Computer Tips From A Computer Guy

Convert your Windows computer into a virtual machine

Posted: 10 Oct 2009 03:31 AM PDT

I've previously written about how to create a virtual machine using VMware and how to install Ubuntu in VirtualBox and install Ubuntu in Virtual PC 2007. This is all great if you want to start from scratch and install a completely new OS such as Windows, Linux, etc.

However, what if you want to simply take a snapshot of your current operating system and virtualize it? Though I have talked about converting a physical server into a virtual server, I have not yet discussed how to take a consumer OS, such as Windows XP and convert that into your own virtual machine.

Luckily, there is a really cool program that will allow you to turn any PC into a virtual machine in just a few minutes!

Disk2vhd is a nifty little program from Sysinternals that will convert your entire PC into a Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine. Of course, it will only run on Microsoft Virtual PC, but that's fine since it's now free.

What's cool about this program is that it doesn't require any installation, it just runs as a stand-alone program. This also means you can copy it to your USB flash drive and run the program on any computer you like!

Secondly, it uses the integrated Snapshot feature of Windows so that it can copy the entire disk while the program is running in Windows! There is no need to restart the computer, boot from some disk, etc, etc like many other backup utilities require.

When creating the virtual machine, try to save the VHD file onto a separate drive than the one you are converting. An external hard drive would be perfect.

When you launch the program, it detects your disks automatically. Just select the drives you want to include in your virtual machine and click Create! That's it! Once the file has been created, download Microsoft Virtual PC and load up your newly created VHD file.

This is also a great way to create a backup of your computer to use later on for testing purposes or whatever you like. Note that Virtual PC supports a maximum virtual disk size of 127GB, so if you have a bigger hard drive, you won't be able to access it via Virtual PC.

Overall, it's a really useful tool for anyone who wants to either create a backup of their computer at its current state or who wants to virtualize their computer for testing purposes. Enjoy! [via Lifehacker]