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Only certain editions of Windows 7 can be installed as virtual guests. For example, you can install the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions of Windows 7 as virtual guests on servers running Hyper-V, you cannot deploy the Starter and Home Premium editions in this manner. The x86 and x64 versions of Windows 7 can be run as virtual clients, although the x64 versions of Windows 7 can be run only as virtual clients in virtualization solutions that support this processor architecture. You learn more about virtualization solutions later in this chapter. Running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate virtually consumes a license activation. Windows 7 Enterprise edition works differently from the other two editions in that this edition includes four virtual licenses as a part of its licensing terms. This means that if you deploy a computer running Windows 7 Enterprise and you install virtualization software, you are licensed to run four virtual instances of Windows 7 on that computer. This can be very useful for developers whose testing practices might compromise the operating system environment in a way that requires a clean install. The extra virtual licenses included in the Enterprise edition means that you can provision a virtual machine that you run tests on without consuming an extra operating system license.

To find out more about which operating systems are supported as virtual guests on Hyper-V, consult the following TechNet document: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/ library/cc794868(WS.10).aspx.

Microsoft ships several products that can host virtual guests running the Windows 7 operating system. Software that hosts virtual guests can run on both client and server operating systems. You can also deploy the Windows 7 operating system as a virtual client on virtualization host products that are available from third-party vendors. These are the virtualization host products available from Microsoft:

Runs on previous Windows client operating systems. Virtual PC 2007 supports only x86 versions of Windows 7. Can be installed on Windows 7. Windows Virtual PC is limited to running x86 versions of Windows 7. Can host x86 and x64 versions of Windows 7. Virtual Server 2005 R2 can be run on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and the Windows XP operating systems.

hyper-v A role service that you can run only on x64 versions of Windows Server 2008. Hyper-V is the platform most commonly used to host virtual machines on networks in which third-party virtualization host solutions have not been deployed.

Because Hyper-V functions only on x64 versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V can be reliably used to deploy all versions of the Windows 7 operating system. On Windows Server 2008 R2, you can install the Remote Desktop Virtualization Host role service. This service allows users to connect to a Remote Desktop Server that also holds the Hyper-V role, allowing users to connect to virtual machines hosted on the Hyper-V server.

To learn more about Remote Desktop Virtualization Host, consult the following page on TechNet: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd759170.aspx.

The Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7, as well as all editions of Windows Server 2008 R2, can be configured to boot from a virtual hard disk file (VHD). The VHD file is stored on the hard disk as a normal file, and the deployed operating system is contained within this file. In essence, the VHD file serves as a container located on the hard disk. The benefit of deploying an operating system to a container is that the container can be moved to another platform if you need to move it. For example, to transfer a fully deployed computer from one host to another, boot using the Windows PE environment and copy the VHD file to a new location. The only step required to prepare the new location is to edit the boot configuration file to point to the operating system on the VHD. You perform the task of boot environment configuration in the practice exercise at the end of this lesson.