MS Virtual PC 2004 configuration
Here's what I am considering doing, let me know if it is possible. . . I have a gaming rig that I am setting up that will have dual boot WinXP Pro and WinXP x64 Pro. Within regular WinXP Pro I want to run Microsoft's Virtual PC 2004 (partially just to try it and to be able to mess around with it) and then run Win98 ...
Here's what I am considering doing, let me know if it is possible...
I have a gaming rig that I am setting up that will have dual boot WinXP Pro and WinXP x64 Pro. Within regular WinXP Pro I want to run Microsoft's Virtual PC 2004 (partially just to try it and to be able to mess around with it) and then run Win98 virtually. This is pretty much so I can play Win95/Win98 games without worrying about graphic and sound conflicts (as I understand, Virtual PC uses emulation for both of those). My question is am I going to need an IDE drive or since everything is emulated for compatability will it run on my SATA drives? Also please feel free to tell me I am stupid and to just use one of the compatability programs that allows me to run older games on WinXP...
I know this sounds like a newbie question but I have never ventured into virtual setups....
I am also considering running Linux distros virtually as I don't think my wife is going to accept a fourth rig just for Linux..(she was hesitant to allow rigs 2 and 3, rig 4 is dang near an impossiblity) so that would probably be my primary reason and then the gaming would be a secondary benefit...
I have a gaming rig that I am setting up that will have dual boot WinXP Pro and WinXP x64 Pro. Within regular WinXP Pro I want to run Microsoft's Virtual PC 2004 (partially just to try it and to be able to mess around with it) and then run Win98 virtually. This is pretty much so I can play Win95/Win98 games without worrying about graphic and sound conflicts (as I understand, Virtual PC uses emulation for both of those). My question is am I going to need an IDE drive or since everything is emulated for compatability will it run on my SATA drives? Also please feel free to tell me I am stupid and to just use one of the compatability programs that allows me to run older games on WinXP...
I know this sounds like a newbie question but I have never ventured into virtual setups....
I am also considering running Linux distros virtually as I don't think my wife is going to accept a fourth rig just for Linux..(she was hesitant to allow rigs 2 and 3, rig 4 is dang near an impossiblity) so that would probably be my primary reason and then the gaming would be a secondary benefit...
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Why not use the recently released free Virtual Server 2005 R2 on XP64?
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
I personally prefer Vmware since it's constantly developed whereas VPC/VS has been pretty static since the MS takeover but for those who like MS/VPC/VS then you can't get much better than free.
Vmware also has a free version of Vmware Server available but it's currently in Beta 2 for now.
The bad thing about VS as compared to VPC is that VS uses an annoying and confusing web interface that requires Internet Explorer.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx
I personally prefer Vmware since it's constantly developed whereas VPC/VS has been pretty static since the MS takeover but for those who like MS/VPC/VS then you can't get much better than free.
Vmware also has a free version of Vmware Server available but it's currently in Beta 2 for now.
The bad thing about VS as compared to VPC is that VS uses an annoying and confusing web interface that requires Internet Explorer.
I thought about that and VS is actually what sent me in the VPC direction in the first place. It seemed as though for my personal computing needs and the functions I need it for, that VPC would be better (as I am pretty much gaming with it) since gaming with WinXP is hard enough in x64, trying to run Win98 games would be next to impossible. I might look into VMWare as well, I just was leaning more to the MS side since MAximumPC (I think) pretty much said the same thing for what I need. I will let you know the results.
Yeah,
Virtual Server is a "Server" product and therfore not very helpful when it comes to gaming.
I'd recommend trying out Vmware Workstation 5.5 (Requires $$$) or Vmware Server Beta 2 (free). I haven't used them under X64 but I have used them on 2K/XP/2003 32bit and they are pretty much the same as far as gaming is concerned.
As far as Windows game compatibility....Vmware VS VPC? They are the same as far as I can tell. A long time ago back in 2002-2003 I started using VPC to get games working in 2K/XP that wouldn't work without emulation. I wasn't able to get alot of games working under Vmware but they worked just fine under VPC. About a year ago I figured out that there was a bug in Vmware where if your host was set to 32bit color then the guest could not switch to 16bit color....and alot of the old games didn't work at all with 32bit color. So I switched my host desktop resolution to 16bit, then the guest was able to use 16bit and all of my Windows games that only worked in VPC, now work in Vmware! IIRC, this bug has been fixed in Vmware v5.5 and Vmware Server Beta 2.
Virtual Server is a "Server" product and therfore not very helpful when it comes to gaming.
I'd recommend trying out Vmware Workstation 5.5 (Requires $$$) or Vmware Server Beta 2 (free). I haven't used them under X64 but I have used them on 2K/XP/2003 32bit and they are pretty much the same as far as gaming is concerned.
As far as Windows game compatibility....Vmware VS VPC? They are the same as far as I can tell. A long time ago back in 2002-2003 I started using VPC to get games working in 2K/XP that wouldn't work without emulation. I wasn't able to get alot of games working under Vmware but they worked just fine under VPC. About a year ago I figured out that there was a bug in Vmware where if your host was set to 32bit color then the guest could not switch to 16bit color....and alot of the old games didn't work at all with 32bit color. So I switched my host desktop resolution to 16bit, then the guest was able to use 16bit and all of my Windows games that only worked in VPC, now work in Vmware! IIRC, this bug has been fixed in Vmware v5.5 and Vmware Server Beta 2.
Hi mjwebb007,
Do you already have Windows XP x64? Have you already tried your games and ran into compatibility issues? To run Linux yes, you'll either need an emulator or to multi-boot (faster, but less convenient if you're like most people and are only truly efficient in Windows). Also before you waste a bunch of time on Linux, how much do you know about ReactOS, 0and that fact that the windows Open Source movement is growing rapidly? A lot of games require specific resolutions and color depths. Having no experience with 64-bit processors yet I can't comment on potential issues in that regards. If you have glide games then you might have more difficulty, because glide was made before 64-bit processors were a consumer phenomenon.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn
Do you already have Windows XP x64? Have you already tried your games and ran into compatibility issues? To run Linux yes, you'll either need an emulator or to multi-boot (faster, but less convenient if you're like most people and are only truly efficient in Windows). Also before you waste a bunch of time on Linux, how much do you know about ReactOS, 0and that fact that the windows Open Source movement is growing rapidly? A lot of games require specific resolutions and color depths. Having no experience with 64-bit processors yet I can't comment on potential issues in that regards. If you have glide games then you might have more difficulty, because glide was made before 64-bit processors were a consumer phenomenon.
Cheers,
Christian Blackburn
