Running Win7 on a SP3 w/ Win10 as secondary OS - is a Win7 VM the best way to go?

[Px455]

This question fits into more than one subcategory, so I apologize in advance if I posted this in the wrong section. In short, I want to be able to use Windows 7 on my SP3 with Windows 10. I assume creating a VM of 7 will be the most feasible method, but have some questions on this.

I just purchased a mid-line refurbished SP3 (i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD.) I upgraded it to Windows 10, which I am very satisfied with. In fact, I am more than satisfied. I left PCs for Macs quite a few years ago due to frustration with the quality of Microsoft Windows, and the quality of many PCs. But the SP3, SP4, and Win 10 have blown me away.

So I do NOT want to get rid of Win 10, BUT, I would also like to have a version of Win 7 for certain work activities. I am aware that the SP3 and 4 cannot directly boot Windows 7, but I am curious as to if this would be a problem for using a VM, such as VirtualPC? I've used Fusion on OS X for years, and the program itself always rectified any incompatibilities in terms of bios/port/etc. As I am not really up to date on Windows, is this VM software commonly used and who makes the best?

Finally, if I am able to make a Win 7 VM, can I keep this virtual machine on a microSD card? I have a 64 GB Samsung PRO microSDXC card that can read and write at speeds over 90 MB/s. It's plenty fast enough to run the OS, and this would save me space and clutter on the primary SSD.

Thank you very much for the help.

 

[leeshor]

Welcome to the forum

I'm almost certain VirtualPC will not run on Windows 10 but Windows 10 has its own VM software in the forum of Hyper-V. Virtualbox will work.

 

[jnjroach]

You have a built in Virtualization Platform in Windows 10 Pro called Hyper-V, you will be able to install Windows 7 into a VM using it...

 

[ramiss]

Can I ask why you aren't just running those "work activities" under Win7 Compatibility mode in Win10? Seems like a huge resource hog (and very inefficient) to run a VM of Windows when you already have Windows.

 

[Px455]

Thanks for the suggestions! I will give it a try!

Can I ask why you aren't just running those "work activities" under Win7 Compatibility mode in Win10? Seems like a huge resource hog (and very inefficient) to run a VM of Windows when you already have Windows.

Primarily because I do computer tutoring and quite a few of my students still are using Windows 7. One school I am about to start teaching at went to Windows 7 in 2013 so I am going to guess they will have Windows 10 around 2021.

As great as 10 is, a lot of people fear change and so they are clinging to Windows 7 as if their life depended on it. While I recommend they not spend time and money learning an OS that is dated and rapidly approaching the end of its service life, it's their money and if they are paying...

 

[ptrkhh]

Just install Start10, the start menu is practically the only difference between W10 and W7 UX anyway