A virtual machine is a computer program that runs on a computer as if it were the real thing. You can run any programs you want in the virtual machine, and your computer will not be affected by any viruses or other malware that might be on the real computer.

virtual machines offer a way to reset them, which is great for when you get a virus and want to start over. It’s also a great way to increase your privacy because you can erase anything you’ve done in a virtual machine.

  1. A Microsoft Windows computer
  2. A Microsoft virtualization software like VMWare, Parallels, or VirtualBox

Windows XP, Vista and 7 are virtual machines, but it’s best to convert a Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 machine because the highest resolution that Hyper-V supports for those older operating systems is 1600×1200. It’s annoying and I don’t know why Microsoft hasn’t bothered to fix this issue yet. Anyway, it’s only a problem for those with high resolution monitors.

Convert Windows OS to VHD

To convert your Windows 10 operating system into a virtual machine, you can use the Disk2VHD tool. This tool can be downloaded and run from the following location: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=82711&ref=clr

When you run the wizard, you’ll see a screen like the one above. There really isn’t much you have to do here other than choose the location where you want to save the VHDX file and which volumes you want to include. ..

If you have a large hard drive, you can choose to save your files to a different partition on your computer. If not, you can place them on another hard drive or an external USB hard drive. By default, Windows is going to select all of the volumes it finds on your computer, which may not be what you want.

In my case, I have several hard drives connected to the computer, so I only want to select volume C:, which is 37.26 GB in size. In addition, you want to make sure to select any other volumes that were created when you installed Windows, most likely the Boot volume and System Reserved volume. These are usually really small: in my case, the System Reserved volume is only 34 MB and the other volume, which has no label, is only 322.08 MB.

It is very important that you select the other volumes in addition to the main Windows volume because if you don’t, the operating system won’t boot when you load it into Hyper-V. Instead, you’ll get a Boot Failure message! This is because those two extra volumes tell the system where Windows is located and how to boot it.

To create a VHDX file, you will need to first determine the size of your Windows partition. Once you have that information, the VHDX creation process will begin. The final product will consist of one large file and two smaller files. ..

Install Hyper-V in Windows 8.1/10

Next, we need to install Hyper-V tools on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 Pro. If you have the Home editions, you’ll have to upgrade to Pro before you can install Hyper-V. Click on Start and type in windows features.

At the top, click on Turn Hyper-V features on or off. A window will appear where you can check off extra items you want to install. Go ahead and check the box for Hyper-V. It should automatically check the boxes for Hyper-V Management Tools and Hyper-V Platform also.

Windows has installed Hyper-V Manager, which you can access by clicking on Start and typing in Hyper-V.

Configuring Hyper-V

Now let’s create a new Hyper-V instance. Type the following into the Hyper-V Manager: New Hyper-V instance - name “MyNewInstance” Now let’s create a new virtual machine. Type the following into the Hyper-V Manager: New virtual machine - name “MyNewVM”

The far left of your computer screen should be the name of your computer. In the middle section are the list of virtual machines and checkpoints. On the right, you have a dynamic menu that changes depending on what item is selected in the left-hand sections. To get started, select the computer name at the far left.

To name your virtual machine, click on the name field and type in a unique name. For example, if you want to call your virtual machine “Trump 2020”, you would enter “trump 2020” in the name field. Next, you need to set up your computer’s settings. Click on the Settings tab and then click on the Virtual Machine Settings button. In this window, you will need to set up your computer’s hardware and software. In this window, you will need to set up your computer’s hardware and software. In this window, you will need to set up your computer’s hardware and software. In this window, you will need to set up your virtual machine’s operating system. In this window, you will need to set up your virtual machine’s operating system. Click on the Operating System tab and then click on the Set Up button. This button will take you to a new screen where you will have to choose a virtual machine operating system from a list of options. Click on the Set Up button. This button will take you to a new screen where you will have to choose a virtual machine operating system from a list of options

Next, you have to choose the virtual machine generation. If your computer hardware supports UEFI, go with Generation 2, which offers more advanced features. Use Generation 1 for 32-bit versions of Windows or if your machine is using legacy BIOS. Generation 2 also supports wide-screen displays when virtualizing Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. ..

Generation 1 virtual machines are not as secure as Generation 2 virtual machines. If you have no idea what all that means, just choose Generation 1 to be on the safe side. Note that if the virtual machine fails to boot, you can easily just delete it and start this process again. Select a different generation and see if it boots up properly. Deleting the virtual machine inside Hyper-V does not delete your original VHDX files.

You can assign as much or as little memory to your virtual machine as you want. I left my virtual machine with 1024 MB of memory, but you can increase it if you have enough RAM available on your host machine.

The Configure Networking screen will not appear until we do something else. For now, just leave the Connect Virtual Hard Disk screen at Not Connected. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk screen, you need to select Use an existing virtual hard disk.

  1. Browse to the VHDX image that represents your actual Windows partition.
  2. Select it and click Finish.
  3. Review the summary and click Finish. ..

If you click on the Virtual Machines tab, you’ll see a new item listed. This will give you more options in the right-hand pane. ..

To start the virtual machine, select it and then click on Start. The State column will change to Running. Next to view the virtual machine, click on Connect. If you did this now, you’ll see that error message that I mentioned at the beginning of the article: Boot failure. We still need to add the other hard drives.

If you chose Generation 2, you will see SCSI Controller only.

You will see that the first VHDX file we added in the wizard is already listed. Now we have to add the second and third files. Make sure Hard Drive is selected and then click Add. The wizard will now ask if you want to create a new VHDX or use an existing one. We recommend using an existing one, so click Use Existing. The wizard will now ask if you want to create a new VHDX or use an existing one. We recommend using an existing one, so click Use Existing. The next step is to select the size of your new VHDX file. We recommend choosing a size that’s about twice the size of your original data drive, but you can choose any size you like. The next step is to select the size of your new VHDX file. We recommend choosing a size that’s about twice the size of your original data drive, but you can choose any size you like. Next, we need to decide where our new VHDX file should be stored on our computer. We recommend creating it in the same folder as your original data drive, but you can choose any location on your computer that’s convenient for you. Next, we need to decide where our new VHDX file should be stored on our computer. We recommend creating it in the same folder as your original data drive, but you can choose any location on your computer that’s convenient for you ..

The Location box should automatically choose 1 since the 0 slot is taken by our first VHDX file. Each IDE Controller only has two slots available for adding drives. Click Virtual hard disk and choose your second VHDX file.

Now click on IDE Controller 1 and then click the Add button again. Do the same thing here, but choose your third VHDX file.

After we attach the VHDX files, we can click OK to start up the virtual machine. This time, hopefully, you will get a screen with Windows loading. ..

Configure Networking

  1. Click on Virtual Switch Manager in the top right hand corner of the screen.
  2. In the Virtual Switch Manager window, click on the New button.
  3. In the New Virtual Switch window, type a name for your virtual switch (for example, “Internal Network”).
  4. Under Type of Switch, select VMWare ESX Networking and click on the OK button.
  5. Under Interface Configuration, select Internal Network and click on the Add button.
  6. In the Add Interface window, type an IP address for your internal network (for example 192.168.1.x).
  7. Under Subnet Mask, type 255.255.255.0 and click on the OK button to add this information to your interface configuration window (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Adding an Internal Network Interface to a Virtual Switch ..

New virtual network switch: Select External from the list box. Create Virtual Switch

In Hyper-V manager, click on the virtual machine in the left pane and then click on the Settings link in the right pane.

To create a new virtual switch, click on Network Adapter in the left pane of the Virtual Machine Manager window and then choose New Virtual Switch from the drop-down menu. You’ll be prompted to provide a name for your new virtual switch, and then you’ll be able to select the network adapter that you want to use it with. Once you’ve done that, your new virtual switch will be listed in the right pane of the window. ..

This article will help you take your current PC and turn it into a virtual machine that you can run on other computers. There are things that can go wrong in this process, so be sure to comment if you have any problems. Enjoy!