Configuring Windows 7 (Training Kit) - Part 13. This training kit is designed for IT professionals who operate in enterprise enviroments that use Windows 7 as a desktop operating system. You should have at least one year of experience in the IT field, as well as experience implementing and administering any Windows client operating system in a networked environment. | Booting from VHD The ability to boot from VHD available in Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions only is one of the more significant new features introduced by Windows 7. You can boot the machine as if it were running from the primary hard disk and your operating system recognizes all the hardware available in your system. This lets you run multiple operating systems on the same computer without the performance issues sometimes encountered in virtual PCs. You can create multiple VHDs with multiple operating systems installed on them. Previously in this lesson you saw how to create a new VHD and attach it using Disk Management or the Diskpart utility. If you choose to install the Windows 7 operating system from the installation DVD-ROM you require the file from that optical device. You also need the ImageX utility . If you have installed the Windows AIK as instructed in Lesson 1 you will find this file at C Program Files Windows AIK Tools x86. You can also copy a WIM system image that you created for your computer as described in Lesson 1 to a VHD on that computer. You do this in the practice later in this lesson. Adding a Boot Entry for a VHD File When you have created a VHD and installed a system image on it you can use the BCDEdit tool to add a boot entry for the VHD file in your computer running Windows 7. A step-by-step procedure to do this is given in the practice later in this lesson. The high-level procedure is as follows Open the elevated command prompt with Administrator privileges and enter a command similar to the following bcdedit copy current d Your New VHD Description This returns the GUID of the loader object. You use this value to replace the variable guid in the following commands bcdedit set guid device vhd driveletter directory vhd filename bcdedit set guid osdevice vhd driveletter directory vhd filename BCDEdit locates the VHD file and Bootmgr locates the partition containing the VHD File to boot from. .
