microsoft virtual pc for windows 8.1 64 bit

#Microsoft virtual pc for windows 8.1 64 bit how to#
#Microsoft virtual pc for windows 8.1 64 bit zip file#

The virtual machine is ready to use, but it comes preconfigured with the minimum specification. This is how ready-made virtual machines downloaded from the internet are added to the software.īrowse the disk and select the file that was extracted from the downloaded zip file.

Start VirtualBox, go to the File menu and select Import Appliance. This extracts the contents and saves it to a folder of the same name in the same location.

#Microsoft virtual pc for windows 8.1 64 bit zip file#

When the download is complete, right click the zip file and select Extract All. Ideally you need a fast internet connection to download them. The file is downloaded as a zip file and it is big! Windows XP is 1GB and Windows 10 is around 5GB. Then select the appropriate platform in the list, such as VirtualBox. If you do not already have virtual machine software, go and download VirtualBox or VMware Player. There’s just Win 7, Win 8.1 and Win 10 now.) (Update: XP, Vista, Win 8 have been removed. Select a virtual machine such as IE8 on XP shown here.

#Microsoft virtual pc for windows 8.1 64 bit how to#

Here is a step by step guide showing how to download and install any version of Windows. You don’t have to run Internet Explorer and these are fully working versions of Windows, so you can install and run any software. There are many different versions of Internet Explorer and in order for website developers to test their sites and make sure they work for everyone, they can fire up a virtual machine like on Windows 7 and check whether Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 work, or Internet Explorer 6 and 8 on XP. So why is Microsoft giving away Windows? The answer is for testing purposes. It is in a window on the desktop, but you can make it full screen so it looks and works like the real thing. In the case of a virtual machine, the hardware emulated is a PC and you can run any version of Windows (or Linux, but that is a different story). A virtual machine is a bit like an emulator that lets you run Gameboy, Comodore 64, Atari and other devices on your computer. Software such as VirtualBox, VMware and others, are able to run an operating system in a window on the desktop or even full screen. Free copies of Windows? What is the catch? Yes there is a catch of course and what Microsoft is doing is giving away virtual machines.