Virtual PC 7--Run Multiple OSs Simultaneously?
I'm looking into getting Virtual PC 7 for my G5, and I need to know if it will let you run multiple Windows OSs simultaneously. I can't seem to find a clear cut answer. I know older versions of Virtual PC could do this, but I wasn't sure if Microsoft has kept that ability in it. I'm going web development, and I need to be able to check my work on different versions of IE for the PC (as well as Mac browsers).
Thanks,
-Nathan
Thanks,
-Nathan
Comments
Originally posted by nathanh72
I'm looking into getting Virtual PC 7 for my G5, and I need to know if it will let you run multiple Windows OSs simultaneously. I can't seem to find a clear cut answer. I know older versions of Virtual PC could do this, but I wasn't sure if Microsoft has kept that ability in it. I'm going web development, and I need to be able to check my work on different versions of IE for the PC (as well as Mac browsers).
Thanks,
-Nathan
No.
Many users find the performance of VPC to be inadequate while running just one OS. But, again the purpose of VPC is to run those Wintel apps for which there is Mac counterpart. It is not intended to replace a real PC. It is most certainly not intended to replace a roomfull of them.
It is not lightening fast, but is more than adequate for web dev purposes, and in fact, this purpose isn't possible to do better, even on actual windows machines themselves... and this is on a 17" 1.5ghz Powerbook.
So, yeah, to answer your question, go for it.
nd32k3,
i really dont see why people need virtual pc. what can you do on it that you cant do on a mac. its not neeeaarllly fast enough for any sort of game, office documents work on both, i just dont see why so many people use vpc
Well for one, I can't check my websites in different PC versions of IE on my Mac. If you would have actually read my question, you would have seen why I need VPC.
Mr. Me,
No.
Many users find the performance of VPC to be inadequate while running just one OS. But, again the purpose of VPC is to run those Wintel apps for which there is Mac counterpart. It is not intended to replace a real PC. It is most certainly not intended to replace a roomfull of them.
Thank you for the reply, but my intended purpose is not to run a bunch of PC software. I just want to be able to see my web sites in different PC browsers, so I need to be able to run more than one version of Windows. SCARECROW (who actually seems to have read my question) says he can run multiple versions of VPC 7 on his Mac, so it seems the answer is actually Yes!
-Nathan
The fastest and most stable operating system is Windows 2000.
I use it to test web sites, to run some flight-specific software, and to do some occasionaly MS Access development work for clients. Works Great! Not lightning fast, but certainly adequete for most needs. One other thing that I use it for is for testing cross-platform compatiblility of presentations exported to Powerpoint or Quicktime to see how they will look on a PC.
Personally, I love using VPC. I don't need to have and maintain a separate hardware box and besides, its the only way to have compatibility and protability in a powerbook.
Originally posted by nathanh72
SCARECROW, thank you for answering my question.
....
Mr. Me,
Thank you for the reply, but my intended purpose is not to run a bunch of PC software. I just want to be able to see my web sites in different PC browsers, so I need to be able to run more than one version of Windows. SCARECROW (who actually seems to have read my question) says he can run multiple versions of VPC 7 on his Mac, so it seems the answer is actually Yes!
-Nathan
Either you misunderstood SCARECROW's answer or you asked your original question badly. Virtual PC allows you to run as many different Intel-compatible operating systems as you have installed. However, you may select and run only one at a time. This feature allows you to test your software, web sites, or whatever in all of your Intel-compatible OSes of interest in short order. SCARECROW is also correct in that you cannot do this better on a real PC. However, you cannot run your suite of OSes simultaneously, which is the question that you asked.
Well, I suppose that you could install multiple copies of VPC. In this case you could simultaneously run as many different OSes as you have copies of VPC.
Originally posted by Mr. Me
Either you misunderstood SCARECROW's answer or you asked your original question badly. Virtual PC allows you to run as many different Intel-compatible operating systems as you have installed. However, you may select and run only one at a time. This feature allows you to test your software, web sites, or whatever in all of your Intel-compatible OSes of interest in short order. SCARECROW is also correct in that you cannot do this better on a real PC. However, you cannot run your suite of OSes simultaneously, which is the question that you asked.
Well, I suppose that you could install multiple copies of VPC. In this case you could simultaneously run as many different OSes as you have copies of VPC.
I guess I miss read both of your comments and for that I apologize. I guess I got a little perturbed by nd32K3s comment about why anyone would possibly have a need for VPC and I lumped you in as well, sorry.
Thank you for clarifying your comments.
-Nathan
Originally posted by Mr. Me
Virtual PC allows you to run as many different Intel-compatible operating systems as you have installed. However, you may select and run only one at a time.
Strange. Is this VPC 7-specific? Because in VPC 6 you can certainly run at the same time multiple copies of Windows (same or different version).
Originally posted by Mr. Me
Well, I suppose that you could install multiple copies of VPC. In this case you could simultaneously run as many different OSes as you have copies of VPC.
I've only just installed VPC 7 (for the same reasons as the original poster) but I believe you can run multiple, simultaneous x86 OS's without any such jigger-pokery. There is for example an option to pause the background OS's to give better performance to the front-most one.