If you want to manage Hyper-V servers from a computer running an earlier version of Microsoft Windows, such as Windows XP Professional, you can do so by using Terminal Services RemoteApp to publish the Hyper-V Manager application on the Hyper-V server using Terminal Services. In brief, the procedure for doing this is as follows:

1. Install the Terminal Services role on a server running a Full installation of Windows Server 2008. Be sure to include the Terminal Services Web Access role service in your Terminal Services role installation.
2. Install the Hyper-V role or Hyper-V role management tools on the terminal server.
3. Configure user/group membership as needed for the Remote Desktop Users and Terminal Services Web Access Computers security groups. Also, configure RDP and security settings as needed.
4. Launch the RemoteApp Wizard from Terminal Services RemoteApp Manager, and add the Hyper-V Manager console (Virtmgmt.msc) to the list of published applications on the terminal server.

Now, from the computer running the earlier Windows operating system, connect to the terminal server using Terminal Services Web Access, select the remotely published application (Hyper-V Manager) to launch the connection screen, and authenticate with the terminal server.

At this point, the Hyper-V Manager console will be running on your computer—it will look and work just as if the console was installed locally on your computer, with the exception of the word Remote in the title bar indicating that it is a RemoteApp and not a local program.

From the Microsoft Press ebook Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions: From the Desktop to the Datacenter by Mitch Tulloch.

Just a lazy sunday afternoon, unpacking your newly purchased computer, WITH the brand new operating system Windows Vista on it. The wow starts now… at least they say. In my case, it wasn’t the WOW that started, but a terrible head ache instead! My computer was running very slow, and I had a lot of trouble to get and stay connected to the internet.

So I decided to just reinstall that traditional Windows XP… And there the real trouble started. It seemed impossible to just remove Windows Vista and install Windows XP instead!

The lazy sunday afternoon turned into night, and many hours had to follow before I finally got rid of Vista. To save you that time to figure out how to delete Vista from your computer I made this page. I hope it’s helpfull to you!

Please note that this page is just a helping hand. Use this information at your own risk!

Remove Vista, installed next to another Windows operating system (e.g. 98/XP)

In this case you already had a Windows operating system installed, and you installed Windows Vista on a separate partition of your harddisk. Now you want to remove Windows Vista and keep your previous Windows operating system.

Don’t forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows Vista installation DVD

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer selecting Windows XP from the boot menu

2. Insert the Windows Vista installation DVD into your drive and close the menu that might open

3. Go to START > RUN > and type: “e:\boot\bootsect.exe /nt52 ALL /force” (without quotes, and replace e: with the drive letter of your Vista DVD).

4. Restart your computer and boot into Windows XP

5. Format the drive where Windows Vista was installed on

6. Remove two files (Boot.BAK & Bootsect.BAK) on your XP root folder (e.g. C:\)

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.

Remove Vista, as an upgrade of Windows XP

In this case you had Windows XP installed and upgraded it to Windows Vista. Now you want your own Windows XP back. Unfortunately it’s not possible to downgrade Vista to XP. Therefore you’ll need to remove Vista, format your hard drive, and reinstall XP from scratch.

Don’t forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows XP installation CD – MS Dos environment boot disk (more info)

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive (note: you may have to change your BIOS settings to give priority to loading your CDROM drive instead of your hard drive!)

2. In the setup type R to repair an existing installation

3. Type fixboot C:\ (where C:\ is your Vista root, replace C with any other letter if applicable)

4. Type fixmbr C:\

5. Type EXIT

6. Then close the Windows XP setup and restart your computer with the bootable floppy or CD

7. At the command prompt type format C:\ (note: all data on C:\ will be removed, so make sure you’ve made a backup before doing this!)

8. Now restart your computer with the Windows XP installing CD in your CDROM drive

9. Install Windows XP as usual

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.

Remove Vista and install another operating system (e.g. XP)

In this case you only have installed Windows Vista on your computer, or you’ve bought a new computer with Vista already installed on it. When some of your hardware or software may not function properly under Vista, you might want to remove it, and install e.g. XP instead.

Don’t forget to make a backup as there are some risks with removing Vista!

This is what you need:

- Windows XP installation CD – MS Dos environment boot disk (more info)

This is what you should do:

1. Start your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive (note: you may have to change your BIOS settings to give priority to loading your CDROM drive instead of your hard drive!)

2. In the setup type R to repair an existing installation

3. Enter “fixboot C:\” (where C:\ is your Vista root, replace C with any other letter if applicable)

4. Enter “fixmbr C:\”

5. Enter “EXIT”

6. Then close the Windows XP setup and restart your computer with the bootable floppy or CD

7. At the command prompt type format C:\ (note: all data on C:\ will be removed, so make sure you’ve made a backup before doing this!)

8. Now restart your computer with the Windows XP installation CD in your CDROM drive 9. Install Windows XP as usual

This should remove your Windows Vista installation and make XP the default operating system.

Windows Virtual PC is a feature of Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise, that allows you to run multiple Windows environments such as Windows XP Mode from your Windows 7 desktop.

The list of features for the new version is impressive when compared to the old Virtual PC 2007 version (which had none of these). Finally, Microsoft is adding many features that are already long present in 3rd-party virtualization software like VMware Workstation and Sun Virtual Box. But I guess late is better than never. Some of the new features of Virtual PC include:

• Easy setup of Windows XP Mode – Once both the Windows Virtual PC and the virtual Windows XP environment are installed, Windows Virtual PC provides a simple wizard to set up Windows XP Mode with just a few clicks.
• USB support – Users can access USB devices attached to the host directly from virtual Windows XP. These devices include printers and scanners, flash memory/sticks and external hard disks, digital cameras, and more.
• Seamless applications – Publish and launch applications installed on virtual Windows XP directly from the Windows 7 desktop, as if they were installed on the Windows 7 host itself.
  Folder integration between host and guest – Access your Windows 7 Known Folders: My Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music, and Video, from inside the virtual Windows environment, such as Windows XP Mode.
• Clipboard sharing – Cut and paste between your Windows 7 host and any virtual machine.
• Printer redirection – Print directly to your attached printer from your seamless application or virtual machine.

Unfortunately, Virtual PC only supports 32-bit virtual machines. If you want to run any 64-bit virtual machine you’ll need to either install Windows Server 2008 + Hyper-V, or use a 3rd-party virtualization program such as VMware Workstation or Sun Virtual Box (free).

Important: To run Windows Virtual PC (and with it, XPM), your computer has to have the Intel VT or AMD-V features enabled in the BIOS. To find out if your PC is virtualization capable, please visit the Windows Virtual PC support page:

www.microsoft.com/virtual-pc/support.aspx

Note: All screenshots and procedures are based on the RC version of Windows 7, and the beta version of Virtual PC. When Windows 7 and Virtual PC become RTM, file names and download locations might change.

Installation Instructions for Virtual PC

1. Download the Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu update from the following link:

Windows Virtual PC Download: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Installing this update will install Virtual PC (Beta) for Windows 7.

2. Double click on the Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu to launch the installation.

3. In the installer window, click “Yes“.

4. In the License Terms window, click “I Accept” (if you do accept) to begin the installation.

5. When done, reboot the computer.

Now, when you type “virtual” in the Windows 7 Start menu, you’ll get a link to Virtual PC.

Clicking on it will bring you to the Virtual Machines folder (which can be configured to be at a location of your choice – more about this in a future article).

Next, we need to configure Windows XP Mode. So head on to the “Installing Windows XP Mode (XPM) on Windows 7” article.