Running MS Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7 RC

I am a strong supporter of virtualization and have created various virtual machines for different development environments. After upgrading to Windows 7 RC from its beta version, I decided to install the new Windows Virtual PC. The download page greeted me with a “Windows Virtual PC requires a CPU with the Intel™ Virtualization Technology or AMD-V® feature turned” warning. Despite knowing the fact that my 2.5GHz Intel Dual Core E5200 does not have hardware virtualization support, I decided to try my luck and installed Windows VPC. The installation went successfully but upon running the sofware, it gave me a “hardware not supported” error. I then installed my old friend, MS Virtual PC 2007 and it was installed successfully. However, I was shocked to see the following error upon running it:

“The program is blocked due to compatibility issues”

What!!! Windows Virtual PC cannot run because I have no hardware support and MS Virtual PC 2007 cannot run because Microsoft wants me to use Windows VPC. Does this means I will not be able to run my development VMs unless I upgrade my hardware or quit using Windows 7??

Well, a developer should not give up so easily; After some searching, I was able to find the solution:

“Uninstall Windows VPC and MS Virtual PC 2007 will run fine”

Nice solution. I quickly uninstalled Windows VPC from my windows installed updates as below:

So now, I can run my dev machines using MS Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7 release candidate. Hooray!!!

A nice overview of Windows 7

Bart Czernicki presented a very nice overview of Windows 7 here. After installing the new OS on my machine and playing with it for the last 2 weeks, I agree with most of his points. Check it out.

Command Prompt Here option

Developers typically need a quick shortcut to opening command prompt in any folder they want. Here’s what I personally use:

Create a new file AnyName.reg and edit it to enter the following text:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellOpenNew]
@="Command Prompt Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTDirectoryshellOpenNewCommand]
@="cmd.exe /k cd %1"

Run the file to update the registry. Now, you will get a “Command Prompt Here” option whenever you right click on any folder.

Coming soon

My blog will be re-active soon. Stay tuned for new posts.

Thank you.

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