Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode Setup and Installation Guide

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows XP

This document includes instructions for downloading and installing Windows® Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, including important steps you may need to follow prior to installation.

For late-breaking issues that may require avoidance or a workaround, see the release notes document for this release.

Downloading

Download Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode installers from the Windows Virtual PC Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=160479).

Windows Virtual PC is not supported in either the beta release or the release candidate of Windows 7.

Note

Windows Virtual PC requires either hardware-assisted virtualization (that is, a processor that supports extensions such as Intel VT, AMD-V, or VIA VT) or installation of the update available at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=191061. If you run Windows Virtual PC using the update, only Windows XP virtual machines are supported, for example, Windows XP Mode.

Installation

Important

If your computer is running either the beta or release candidate versions of Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, you must uninstall them before installing this release.

To uninstall a previous release of Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode

  1. Back up all data in Windows XP Mode.

  2. To uninstall the beta version of Windows XP Mode, click Start, click Control Panel, click Programs, click Programs and Features, and then double-click Virtual Windows XP. For the release candidate version, double-click Windows XP Mode in the last step instead.

  3. To uninstall either the beta or release candidate version of Windows Virtual PC, click Start, click Control Panel, click Programs, click Programs and Features, click View Installed Updates, and then click Windows Virtual PC (KB958559).

  4. Navigate to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines\ and delete the differencing disk (.vhd) and settings (.vmc) files.

  5. Restart the computer.

Having uninstalled the beta or release candidate version of Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode, you can now safely install this release.

To install Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode

  1. Download Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode installers from the Windows Virtual PC Web site (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=160479).

  2. Install Windows XP Mode by double-clicking the file WindowsXPMode_nn-NN.exe (where nn-NN is the locale code, for example, en-US) and then completing the wizard that opens.

  3. Install Windows Virtual PC by double-clicking either of the files Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu or Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu, as appropriate for your processor type.

  4. Restart the computer.

  5. Once the computer has restarted, click Start, click Windows Virtual PC, and then click Windows XP Mode.

  6. Complete the wizard that opens. Be sure that you record the password provided during the setup process because you will need it to log on to the virtual machine.

Updating RemoteApp

If you have created virtual machines running Windows Vista® with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) and have installed an older update of RemoteApp, follow the steps below. The update allows you to run many Windows XP or Windows Vista productivity applications from a Windows 7-based computer using Windows Virtual PC. This update does not apply to Windows XP Mode.

To update RemoteApp

  1. After you install Windows Virtual PC, start the virtual machine that is running Windows XP with SP3 or Windows Vista with SP1.

  2. For a virtual machine that is running Windows XP with SP3, go to the virtual machine window and uninstall the Integration Components package as follows: click Start, click Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Virtual PC Integration Components.

  3. In the same Windows XP SP3 virtual machine window, uninstall the RemoteApp update as follows: click Start, click Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, and then click Hotfix for Windows XP (KB961742-v3).

  4. For a virtual machine that is running Windows Vista with SP1, go to the virtual machine window and uninstall the Integration Components package as follows: click Start, click Control Panel, click Programs, click Programs and Features, and then click Virtual PC Integration Components.

  5. In the same Windows Vista with SP1 virtual machine window, uninstall the RemoteApp update as follows: click Start, click Control Panel, click Programs, click Programs and Features, click View Installed updates, and then select KB961741.

  6. Restart the virtual machine.

  7. In the virtual machine window, install the latest Integration Components package by clicking Tools, and then clicking Install Integration Components.

  8. In the virtual machine window, download the appropriate RemoteApp update from the Microsoft Download Center and install it. For virtual machines running Windows XP with SP3, download Update for Windows XP SP3 to enable RemoteApp (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140339). For virtual machines running Windows Vista with SP1, download Update for Windows Vista SP1 or above to enable RemoteApp (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=140340).

  9. When the download is complete, run the appropriate installer and then restart the virtual machine.