We recently upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit (workstations) and Windows 2008 64 bit (servers). To prevent loosing configuration information, and complex settings, we created a multi-boot system when upgrade was not option (i.e., when original installation was 32 bit, you cannot upgrade to 64 bit).
Simply mounting the volumes is not what I'm after. I've got some backups as ISO files, these are inherently read-only, and need to be converted / unpacked to be able to run them as virtual machine. Others are on bootable partitions.
Given a physical and bootable Windows Vista, XP, 2003 partition, what virtual machine software can I use to access it if that partition is on the same physical machine I currently run, preferably without conversion or copying.
Best Answer
Most virtualization software can easily run from a physical drive. However, most Windows solutions require access to the whole drive. If you have a single drive with two partitions (old and new) you'll have to copy the contents to a VHD or VMDK. If the OS is XP/2003 or older, you'll have to mess with the HAL and driver to get it to boot in the VM.
This is not a good situation to be in; the upgrade was done without a plan for continuing operations. This is where an ounce of prevention was worth a pound of remedy.