MIR on Windows XP

1. MIRon Windows XP (sorta)

2. Options available • PartitionMagic w/ BootMagic • Have used this with a few MIR cooperators with good success • Microsoft Virtual PC • We are still learning about it but it appears very promising • Others ???

3. Similar purposes • Both of these products have their primary use in the tech support field. • Support personnel don’t need to have multiple machines available in order to support software designed/developed under/for different operating systems – they can simply change between operating systems on the same physical machine.

4. PartitionMagic • Partitions Hard Drive into at least 3 logical hard drives • One contains BootMagic info • One contains operating system files and data for Windows XP • One contains operating system files and data for a different operating system • These logical hard drives are visible only by the system you are operating under at the time

5. PartitionMagic (cont.) • Can set up drives that are shared by the various operating systems • Can set up more drives and operating systems as needed

6. Installation of PartitionMagic • Installation is quite tedious and not something to be left to a novice • Data on the drive is quite volatile during the partitioning process. (I’ve not experienced any problems but have read and heard about people who have). • Installation can take a couple of hours – mostly time spent waiting

7. Virtual PC • Virtual PC allows you to make what appears to be another complete computer within the computer you already have. Mainframe computers have used this operating system setup for years. • The entire operating system is contained in one file on the hard drive and each of the virtual machine’s hard drives are contained in another file.

8. Installing Virtual PC • The file to download is a little over 18 MB so depending on your internet connection that may take a while. • You then Unzip the file and launch the installation routine which walks you through the process. You can accept defaults for all the options you are given and probably be in fine shape.

9. Installing Virtual PC (cont) • After installing Virtual PC you can set up several Virtual Machines (limit?) • Decisions made regarding machine memory allocations and “hard drive” size can be modified after a virtual machine is set up

10. The hard drive for each virtual machine looks like a single file on the real machine’s hard drive but can be read only by the virtual machine. • Files can be “dragged” from one machine’s hard drive to the other – not sure about limitations on this

11. Common issues • You will need an installation disk/cd for the secondary operating system you choose to use. • You will need printer drivers for this operating system for the printer you wish to use • This is true of other hardware as well – CD rom drives, mice, etc.

12. Cost & other items • PartitionMagic is in the $69 range • Microsoft Virtual PC is free to download • The company that developed and marketed PartitionMagic for several years has sold the product and we all know what typically follows the sale of a successful product. • I’m quite sure that Microsoft will be around for a while!

13. Personal experiences • I have used Windows 98 2nd edition in all the setups I have tested. • I have encountered no problems running MIR in these systems that I didn’t encounter when running MIR on machines that had this operating system installed from day one.