Virtual PC on Windows 7

author Richard Fennell calendar May 9, 2009 · 1 min read · Uncategorised  ·
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You can run Virtual PC 2007 on Windows 7, but Windows 7 does include a new version of Virtual PC as part of the operating system, which is good.

The problem I have, and as will many others, is though my 64Bit Acer 8210’s Intel process has hardware virtualization support, Acer for some bizarre reason chose to disable it in the BIOS; thought it was enabled in the 32bit 8200 series, and is enable in the later Travelmate equivalents. Acer are not alone in this choice. This means that many people with fairly recent PCs will not be able to run the newer version of Virtual PC.

If at all possible I think Microsoft need to provide support for host PCs with no hardware virtualization support,or that lack the option to enable it in the BIOS, as does my Acer. However I wonder, as hardware virtualisation is pre-requisite for Hyper V, is it that this new version Virtual PC share technology with Hyper V, thus giving the same hardware requirements?