Congratulations to the Virtual PC Team

I really love this product. Its finally out of Beta and RC (Release Candidate) Status.

Virtual PC 2007 allows you to install multiple operating systems virtually within an existing operating system.

Its also free.

Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/

Product Page Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/

I thought I would be brave and test this “Anytime” upgrade thing.

I am a User of Windows Vista Business. However for my Windows Vista Screencast series I need to have Windows Vista Ultimate so I can demo: Media Center, Dreamscene, Bitlocker and the other Ultimate Extras as they come online.

There are several online retailers who can sell you the upgrade (hint find the cheapest, it’s all the same product/license at the end of the day and the prices do range from £80 to £118).

The steps to upgrade are:-

1) Purchase the Upgrade online
2) Download a small file to your computer
3) Put in your Windows Vista DVD rom (make sure it supports Anytime Upgrades - it should say so on the front of the DVD).
4) Perform the upgrade, choose the option to keep your existing files/settings (this can take a long time, it took just over an hour on my laptop).

From my experience of this and I need to check this is correct. The upgrade worked well, however it seems to have re-set things like default folder view and I have to have my search indexes rebuilt. Example Outlook 2007 is re-indexing my e-mail (again).

The upgrade feels like a re-install and not an upgrade although I can confirm all my files/folders/data are intact after the process.

I first touched a PC 20 years ago and even I wasnt 100% sure that I was doing an upgrade and not a re-install of the operating system.

The official faq is here

So far so good.

Coming tomorrow: Screencast of the Windows Mobile Device Center