Then click the Start menu and find Virtual PC. Once you've downloaded the installation package, launch it and follow instructions.
Either way, get the right edition for your machine.
The newest version of Virtual PC supports USB peripherals and are supposed to be able to support 64-bit operating systems within the VM as well. There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions Virtual PC cares about the difference. Microsoft requirements call for a 400 MHz or above Pentium-compatible processor, 35 MB of disk space and Windows XP or Vista. Microsoft offers instructions and links to specific manufacturers here. Chances are, for most desktops and laptops, it's not. Once you know if the silicon supports it, check to see if your BIOS is set up to use those hooks. Intel Processor Identification Utility AMD Virtualization and Hyper-V compatibility Check. Intel and AMD have their own utilities as well, if you want to double check. Microsoft provides a free utility to check your processor. Virtual PC will work on chips that don't have those hooks, but not well. Intel and AMD have both built hooks into their processors that allow the host and guest operating system (the virtual machine) to trade off tasks more smoothly. I loaded and ran it on a laptop running 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium on an Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB of memory.
