To have several operating systems at hand with a separate workspace and applications, you do not need to buy a second (third, fourth, etc.) computer. Because all this will fit in your only PC. How? Thanks to virtual machines (VMs) - special programs that create (emulate) imaginary (virtual) computers inside the main operating system.
Virtual PC is almost like a real one. It has its own processor, memory, HDD, network adapter and everything else. Of course, these are not physical devices, but they are made in such a way that operating systems consider them to be exactly that - real.
Several virtual computers can run on one physical computer at the same time. How much depends on hardware resources: the faster the processor, the larger the RAM, the more spacious the drive, the more. A typical Windows 10-based mid-range home PC can handle three to five lightweight operating systems (such as Windows XP, Android, and Lubuntu + main system) at the same time. Or two or three relatively heavy ones (for example, the main Windows 10 + virtual Windows 7 and Mac OS X). As you already understood, virtual desktop emulator applications allow you to install and run a wide variety of operating systems on them.
General-purpose virtual machines (as opposed to specialized ones, such as, for example, Java VMs), use:
- To run applications that the main system does not support.
- To protect the system from potential harm from unverified programs.
- As an additional barrier against viruses when visiting dubious web resources.
- To create an isolated environment for studying malware activity.
- As a testing ground for debugging your own developments.
- To master the technologies of building networks.
- For double authorization on some game portals and much more.
And of course, virtual machines are widely used to distribute the working resources of servers.
Today we will not touch on the industrial use of VMs, but will only consider what may be useful to home users of Windows.
Oracle Virtual Box
Consider the process of creating a new virtual machine and start installing Windows 10 into it.
- Click to top panel the "Create" button.
- In the first window of the VM creation wizard, specify the OS name (it will be displayed in the list of guest systems), its type (Windows, Linux, etc.) and version. In our example, this is Windows 10 32 bit (you can also install 64 bit, but it will require more resources). To go to the next step, click Next.
- Next, let's specify the size random access memory VM. By Windows default 10 x86 is 1 GB, but you can increase this amount by moving the slider to the right. If your PC does not have a lot of RAM, do not give the VM more than 2-3 GB, otherwise the main system will slow down due to lack of memory.
- Next we create virtual hard disk. If you are installing the system for the first time, select the "Create new" option.
- Leave the virtual disk type as default.
- A storage format is an area on your computer's physical storage that is allocated to a VM. It can be fixed or dynamically expandable within the limits you define next. To save space, we will choose a dynamic format.
- Next, specify the name of the volume (virtual disk C) and its size. The default is 32 GB.
- After clicking the "Create" button in the last window, a new virtual machine will appear in the list. The frame on the right shows its parameters.
- To proceed to the installation of Windows, click the "Run" button in the top panel.
- In the window that opens after that, the window "Select a boot disk" will appear. Click on the folder icon and specify the path to the system distribution kit. It can be an image in .iso format or physical media (DVD, flash drive). Once you've selected your distribution, click Continue.
- The further course of installing the OS into a virtual machine does not differ from installing it on a physical computer.
Some VM and guest system settings
A click in the virtual machine window captures the mouse cursor (i.e. it will only move within the virtual screen). To return the cursor to the main OS, press the Ctrl + Alt combination.
To access the entire feature set of the guest OS, you need to install special add-ons. Go to the "Devices" menu, click "Mount Guest Additions Disk Image" and follow further instructions.
To connect a folder to the guest system for exchanging files with the main one, click the “Shared Folders” item in the “Devices” menu. Click on the “folder+” icon in the window that opens and, through the “folder path” field, specify it in Explorer (it shows the directories of the main system).
If you want the setting to work all the time, check "Auto-connect" and "Create a permanent folder". a shared folder will be available from the virtual machine explorer as a network one.
To change the polling order boot devices(for example, to boot a virtual machine from a DVD), shut down the guest OS, open its settings (in the main Virtualbox window) and go to the first tab of the "System" section. In the "Load Order" list, select the desired media and use the arrow buttons to move it to the top.
VMware Workstation Pro
Some options for Hyper-V virtual machines
To take a snapshot of a running guest OS, Open the top menu of its Action window and click Check Point". Or press the combination Ctrl+N.
Access to the settings of an individual virtual machine is opened from its context menu in the list of the main dispatcher window and is hidden behind the "Settings" button.
Other features of the program are also very straightforward and mastered without much difficulty.
There is a fairly wide range of programs that this moment are still very actively used, but on modern versions of the operating system they do not work correctly, or do not work at all. What to do if software is installed on the computer that works well on Windows XP, but fails on the newer seven? The most rational way in such a situation is to use the Windows XP virtual OS, which can be installed on Windows 7. Sometimes this can even be called the only way out, because modern drivers sometimes do not support old equipment.
So, what is the virtual mechanism mode? In short, using this mode on a computer with seven installed, you can run an earlier version of the product. It is part of the Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Technology (MEDV for short) and comes in the form of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.
A distinctive feature of using such a virtual machine is full integration with the parent system - the user will be able to distinguish Windows XP from the installed main seven only by different window design. Therefore, it will not be confused with the desktops of two OSes, switching from one system to another, which is very convenient. In addition, there will be no problems with running applications written exclusively for Windows XP or earlier - they will run in an environment "familiar" to them. If you intend to actively use Windows XP, but do not intend to install it as a guest OS, you simply need to use a virtual machine. In this case, we are talking about a machine called Virtual PC.
Before installation
Before installing a Virtual PC virtual machine on a computer, make sure that your central processing unit supports visualization technology. Although the vast majority of modern microprocessors support this function, it will not be superfluous to check this again. Indeed, without the support of visualization instructions, the machine simply cannot be installed.
You should also be aware that only 32-bit systems can be installed on the machine (even if the main OS is 64-bit).
System updates may be required for the correct operation of the virtual machine. Without some updates, the program will not work, and installing all latest versions significantly improves the level of security.
Program installation
The installation of Virtual PC is carried out using the wizard to create the appropriate devices. Thanks to it, you can configure the main Windows settings XP just the way you want it. For example, you can set a certain amount of RAM that will be available to your machine.
Let's go directly to the installation algorithm:
- Click on the start menu button and open Windows folder Virtual PC;
- A folder called "Virtual Machines" opens, showing all the machines installed on the computer (if any). Select "Create a virtual machine";
- A wizard will open where you can select desired configuration, namely: determine the name and location of the system, determine the amount of memory available, create a virtual HDD device.
When the wizard completes, the newly created virtual virtual machine The PC will appear in the above folder. If necessary, you can set access restrictions for certain users. This is done using the "Sharing" item.
Everything, the Virtual PC virtual machine is installed. In order to run it, you need to select the desired machine in the list of available ones and click "Open". The OS installer program will open. Installing an operating system on a machine involves using the XP installation disc. Virtual Windows XP is installed in exactly the same way as a regular operating system.
As soon as the installation is completed, in the same folder, select the "Tools / Install Integration Components" item. Integration components are also installed using the appropriate wizard. After its completion, the computer will need to be restarted, and only then the machine with XP installed on it will be ready for use.
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In all computer and network security manuals, you can find a warning regarding the installation software. The authors of such guides advise you to carefully install programs downloaded from the network, because the installation of some of them is fraught with the occurrence various problems- from virus infection to system failures.
What to do in those cases when you need to constantly install various software? You need to install a PC emulator - special program(16.5 MB) that creates in your operating system another computer, but only a virtual one, on which you can install new operating systems, and not just one, but as many as you like. After installing the operating system, you can install the necessary software, and if necessary, all this can be deleted with just one keystroke (for this you just need to delete the corresponding file from the disk).
Installing the emulator does not cause any particular difficulties; at the end of the installation, you must specify the location of the files with the program.
The last step is to specify the location of the program files.
After installation and first launch, the program will prompt you to create and configure virtual machines using the wizard.
Among options: create a new virtual machine with all settings, use standard settings for a virtual machine, or adding settings from an existing virtual machine that is stored on disk as a VMC file.
The next step is to specify the name and location of the virtual machine. By default, the program suggests creating it in the \Documents and Settings\Computer_name\My Documents\My Virtual Machines directory. You need to be very careful here, as this location actually means the location of the virtual machine file. After installing the operating system and the necessary software on the virtual computer, the virtual machine file can reach several gigabytes. Therefore, you must specify such a disk to create a virtual machine that has enough free space.
Be careful when choosing where to place the virtual machine files.
After choosing the location for the virtual machine, you must specify which operating system will be installed on it.
In the next steps, you need to set the size of the RAM of the future virtual computer and the location of the virtual hard drive.
Installing an operating system on a virtual computer is possible only from a bootable CD or from a floppy disk (for an operating Windows systems 98). To install the operating system from a CD, you need to start a new virtual machine and select "CD -> Use Physycal Drive J" (for the first CD drive) or the corresponding item for another CD drive. If a bootable CD with an operating system is installed in the CD drive, the OS installation will automatically begin.
You can only install an operating system on a virtual computer from a bootable CD.
To exchange data between a virtual computer and a regular one, you need to install a special Virtual PC add-on. To do this, start the virtual machine and select "Action -> Install or Update Virtual Machine Addition".
The installation of the add-in is standard; after rebooting the virtual machine, you can connect another one to it virtual disk, which is essentially a folder on the main machine's hard drive. It is with the help of this folder that data will be exchanged between the main and virtual machines.
To mount a virtual disk, select "Edit -> Settings" and display the Shared Folders section.
After installing add-ons, you can add folders for data exchange between the virtual and main computer.
After the first launch of the settings, the section will be empty. Using the Share Folder button, add one of the folders on the hard drive of the main computer to the list of available folders, and in the Drive Lette section, select the logical name of the virtual disk that will correspond to this folder on virtual computer.
Now, after starting Explorer in a virtual computer, another one will appear in the list of its disks, corresponding to the newly created open folder.
The data exchange folder is represented as another drive.
Work with all installed virtual machines is carried out using the Virtual PC console, which appears after the application is launched. Here is a list of all installed virtual machines, buttons for adding new ones, deleting existing ones and viewing settings.
The Virtual PC console is used to manage virtual machines.
Appearance new version operating system is stressful for most users. Therefore, one of the main tasks of developers is to make the transition as smooth as possible. This does not always work out, but the creators of Windows 7 turned out to be understanding people, and therefore they introduced a virtualization package into the system that was new at that time, allowing XP to run inside the “seven”.
General information
The virtual machine emulates Hardware, creating an isolated environment within the system in which you can put any OS. This allows you to solve many problems with software compatibility, and also makes it possible to "try" another system without deleting the current one. You can work with physical drives, install games and programs for Windows XP without giving up the "seven", save files and perform other tasks. Let's see how to install a virtual machine on Windows 7 to take advantage of all its useful features.
Checking for Virtual PC
If you installed Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise, or Professional, then you have the Virtual PC feature by default. You just need to make sure that the processor supports hardware virtualization. This can be done using the utility from Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool.
Download the utility and run it. Depending on the results of the processor test, the following messages may appear on the screen.
Enabling/disabling virtualization is done in BIOS settings, so before installing Virtual PC manually, make sure that the option is enabled.
The option may be called Intel_Virtualization Technology, AMD-V, Virtualization Extensions, etc. Find this feature in the BIOS and change the value from "Disabled" to "Enabled". 
If after that it is not possible to start the virtual machine, Windows offers to install a special patch. At this stage, it is important to choose the correct bit depth of the system - x32 or x64.
Manual installation
Installing a virtual machine on Windows 7 includes two steps:
- Installing Windows Virtual PC;
- Installing a virtual Windows disk XP mode.
First, let's deal with Virtual PC:
Then you can proceed to install the Windows XP Mode virtual disk:
First start
After installing XP Mode, the "seven" must configure it further in order to create a virtual disk. Therefore, after clicking the "Finish" button, the following window will appear on the screen, in which there will be one more license agreement, the terms of which you must accept. 
Specify the folder where the virtual disk will be located and create the first user. 
Turn on protective functions the system you are creating. Doing this is optional. Click Start Installation. 
The installation process will start; you just have to wait for it to finish.
New virtual machine
The system is prepared, the virtual disk is installed. It remains to create a new environment and run Windows XP in it.
The sandbox you just created will appear in the XP Mode main window. Click on it right click and select "Open". Select the "DVD drive" option and specify the path to the physical drive (if you have a disk with the Windows XP distribution kit) or the pre-downloaded ISO image. The system installation wizard will start.
All you have to do is install Windows XP in normal mode to start using this system in an isolated environment created using the hardware virtualization feature.
After the installation is completed, you can use all the features of the OS from Microsoft: install gadgets for Windows XP, install games that do not run on the "seven", run outdated programs, etc. - to do this, simply run XP mode through the emulator. 
Alternative virtual machines
In addition to the built-in hardware virtualization feature, Windows 7 supports third-party programs that help you create an isolated environment and install any operating system into it.
First of all, it is necessary to note such virtualization systems as VMWare Workstation and Oracle VM VirtualBox. Let's look at the example of Virtualbox, how such programs work.
Oracle VM Virtualbox
Download and install Virtualbox. It is installed in the same way as any other program, so you should not have any problems.
- Launch Oracle VM VirtualBox and click "Create". The Sandbox Creation Wizard opens.
- Specify the name of the new machine, the type and bitness of the system, and then click Next.
- Set the amount of RAM that will be automatically allocated when the virtual machine starts up for its operation.
- Create new hard disk and click Next.
- Specify the disk type. If you don't know which one is better, leave the first item on the list checked.
- Select the storage format - it is recommended to specify "Dynamic Image".
- Specify the name and size of the new virtual hard disk, and then complete the wizard by clicking the "Create" button.
The isolated environment is ready. To start working with it, mark it with the left mouse button and click the "Run" button in top menu. 
A new window will appear on the screen through which you will first install and then interact with Windows 7 or another installed operating system. Specify the path to physical disk or an ISO image with a Windows distribution and click Continue. 
Process Windows installation 7 we will not consider in detail here, since it is no different from a normal installation on a physical hard drive. You just need to wait for the system installation to finish.
The virtual machine is launched through the Oracle VM VirtualBox program. You will need to open this utility and select the desired virtual system image from the main menu on the left.
As for other utilities, in VMWare Workstation the process of creating a virtual machine almost completely repeats the procedure described above. 
Some other programs may require additional configuration, so for beginners they may seem somewhat complicated.
Conclusion
Creating a virtual machine and installing a system on it is quite simple, but you need to be careful - since April 2014, Windows XP is not supported by Microsoft, therefore, even emulating the mode of this OS, you make your system vulnerable.
Also, XP mode is not supported on machines with installed Windows 8, and there's no way you can fix it. The Virtual PC feature was originally created for smooth transition between systems, so you won't be able to jump over the version.
However, you can try to install a system other than Microsoft Windows- for example, Linux. 
It is quite difficult to immediately switch to it, besides, you have to abandon most of the usual Windows programs. In emulation mode, you will gradually get used to the features of interaction with new system and decide if you need to completely switch to it.
Microsoft has developed Microsoft program Virtual PC 2007, not least in order to provide the ability to work with Windows Vista as a guest operating system. At the time of writing, Virtual PC 2007 is in the Release Candidate (RC) stage and was downloaded from the Microsoft Connect website. The program was installed in the operating system Windows Vista Ultimate.
Virtual PC 2007 is packaged in a Windows Installer (.msi) package, so installation should be straightforward.
In the installer welcome window, click the button Next.
Accept the license agreement by checking the radio button as shown in the figure and click the button Next.
Enter your username and organization name. Since the program is distributed free of charge, the product key has already been entered. You can choose whether to install the program for all users ( All Users) or only for the current user ( Only for me).
Click the button Next to start installing the program.
Once the installation is complete, launch Virtual PC 2007. The first time you run it, the Virtual Machine Creation Wizard window should appear. If the wizard does not start, click the button New in the window Virtual PC Console.
In the wizard's welcome window, click the button Next.
This article discusses creating a new virtual machine. Set the switch to Create a virtual machine and press the button Next(if you already have virtual machines, you can add them by setting the switch to Add an existing virtual machine).
Specify the virtual machine file name and path. You can use the button Browse for ease of navigation.
Select the operating system that you plan to install on the virtual machine from the drop-down list.
You can specify how much RAM will be available for the virtual machine. You can enter the desired value using the keyboard or move the slider. By default, it is suggested to allocate the recommended 512 MB, but for Windows Vista I decided to allocate a little more.
The next step is to create a virtual hard disk or specify an existing one. Set the switch to A new virtual hard drive if you want to create a new virtual disk.
Specify a file name for the virtual hard disk and a folder where it will be stored. You can use the button Browse for ease of navigation. Then specify the desired virtual hard disk size. For Windows Vista, you need a disk size of at least 8 GB. By default, Virtual PC 2007 creates a virtual disk that will automatically expand if the guest operating system requires more space than originally allocated.
On this initial setup the virtual machine can be considered complete. In general, the configured parameters should be sufficient to successfully install the operating system on the virtual machine. This will be discussed briefly below.
In the window Virtual PC Console press the button start to start the virtual machine. When the virtual machine window opens, drag the ISO image of the operating system into it with the mouse, which will be used as boot disk. You can also choose from the menu CD command Capture ISO Image and tell the program the ISO image you want to use, as shown in the figure below.
If everything is done correctly, the installation of the operating system should begin. The description of this process is beyond the scope of this article, but I will mention one nuance.
Overall, installing a Windows Vista guest operating system from a host Windows Vista system went without a hitch. It would be even easier if I knew that you can exit the guest system into the main one by pressing the right ALT key and moving the mouse out of the screen (thanks, Tomatos ;). In VMWare Workstation, in such a situation, you need to simultaneously press CTRL + ALT, which also leads to a return to the main operating system.
I would like to note that after installing Windows Vista on a Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 virtual machine, it was not necessary to perform additional settings network connections. There were no problems with Internet access in the guest operating system, as evidenced by the notification of downloaded updates immediately after installing Windows Vista.
After installing the guest operating system, it is highly recommended that you install the virtual machine add-on package, which provides a number of benefits. Among them:
the ability to drag and drop files with the mouse from the main operating system to the guest and vice versa;
the ability to use shared folders;
optimized video card drivers;
time synchronization;
shared clipboard;
improved guest operating system performance;
compatible with Windows vista driver sound card.
In addition, after installing the add-on package, the aforementioned problem with logging out of the guest system into the main one disappears.
To install the menu add-on package action select a team Install or Update Virtual Machine Additions.
A dialog box will appear informing you that if the add-on package installation does not start automatically, you will need to open the CD drive in the guest operating system and start the installation manually.
Click the button Continue to continue installing the add-on package.
Before finishing the installation and configuration story Virtual programs PC 2007, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Extra options you can always configure the virtual machine by clicking the button Settings in the window Virtual PC Console. The settings window will open as shown in the figure below.
In this window, you can change the parameters of the virtual machine configured during its creation (for example, the amount of allocated RAM).