Step 1.

Collect the Files You Need

To perform P2V migration you need the following components:

l Disk2VHD.exe. Sysinternals tool for performing P2V hard disk conversion

(Note: The following two downloads depend on whether you are coming from Windows XP SP3 or
Windows Vista SP1 and newer)

l KB961742-v3.exe. Update for Windows XP with SP3 to enable RemoteApp support. (Note:
language-specific versions of this update are available, download the correct the language for your
starting system.)
l Windows6.0-KB961741-x86.msu. Update for Windows Vista with SP1 or later to enable
RemoteApp

(Note: The following four downloads depend on whether you are installing Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit
and whether the hardware has virtualization technology included. For example, with a 64-bit install on
hardware with virtualization technology turned on, you’ll only need the first item below.)

l Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu. 64-bit Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7

l Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu. 32-bit Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7
l Windows6.1-KB977206-x64.msu. 64-bit update to remove the hardware-assisted virtualization
prerequisites for Windows Virtual PC
l Windows6.1-KB977206-x86.msu. 32-bit update to remove the hardware-assisted virtualization
prerequisites for Windows Virtual PC

Step 2. Install the RemoteApp Support fix on the starting system

This component will eventually enable the seamless application integration (where you just see the
application window and not the entire Virtual PC desktop). Install the version that corresponds with the
starting operating system (KB961742-v3.exe for Windows XP SP3 or Windows6.0-KB961741-
x86.msu for Windows Vista SP1, SP2 and Windows 7). The EXE file for Windows XP is language-
specific, so use the right one that corresponds with the starting operating system language.

Step 3. Run Sysinternals Disk2VHD on the starting system

This will convert the running Windows XP or newer environment to a VHD file. If you are running
Disk2VHD on Windows XP, you will need to check the box labeled â€œPrepare for use in Virtual
PC†and choose the drive Windows is installed on. You will also need to ensure that at least 51% of
the hard disk has free space or save to a different location â€“ like a network share or external hard drive.

This conversion process can take several minutes to a few hours depending on the disk size and the device
or network location you or storing the VHD on.

Step 4. Install Windows 7 or Purchase a System with Windows 7 Pre-Installed

Since we are sticking with the â€œmanual how-to† theme, let’s assume that you are using DVDs to

install Windows 7 or already have a system running Windows 7. You can find detailed guidance for
installing Windows 7 via DVD media here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Installing-and-
reinstalling-Windows-7.

Step 5. Install Virtual PC

In this step, you install the Virtual PC component I listed above (KB958559). You do not need to install
Windows XP Mode, as we will not be using that. Install the 32-bit or 64-bit version consistent with the
version of Windows 7 running on the host machine. Optionally, you can install the hardware-assisted
virtualization update (KB977206) corresponding to your system. If your computer has hardware-assisted
virtualization, you do not need to install the update, but in some cases will need to enable it in the BIOS.

l Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu. 64-bit Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7

l Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu. 32-bit Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7
l Windows6.1-KB977206-x64.msu. 64-bit update to remove the hardware-assisted virtualization
prerequisites for Windows Virtual PC
l Windows6.1-KB977206-x86.msu. 32-bit update to remove the hardware-assisted virtualization
prerequisites for Windows Virtual PC

When you are finished, you can delete the link in the Start Menu to Windows XP Mode, since you will not
be using Windows XP Mode.

Step 6. Create the Virtual Machine using your Converted VHD

If your converted VHD file is not on the local hard drive, you can copy it over to the Windows 7 computer
now. Go to the start menu and open Windows Virtual PC. Click on the Create Virtual Machine button
in the Windows Explorer ribbon. Give your Virtual Machine a name (I use â€œOld OS†in the
automated process) and browse to where you want to save the virtual machine or keep the default
location.

Assign how much RAM you would like to provide the virtual machine â€“ 512MB is often sufficient, but

as a rule of thumb, select 1024MB if 3GB or more are present on the host. This is also the default logic of
the automated process.
Now you can select your converted VHD file with the â€œUse an existing virtual hard disk†option.

Step 7. Install Integration Components in the Running Virtual Machine

Now you can launch your newly-created virtual machine. You might notice the virtual machine is very
slow; this is because it needs to deal with the native physical drivers. It might also start to pop-up several
windows notifying you of hardware changes and attempt to find replacements via Windows Update.

Once your virtual machine is up and running you can install the Integration Components to replace many of
the physical machine drivers with virtual machine drivers. To install the Integration Components, with the
virtual machine running click on the Tools dropdown menu, then click Install Integration Components.
You should see the Windows Installer Package start in the virtual machine and you will need to hit the
Next button once within the virtual machine to start the installation.

Installation of Integration Components may need to be followed by restarting the virtual machine and
attempting to reinstall Integration Components up to three additional times. You will know that Integration
Components is completely installed if you see the â€œInstallation Complete†screen with the installer
and when you restart the virtual machine it will show the â€œEnabling Integration Componentsâ€
notification. The running virtual machine will then also display the USB drop down menu and the
applications from your old operating system will appear in the Windows 7 start menu under the Windows
Virtual PC folder.
You will now be able to launch single applications seamlessly without seeing the entire virtual machine
desktop. The RemoteApp Support fix we installed in Step 2 along with the Integration Components we
installed in Step 7 enabled applications to be automatically published to the Windows 7 start menu while
enabling the seamless application integration. Now you’re ready to use your old operating system 
inside of Windows 7.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this Manual Process Still Require Software Assurance?

As with my previous blog posts, I need to stress that if you are not converting a system installed with
Volume License media, the virtual machine might not work or lock you out of Windows XP and prompt
for reactivation. I often read comments to P2V Migration for Software Assurance blog posts stating,
“I’ll just use â€˜tool x’ or â€˜tool y’ to get around the Software Assurance 
requirements.†To be clear, using a P2V tool from a company other than Microsoft does not make the
Windows licensing terms or activation technologies involved with transferring OEM-versions of Windows
to new hardware go away. If you have ever removed a hard drive from an OEM-installed system and
installed that hard drive in a new or different computer, that is the experience you will see when moving the
P2V-converted VHD file into Virtual PC. Software Assurance with Volume License media in this case
allows for the transfer of the operating system from the physical hard drive to the virtual machine.

What if the Physical Disk I’m Converting is Larger than 127GB?

The 127GB hard drive limitation is without a doubt the biggest technical limitation of the solution and this
limitation lies with Windows Virtual PC. This was also common feedback in our survey to Beta users of
P2V Migration. There are ways to reduce the VHD disk size to a value under 127GB, but they involve
additional manual steps and an unsupported tool from http://www.vmtoolkit.com called VHD Resizer. If
the disk being converted is larger than 127GB, you will want to begin with defragmenting the hard drive
prior to running Step 2 above.

In between Steps 5 and 6 above, you will need to attach the converted VHD using the Disk Management
utility in Windows 7 or diskpart.exe in an elevated Command Prompt. After the VHD is attached, mark
the VHD Online. Select the primary volume and use the Shrink Volume command to shrink the
Windows volume to less than 127 GB. This will create unallocated space on the disk. Now you can mark
the disk Offline and detach the VHD.

Using VHD Resizer, you can now open the converted VHD file and create a smaller duplicate of that
VHD at a size under 127 GB. When finished, Virtual PC will be able to mount and boot into the resized
VHD file and you can proceed through Steps 6 and 7 above. While this isn’t the most elegant 
workaround (nor can it be automated to my knowledge), it does do the job make the VHD file functional
in Virtual PC. Another option would be to use a different VHD viewer, such as Hyper-V in Windows
Server 2008 R2 along with Remote Desktop Services.