A continuation from my previous post on VPC, this time is about adding a virtual machine (VM) within the virtualization program. In this example , we’ll be able to see all the various options presented by the program for adding a VM. Just fire up VPC…
After the splash page…it looks like this since no VMs were ever added:
Startup Screen
1. On the wizard, click next.
2. Select “Create a virtual machine” — which will be the first of many; then click next.
3. Specify a name for the VM and save it wherever you like, click next. Refer to Note 1.
4. This screen presents the options for OS types and their minimum hardware requirements (HDD & RAM). Choose of your liking, and click next.
5. The memory screen allows you stick with the default settings from the previous screen, or to manually adjust the the memory size to your liking. Stick with it, or adjust—choose one. Click next.
6. Now it’s time to add a virtual hard disk that will be specific to the VM. Choose “A new virtual hard disk”, click next.
7. Just as in step 3, perform the same actions and refer to Note 1. Please note that you should also specify disk size. Refer to Note 2.
8. Click next, then a summary screen appears and now you can click finish.
9. Now your VPC Console should look like this:
VPC Console
10. If you need to manipulate settings, click on the Settings button, otherwise, click on Start to begin OS installation. If you’re unhappy with everything, just remove it and start anew.
It’s best practice to save the VM in a partition other than that of the OS. As a VM gets bigger, it will use up more hard disk space.
Why would a VM get bigger? Well, simply put, think of the VM as another OS; as you install more software, more space is used up. If you had saved the VM on the partition where the OS resides, less space would be available on that partition. Things would slow down a great deal—VM uses hardware components—HDD & RAM.
Choosing the hard disk capacity totally depends on what is your task for the VM. If you just want to practice, then no more than 10GB. If you’ll be hardcore, installing lots of software and performing windows update, then allot 20GB+.
Tek or Belly Up 