14 DAY TRIAL // With the advent of the 2008 service pack releases for its latest two Windows clients, Microsoft has also updated its virtualization solutions in order to accommodate Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. On May 15, 2008, the Redmond company made available for download Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Update and Virtual PC 2007 SP1. The service packs are offered as updates for Microsoft's client and server virtualization solutions which can be accessed as free downloads from Microsoft. In addition to added support for select editions of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Update and Virtual PC 2007 SP1 are also tailored to Windows Server 2008.
"This release of Virtual PC 2007 SP1 introduces support for the following: Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 (SP1) Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise operating systems as a host operating system; Windows Vista with SP1 Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise operating systems as a guest operating system; Windows Server 2008 Standard as a guest operating system and Windows XP with SP3 as both a guest and host operating system", Microsoft revealed.
Additionally, Virtual PC 2007 SP1 brings to the table hardware-assisted virtualization, the ability for end users to spread their virtual machines in concordance with multiple monitors, support for guest platform deployments via a network, but as of yet no support for 64-bit guest operating systems, although host OSs are no problem. Virtual PC 2007 SP1 adds Vista SP1 Ultimate, Business, Enterprise, Windows Server 2008 Standard and XP Professional SP3 to its list of guest operating systems.
As far as host operating systems are concerned, Virtual PC 2007 now with Service Pack 1 supports the Ultimate, Business and Enterprise SKUs of Vista as well as XP Professional SP3. The same platforms are now supported by Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, but on top of them, users will also be able to install and run Windows Server 2008 Core, Datacenter, Enterprise and Small Business Server as both host and guest platforms.
"In conjunction with Windows Server 2003, Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 provides a virtualization platform that runs most major x86 operating systems in a guest environment, and is supported by Microsoft as a host for Windows Server operating systems and Windows Server System applications. Virtual Server 2005 R2's comprehensive COM API, in combination with the Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) format and support for virtual networking, provide administrators complete scripted control of portable, connected virtual machines and enable easy automation of deployment, and ongoing change and configuration", reads an excerpt of the Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Product Overview.
Virtual PC 2007 SP1 can be downloaded from here. Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 is available for download here.