W10 Hyper-V: Creating a Virtual Machine

[Agent Orange]

I installed Microsoft's Hyper-V last night and I think I got it right thanks to a thread on "Windows Ten Forums"
( http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2087-hyper-v-virtualization-setup-use-windows-10-a.html ).

There's a lot going on with the installation and MS's tutorial left me shaking my head. The above guide lays it out fairly clear, and somewhere around midnight, I was able to at least conjure up the Hyper-V Manager icon on my desktop.

I eventually plan on installing XP 32-bit w/SP-3 & 4. The alternatives for me are VMWare's Workstation 12 (free) or MS's Virtual Machine 2007. I'm wondering if someone out there has been this route lately with W10 and could shed a little light. Thanks in advance.

 

[krebizfan]

The user interface for Hyper-V is poor. I just kicked off a new OS install into Hyper-V while writing this post and the latest round of changes to Win10 do nothing to solve my dislike of the Hyper-V Manager.

Both VMware and Virtual Box have easier setups. Virtual PC 2007 only permits the use of a single core; Win9x is the operating system that works best on it. What use case do you have for the XP being installed? Different types of applications work better with different virtualizers.

 

[Agent Orange]

The user interface for Hyper-V is poor. I just kicked off a new OS install into Hyper-V while writing this post and the latest round of changes to Win10 do nothing to solve my dislike of the Hyper-V Manager.

Both VMware and Virtual Box have easier setups. Virtual PC 2007 only permits the use of a single core; Win9x is the operating system that works best on it. What use case do you have for the XP being installed? Different types of applications work better with different virtualizers.

I have no real use for virtual XP other than something to tinker with. I used to load a bunch of games on virtual XP, but now that I have my Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe up and running, it's really not a demanding issue. A few years back I had XP on VMWare running under W7 and it performed okay. I never got Hyper-V up and running under W8/W8.1. I supposed it's just for the experience and maybe able to help someone out down the line. What are your thoughts on the interface and what OS did you install, also how did it work out? I'm going to try and give XP a go this evening.

 

[krebizfan]

I installed XP. XP is the earliest OS I would try with Hyper-V. I haven't been testing Win10 since Anniversary Edition came out as much as I should so this was a useful opportunity.

Adding a new VM requires switching to an Administrative account. Okay, there is a option to setup other users to handle it but I don't make enough VMs to make it worthwhile.

The Action menu New option starts a wizard that controls memory and hard drive settings. After the wizard, it is necessary to go to the settings option for the VM to make adjustments including changing from a single core.

VMware and Virtual Box both set defaults based on the OS to be installed that generally don't need to be changed. Hyper-V is at its best for adding extra copies of predefined headless servers. Hyper-V does not seem to permit access to physical floppy drives.

 

[Agent Orange]

Virtual XP installed and setup with no apparent problems. Thanks for the input. I'm having a problem with the full screen settings. I went through the 'Enhanced Session Mode' settings and what I did see was a full screen background with Xp windowed. I kind of remember this the last time around, but I think it was on W7 or W8. I know I'm probably overlooking some tick on a box somewhere. I'll keep at it as it's raining here today.

 

[Agent Orange]

My experiment with Hyper-V has ended. It became apparent to me that Hyper-V is intended for the IT types. Although the installation is straightforward, it will cause you to jump through too many hoops and a lot of head scratching before it is usable.

What I did after uninstalling Hyper-V, was to download VMWare Workstation 12, with the free keys (not hacked). The installation is simple with no 'gotchas'. My virtual OS is XP 32-bit with SP 3 & SP 4. Adding your components and going full screen is just a matter of ticking the drop down menus and checking a few boxes. There is one major bug in the setup, however, if you intend to use a printer. Virtual global printing is not enabled. You must go on the hunt and the answer is in an 'ini' file within host's setup files. Assuming your host is using W10 . . .

ProgramData > VMware > VMware Workstation > settings.ini > printers.enabled = "FALSE"

When you attempt to edit the 'settings.ini' you must take ownership of the file through 'Properties' at the bottom of the drop-down. Change "FALSE" to "TRUE" and that's it - just select you printer(s) as you normally would from with in the virtual OS.

XP runs fine and I'm going to load some games in when I get time and see how it goes. I think Oracle did a real nice job with this free release.

 

[krebizfan]

Oracle makes VirtualBox; VMware is its own company completely separate from Oracle being instead partially owned by EMC which in turn is owned by Dell. But yes, VMware is certainly the best choice for running XP era games inside a virtual machine.

 

[Agent Orange]

Oracle makes VirtualBox; VMware is its own company completely separate from Oracle being instead partially owned by EMC which in turn is owned by Dell. But yes, VMware is certainly the best choice for running XP era games inside a virtual machine.

You are correct sir, EMC is the one. So, congratulations EMC on a job well done.