VPC - from PC to Mac?

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Michael Virgilio - 19 Sep 2004 01:46 GMT

Anyone know if by chance it will be possible to bring over the .vhd virtual
hard drives from Virtual PC 2004 for Windows to Virtual PC 7.0 for Mac? I
just recently moved over to a Powerbook, but would love it if I didn't have
to redo all of my Virtual PC installs and could just use the files from
2004...

- Mike

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Barry Margolin - 19 Sep 2004 02:54 GMT

> Anyone know if by chance it will be possible to bring over the .vhd virtual
> hard drives from Virtual PC 2004 for Windows to Virtual PC 7.0 for Mac? I
> just recently moved over to a Powerbook, but would love it if I didn't have
> to redo all of my Virtual PC installs and could just use the files from
> 2004...

I don't know for sure, but I can't think of a good reason why they would
use a different format for these files.

Signature

Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA

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Michael Paine - 22 Sep 2004 05:08 GMT

The VPC installation (like any Windows installation) is very hardware
dependent. I wouldn't assume you will be able to transfer an
installation. However, you should be able transfer a "d" drive (ie
non-booting virtual drive with data).
See http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/aoaug/mac_osx.html#vpc
Michael Paine

>>Anyone know if by chance it will be possible to bring over the .vhd virtual
>>hard drives from Virtual PC 2004 for Windows to Virtual PC 7.0 for Mac? I
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> I don't know for sure, but I can't think of a good reason why they would
> use a different format for these files.

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Barry Margolin - 22 Sep 2004 05:30 GMT

> The VPC installation (like any Windows installation) is very hardware
> dependent. I wouldn't assume you will be able to transfer an
> installation. However, you should be able transfer a "d" drive (ie
> non-booting virtual drive with data).

But the "hardware" that it's dependent on is the processor that VPC is
emulating, *not* the underlying real machine's hardware. I expect that
VPC for Mac and VPC for Windows both emulate the same virtual hardware
configuration, so a boot disk for one should work on the other.

> See http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/aoaug/mac_osx.html#vpc
> Michael Paine
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> > I don't know for sure, but I can't think of a good reason why they would
> > use a different format for these files.

Signature

Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA

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Michael Paine - 22 Sep 2004 23:56 GMT

My experience is that you cannot reliably swap a VPC system between Mac
OS X computers with different hardware configurations (eg iMac and
Powerbook) so I do not expect a swap between Windows and OS X to work.
If someone has actually done this and it works then they could report it
on this newsgroup. Otherwise we are just dealing with speculation.

Re Geoffery Anderson's problem: It is likely that sooner or later VPC
will crash and the image file will become corrupted. Therefore always
have a backup copy of the image file available AND consider storing your
data on a "d" drive:
http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/aoaug/mac_osx.html#vpc
(there is a crash recovery tip from this newsgroup there)
Personally I would avoid shutting down with "saved state" as it saves
any corruption.

Michael Paine

>>The VPC installation (like any Windows installation) is very hardware
>>dependent. I wouldn't assume you will be able to transfer an
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>>>I don't know for sure, but I can't think of a good reason why they would
>>>use a different format for these files.

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Rory - 31 Jan 2005 01:29 GMT

You were always able to do this with the Connectix versions of Virtual PC. In
fact, I had loaded many OSes...XP..2000...98....ME...many flavors of
Linux..in the MAC version, then used those disc images in the PC version.
I've also gone the other way from PC to MAC with NO issues...that is....UNTIL
NOW, SINCE MICROSOFT MAKES THE PRODUCT !!!!

I've tried bringing Win2k Pro and Server from my VPC 2004 to the VP 7 MAC,
and when it boots, it says "unrecoverable processor error" and resets.

Like a useless maid who "doesn't do windows", Microsoft should state "I
DON'T DO MACS !!!"

> My experience is that you cannot reliably swap a VPC system between Mac
> OS X computers with different hardware configurations (eg iMac and
[quoted text clipped - 34 lines]
> >>>I don't know for sure, but I can't think of a good reason why they would
> >>>use a different format for these files.

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Steve Jain - 31 Jan 2005 01:44 GMT

>You were always able to do this with the Connectix versions of Virtual PC. In
>fact, I had loaded many OSes...XP..2000...98....ME...many flavors of
>Linux..in the MAC version, then used those disc images in the PC version.
>I've also gone the other way from PC to MAC with NO issues...that is....UNTIL
>NOW, SINCE MICROSOFT MAKES THE PRODUCT !!!!

Thats incorrect. There have been issues with moving VPC images, since
Connectix released VPC 5 for Windows and changed the underlying
hardware emulation.

>I've tried bringing Win2k Pro and Server from my VPC 2004 to the VP 7 MAC,
>and when it boots, it says "unrecoverable processor error" and resets.

Of course this could happen, the CPU is completely different, since
VPC 2004 doesn't emulate a P-II.

>Like a useless maid who "doesn't do windows", Microsoft should state "I
>DON'T DO MACS !!!"

It seems that its your anti-MS bias thats causing the problem, rather
than VPC.

Signature

Steve Jain, Virtual PC for Windows MVP
Website: http://www.essjae.com
"This posting is provided "AS IS" with
no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use."

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Robin Walker [MVP] - 31 Jan 2005 09:54 GMT

> I've tried bringing Win2k Pro and Server from my VPC 2004 to the VP 7
> MAC, and when it boots, it says "unrecoverable processor error" and
> resets.

Before doing the transfer from one system to another, you should Uninstall
the VPC Additions for the original platform, then do the transfer to the new
host, then install the Additions for the new platform.

Signature

Robin Walker [MVP Networking]
rdhw@cam.ac.uk

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Mac Forum / Applications / Virtual PC / January 2005

VPC - from PC to Mac?