seeing the "subject" area when doing my previous post!) - What's the proper usage for a post vs. a PM? Should my prior post have been a PM to Lococobra instead?

Thanks for your patience, all!

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lococobra
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#22 Post by lococobra »

Your post was just fine, no need to PM unless it's something private.

Yeah, I know about portable sandboxie, I actually made a post about it Here
But you mention actually running it while installed. What is the purpose of this?
Running it creates the file:
%AppData%\Microsoft\Virtual PC\VPCKeyboard.dll

When I say "COPY %Program Files%\Microsoft Virtual PC -> \App" I mean that whole folder.

About crash cleanup, I've considered writing a program to do that. It will probably be included in the next version that comes out... just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Hope that helps! If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask :)

stumpii
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#23 Post by stumpii »

I am playing around with this at the moment.

I have found that to be able to install the Virtual Machine Additions, the 'Virtual Machine Additions' folder needs to be copied into the 'app' folder (i.e. 'app\Virtual Machine Additions\*').

This may be worth adding to the instructions. The additions are definitely worth installing.

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lococobra
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#24 Post by lococobra »

NEW VERSION ONLINE! 1.20

Here are all the new updates!

Version 1.20 - November 28, 2007
• VMMDriver & VMNetSrv are now set to only install if necessary
• Completely re-did ReadMe with HTML
• Some unnecessary files were removed
• Added: Automatic Installer
• Reg keys are now specific to the installation you use for setup
• Numerous other bugfixes & code cleaning

Version 1.10 - November 28, 2007
• Updated ReadMe instructions for better clarity
Crash cleanup is now implemented
• Initial crash time set to 90 seconds (to account for slower computers)

stumpii
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#25 Post by stumpii »

lococobra wrote:NEW VERSION ONLINE! 1.20

Here are all the new updates!

Version 1.20 - November 28, 2007
• VMMDriver & VMNetSrv are now set to only install if necessary
• Completely re-did ReadMe with HTML
• Some unnecessary files were removed
• Added: Automatic Installer
• Reg keys are now specific to the installation you use for setup
• Numerous other bugfixes & code cleaning

Version 1.10 - November 28, 2007
• Updated ReadMe instructions for better clarity
Crash cleanup is now implemented
• Initial crash time set to 90 seconds (to account for slower computers)
Seems to work great. Thank you!

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lococobra
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#26 Post by lococobra »

1st thing, I just put up another version with a very small bugfix that has to do with the auto installer.

2nd thing...
M@tty wrote:I don't think it will be added to the database, as although it is all freely downloadable tools Microsoft probably wouldn't like the idea of their software being used portably, and Andrew wouldn't want any of that kind of trouble I don't think.
I think I now have a pretty strong argument for that point.

1. I no longer include any Virtual PC files in the distribution, they are all obtained by downloading the real version and doing a legitimate install.

2. Registration codes are now gathered from the legit install. In previous versions I just supplied the user with a code that would be used for the portable version, now it uses whatever code is generated upon installation.

3. As far as I can tell, my version can run on a computer that already has Virtual PC installed without disturbing the original installation. Last version there was a problem with the VM Network Services, whenever you ran Portable Virtual PC, it killed Networking for the host install. This is no longer the case.

4. There are already items in the database that are based off Microsoft freewares, take a look at this...
Power Defragmenter is a GUI wrapper for Sysinternals Contig.
I don't see any way that having Portable Virtual PC in the database could cause trouble..

M@tty
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#27 Post by M@tty »

I'll certainly be checking this out, now you just need AlephX or Andrew to.

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lococobra
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#28 Post by lococobra »

Just updated to version 1.22

Changelog:

Version 1.22 - November 30, 2007
• Changed: Several PVPC messages
• Fixed: Registration code registry key was not using the updated registry code system
• Updated: Process check for Virtual PC wait time from 250ms to 1300ms - this should decrease PVPC's CPU usage considerably
• Updated: VMC file search function - now searches subfolders of the 'Virtual Machines' folder

helphope
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#29 Post by helphope »

Sorry for my English, I'm not sure to understand well.

A couple of questions please:
- can I move portable Virtual PC from one computer to another via pen drive?
- does it mount any linux system?

Thanks for any help

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lococobra
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#30 Post by lococobra »

"can I move portable Virtual PC from one computer to another via pen drive?"

You can do that without using my software, just copy the .vhd files from one computer to the other, then set up a new virtual machine that uses the copied vhd file as it's hard drive.

"does it mount any linux system?"

When Virtual PC sets up a virtual hard drive, it does not pre-format it in any way. Any formatting should work.

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