Hardware Virtualization and Planning for Windows Virtual PC

windows 7 blog background Many of you have started to study the new features and additions available for Windows 7.  The virtualization group in Microsoft took the covers off a new product called Windows Virtual PC.  Windows Virtual PC has some fascinating features which will be welcome additions to those of you that have been using Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 over the years.

Before we get into those features, some research and planning is in order.  If you are planning to use Windows Virtual PC, then you need to be aware that a prerequisite is hardware virtualization.  Intel and AMD both ship processors that support hardware virtualization. 

Intel CPU hardware virtualization is called Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT).  AMD also includes AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) in a number of their processors.  You would think that all of the modern processors would ship with these capabilities.  However, you would be wrong.  Not all processors are created equally and it isn’t easy to tell them apart.  Here are a couple of examples of what I am talking about:

Example 1

  1. Go to https://processorfinder.intel.com/Default.aspx.
  2. Click the Notebook radio button.
  3. Click the “Select a processor family” drop down list and click “Intel® Core™2 Quad Mobile Processor
  4. The result should show the Q9100 and Q9000 processors.  In the Supported Features list, click Intel Virtualization Technology then click the “Filter on Selections” button.
  5. Observe the Q9100 disappears. 

Yep, you read that correctly.  The Intel® Core™2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9100 does not have Intel VT and therefore a laptop purchased with that Quad processor will not run Windows Virtual PC.  And therefore it won’t run Windows XP Mode.

Example 2

  1. Go to https://processorfinder.intel.com/Default.aspx.
  2. Click the Notebook radio button.
  3. Click the “Select a processor family” drop down list and click “Intel® Core™2 Duo Mobile Processor
  4. The result should show 109 different processors.  In the Supported Features list, click Intel Virtualization Technology then click the “Filter on Selections” button.
  5. Observe only 86 processors remain.

Yep, you read that correctly.  23 Core 2 Duo processors don’t have Intel VT and therefore won’t run Windows Virtual PC.

Summary

If you are planning to use Windows Virtual PC, please plan your hardware purchases carefully.  This is especially true if you are planning to use Window XP Mode to run legacy applications on Windows 7 using this feature set.  Both Intel and AMD have documented the specs of their processors, chipsets and families.  Don’t assume the OEM makers will have this clearly defined on the laptop and desktop purchasing sites.  It’s going to be all too easy to make a mistake if you aren’t careful.