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If you want to try Windows 7 you can directly install it on your hard drive along with your existing Windows operating system but if you don’t want to disturb your hard disk partitions then you can install Windows 7 under Windows Vista or Windows XP using Virtual PC 2007. In this post we shall discuss the various steps that are involved in installing Windows 7 in Virtual PC 2007.

How to Install Windows 7 in Windows Vista or Windows XP using Virtual PC 2007

First you need to get Virtual PC 2007 from here. Now install the Virtual PC 2007 in your computer, once the installation is complete the launch the Virtual PC 2007. To install Windows 7 we first need to create a virtual machine in Virtual PC 2007, start creating the new virtual machine using the ‘New’ option.

In the screen that is displayed select the ‘Create a Virtual Machine’ option.

Provide a name for your Virtual machine in this example we have give a name called ‘ Windows 7 RC1 Testing’

Select the Operating system as ‘Other’ as in Virtual PC 2007 Windows 7 is not listed.

We have to now allocate the amount of RAM that the virtual machine will use using the ‘Adjusting the RAM’ option.  It is recommended that you select this value as 1GB because as per Windows 7 system requirements a minimum of 1GB of RAM or memory is required. In this case we have selected 1690MB of RAM.

The virtual machine needs a virtual hard disk where the operating system will be installed. The virtual hard disk will be created as .vhd file in your current hard disk, make sure that the hard disk or partition where the .vhd file will be created uses NTFS file system. Create a new virtual hard disk by using the ‘A new virtual hard disk’ option.

Provide virtual hard disk size here, please note Windows 7 requires a minimum of 16GB of hard disk space, in this example we have chosen 30GB for Windows 7. Make sure you create the virtual hard disk in partition where you have the free space necessary for the virtual hard disk.

Choose the finish option here to complete the new virtual machine creation.

Now that the virtual machine is created, now you have to start the machine by selecting it and using the start option in the Virtual PC 2007.

To install Windows 7 we need to boot from the Windows 7 RC iso file. Select the ‘Capture ISO image” option from the ‘CD’ drop down of the virtual machine’s window. Now locate the Windows 7 RC ISO file and load it.

Restart the virtual machine now by accessing the ‘Reset’ option from ‘Action’ menu of the virtual machine.

Now the virtual machine will restart and boot from the ISO image of Windows 7, now follow the onscreen instructions to install Windows 7.

For detailed step by step guide to install Windows 7 please refer to this post.

After the Windows 7 is installed to get higher resolution of the screen and for mouse integration you have to install Virtual Machine additions in Windows 7. To do this access the Virtual Machine additions from Action>>Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions.

Now virtual CD will be mounted in Windows 7 and auto play will prompt you the contents of the CD. Select the Run Setup.exe to start the installation of the CD, approve the Windows 7 UAC prompt. Alternatively you can install the Virtual Machine additions by accessing the virtual cd drive and run the setup.exe as administrator.

After the installation is complete, restart the Windows 7 and you will be able to use mouse integration between Host operating system and the Guest operating system (Windows 7). Higher screen resolutions will also be available for use hence it is highly recommend that you install the Virtual Machine additions or update.

That’s it now enjoy Windows 7 under Windows XP or Windows Vista, incase of questions please post in comments section.