Microsoft Windows Virtual PC hits Release Candidate

Posted by virtualization.info Staff   |   Friday, August 7th, 2009   |  

microsoft logo

As virtualization.info reported in April, Microsoft is working on a new version of Virtual PC simply called Windows Virtual PC(WVPC), which supports Windows 7 as host OS and can launch a special virtual machine called Windows XP Mode.

Windows XP Mode is just a pre-configured VM with Windows XP SP3 as guest OS, but it seems especially integrated with Windows 7 because the new Virtual PC engine introduces seamless application publishing, USB virtualization and multi-monitor support.

The Windows XP Mode VM is available at no additional cost for Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise SKUs but requires a CPU with AMD-V or Intel VT enabled (so all the Sony customers worldwide will be unable to use it).

Windows 7 was released yesterday to Microsoft partners through MSDN and TechNet facilities,  so the company made available the release candidate of this new Virtual PC to grant compatibility.

Microsoft has included a few refinements to this new build:

  • USB devices can be attached to Windows XP Mode applications directly from the Windows 7 task-bar
  • Windows XP Mode applications are accessible with a “jump-list” (right click on the Windows XP Mode applications from the Windows 7 task bar to select and open most recently used files)
  • The location of differencing disk files can be customized
  • Drive sharing between Windows XP Mode and Windows 7 can be disabled

Labels:

blog comments powered by Disqus


virtualization.info Newest articles
EMC acquires Syncplicity

May 22nd, 2012

Yesterday, during its annual conference in Las Vegas, EMC announced the acquisition of Syncplicity, a cloud-storage privately held startup founded in 2008 and based in Menlo Park, California.
Terms…

Release: Oracle VM Server for x86 3.1

May 21st, 2012

On May 18th Oracle announced the general availability of version 3.1 of its x86 enterprise virtualization solution VM Server.
This release follows 3.0 announced on August 24th 2011.
All the new…

VMware shows View 5.1 performance improvements

May 21st, 2012

In this post, published on May 18 in VROOM! Blog, the VMware’s Performance Team presented some of the most significant enhancements and optimizations brought to Teradici‘s PCoIP protocol in the…

NVIDIA introduces World’s Firs Virtualized GPU

May 17th, 2012

On May 15th NVIDIA unveiled the NVIDIA® VGX™ platform that will be available later this year through NVIDIA’s hardware OEM and VDI partners.
This new platform promises to deliver…

Microsoft announces Assessment and Planning Toolkit 7.0 Beta Program

May 17th, 2012

Microsoft announced this week the new Beta version of its capacity planning tool Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) 7.0 Beta.
The Beta program opened on May 15th and the review…

VMware announces vFabric Suite 5.1

May 15th, 2012

Today VMware announced VMware vFabric Suite 5.1, expected to be generally available in Q2 2012.
vFabric Suite 5.1 includes vFabric Application Director, to automate the deployment and management of vFabric…

VMware CTO talks about R&D plans for the future

May 15th, 2012

On April 4 Stephen Herrod, VMware’s CTO, has attended, as guest speaker, at a VMUG meeting in Italy.
One of the key point of the speech, documented in one hour-long…

Citrix Hosted Server VDI Tech Preview

May 14th, 2012

Last week Citrix announced a new tech preview for Hosted Server VDI technology that allows cloud providers to leverage Microsoft SPLA to host VDI-style desktops obtaining a pay-as-you-go monthly subscription licensing…

Release: Atlantis ILIO Diskless VDI 3.2

May 11th, 2012

On May 7 Atlantis Computing announced the general availability of its Atlantis ILIO Diskless VDI 3.2, this product, tailored in particular for VMware View 5.1, enables virtual desktops deployment…

Citrix unveils Project Aruba

May 11th, 2012

On May 7 Citrix announced a technology preview of Project Aruba that extends Citrix VDI all-in-one proposal for the SMB market, VDI-in-a-Box, with personal vDisk technology.
VDI-in-a-Box, inherited from Kaviza…

Cloud Sidekick announced Early Access release of Cato EE

May 10th, 2012

On May 7 Cloud Sidekick announced the Early Access Program release of Cato Enterprise Edition (EE) which extends the Community Edition (CE) with Storm Deployment Automation and support for…

Release: VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator (VIN) 1.1

May 9th, 2012

On April 26 VMware announced the general availability of VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator (VIN) 1.1, previously introduced as a part of vCenter Operations Management Suite.
VIN automatically detects, discovers and…

VMware accelerates security updates after ESX source code leak

May 8th, 2012

On May 3 VMware released a security update, that the company itself define as “accelerated“, with the purpose to patch five “critical” security issues across VMware ESX and ESXi hypervisor…

VMware certifies vSphere 5 for Open Compute Project

May 7th, 2012

On May 3 VMware announced it has joined the Facebook Open Compute Project, an initiative launched in 2011, with the objective of increase technology efficiencies and reduce the environmental impact…

 
Monthly Archive