How to create virtual hard disks on Windows 7

[Aashirya]

Hey, i am a Windows 7 user. While searching for some tips regarding VHD, i found this thread Create a Virtual Drive for any folder in Windows . Thanks for nice tips mentioned out there. Now, thats what i need to do in my system. I request you guys to please let me know how to create virtual hard disks on Windows 7 ? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Maq.H]

The wizard to create a virtual disk will allow you to set the disk size and location of the file behind. Below is the step by step to create a VHD on Windows 7:

• Click the Start button. In the search field, enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.
• Click the Action menu and then click Create a virtual hard disk.
• Click the Browse button.
• Choose the name and location of the file that represents your virtual hard disk and then click Save button.
• In the field size virtual hard disk, enter the size of virtual hard disk, 30GB for example. Click OK. Warning, you must of course have 30 GB of free disk space to create a hard drive of this size.
• The virtual disk is created. This may take several minutes depending on the size you choose.
• The new drive appears. Click on it with the right mouse button and choose Initialize Disk command.
• Confirm the same and click on the unallocated space with the right mouse button and choose New Simple Volume command.
• In the wizard that opens, double click on the Next button.
• Choose the letter to assign the drive and click Next.
• Name the player and leave the other options selected. Click Next.
• Finally click the Finish button.
• You now have a new drive accessible in Windows Explorer. Note that the virtual hard disk is automatically attached to the boot of Windows and is available all the time.

Thats it !!

[Solomon]

Windows 7 supports the creation and use of virtual hard disks in Windows Explorer. You can use a virtual hard drive like any other drive you can copy files, install software, partition, etc.. The difference is that behind this disc is simply a file format VHD on your physical hard disk. It becomes easy to backup or share through the whole content of the hard drive simply by manipulating the VHD file that contains all your data. Your contacts will simply attach the VHD file as a drive to access its contents.

[MrChris-]

So far there is nothing new in principle, because this procedure it could be done with any specific software for managing VMware virtual machines type or Microsoft Virtual PC. The novelty now is that Windows 7 may be directly mounted vhd files that correspond to virtual hard disks that need to run virtual machines and boot the machine directly from them. The Diskpart utility has also been updated to work with VHD files and also has improved EXPAND command line in order to increase the maximum size of our VHD files.

[Happy_To_Help]

Behind the virtual disk is a single file that you can easily backup or transfer. Entire contents of the drive is indeed registered in the file. It is a kind of image of your virtual drive. Before handling the VHD file, you must detach. To do so:-

1. In the Disk Management console, click the right mouse on the virtual disk.
2. Choose the Detach a virtual hard disk to remove it from the explorer.
3. In the window that opens, check the box Remove the virtual disk file is removed unchecked to avoid losing your data. Click OK.
4. You can copy the VHD file, save, etc.. All files you put on the virtual hard disk are contained in the VHD file and are copied at the same time.

[jesse]

You can use disk management tools in Windows 7 (the command-line tool Diskpart and Disk Management snap-MMC) to create a VHD file. You can deploy an image of Windows 7 (in. Wim) virtual hard disk and copy the VHD file on multiple systems. You can configure the boot manager to boot Windows 7 native or physical image of Windows that is included in the virtual hard disk. You can also connect the VHD file to a virtual machine so that, in this way, the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 R2 can use it.

The boot native HDV files are not intended to replace the complete implementation of the image on all client systems or server. In previous Windows versions is not supported native booting from a virtual hard disk and you need a hypervisor or virtual machine to perform a boot from a VHD file. Source:technet.microsoft