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

Px455

New Member
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

Well-Known Member
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

Administrator
Staff member
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

Member
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.
 
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Px455

New Member
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

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