Download Free Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 SP1 Now with Updated Installer

Even before Windows 7 Service Pack 1 RTM became generally available for all users on February 22nd, 2011, Microsoft refreshed the Windows Virtual PC page on the Download Center.

Last month the Redmond company did not deliver any clues as to what had changed for Windows Virtual PC, but at the start of March, Ben Armstrong, Virtualization Program Manager for Microsoft shared a tad more information.

According to Armstrong existing users of Windows Virtual PC are not required to download and deploy the latest release.

This because there aren’t any changes impacting the actual virtualization solution that the software giant is offering free of charge to all users.

However, customers leveraging Windows 7 SP1 RTM that are also looking to use Windows Virtual PC are better off grabbing the latest update.

“If you already have Windows Virtual PC installed – you do not need to update. But if you are installing Windows Virtual PC today – this is the best package to use, for two reasons:

•This installer has been updated to work correctly with Windows 7 Service Pack 1

•This installer includes the update for running Windows Virtual PC on systems without hardware virtualization support – so if you are running on one of these systems you only need to run one installer instead of two,” Armstrong explained.

As users are undoubtedly aware of, Windows Virtual PC allows them to run multiple operating systems on the same machine, one of the platforms acting as a host OS with the rest as guests, as long as there are sufficient hardware resources to go around.

Windows Virtual PC supports the following

•Host: Windows 7 Home Basic, Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise.

• And guest: Windows XP SP3 Professional, Windows Vista Enterprise SP1, Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, Windows Vista Business SP1, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise.

Windows Virtual PC is available for download here.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM Build 7601.17514.101119-1850 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) RTM are available for download here.