Virtual PC icon

Virtual PC

Virtual PC is virtualization software from Microsoft that allows you to run multiple operating systems as virtual machines on a Windows host. It provides an isolated environment for each virtual machine.

What is Virtual PC?

Virtual PC is virtualization software from Microsoft that allows you to run multiple operating systems as virtual machines on a Windows host computer. It provides an easy way to set up isolated environments for testing software, running alternate operating systems, or compartmentalizing different tasks.

Some key features of Virtual PC include:

  • Ability to install and run multiple operating systems like Linux, Windows, etc. as virtual machines
  • Virtual networking and sharing between host and virtual machines
  • Virtual hard drives, removable drives, graphic cards, printers etc. to emulate PC hardware
  • Snapshots and cloning of virtual machines to easily replicate or roll back VM state
  • Scripting and command line access to automate VM management
  • Integration features like drag and drop, copy-paste between host and VMs

Virtual PC is free from Microsoft but no longer under active development. Alternatives like VirtualBox and VMware offer more features and better performance.

The Best Virtual PC Alternatives

Top Apps like Virtual PC

VirtualBox, QEMU, Kubernetes, VMware Workstation Pro, Parallels Desktop, Docker, Portable Virtualbox, VMware Workstation Player, KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine), virt-manager, VMware Fusion, AQEMU are some alternatives to Virtual PC.

VirtualBox

Oracle VM VirtualBox, commonly referred to as VirtualBox, is a powerful and open-source virtualization platform developed by Oracle. It allows users to create and manage virtual machines (VMs) on a host machine, enabling the simultaneous execution of multiple operating systems on a single physical system. Key Features: Cross-Platform Support: VirtualBox...

QEMU

QEMU is a free and open source hypervisor and machine emulator. It emulates a complete computer system, including the processor, memory, storage, network interfaces and peripherals. This allows you to run software and operating systems written for one machine on a different machine.Some key features of QEMU include:Full...

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It groups containers that make up an application into logical units for easy management and discovery. Kubernetes provides a framework to run distributed systems resiliently across clusters of machines, hide the complexity of managing many different...

VMware Workstation Pro

VMware Workstation Pro is a Type 2 hypervisor developed by VMware for desktop virtualization on x64 versions of Windows and Linux. It allows users to set up multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine and run different operating systems and applications in each VM without rebooting.Key features include:Ability...

Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop is a popular virtualization solution specifically designed for macOS, enabling users to run multiple operating systems on their Mac computers. It is known for its user-friendly interface, performance optimizations, and seamless integration of virtual machines with the macOS environment. Key Features: Cross-Platform Virtualization: Parallels Desktop supports a wide...

Docker

Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications inside software containers. It provides an additional layer of abstraction and automation of operating-system-level virtualization on Linux, Mac OS and Windows.Docker packages software into standardized units called containers that have everything the software needs to run including libraries...

Portable Virtualbox

Portable Virtualbox is a free, open-source virtualization software that allows you to run multiple guest operating systems on your Windows host computer without needing to go through a lengthy install process. It runs directly off a USB thumb drive, making it easy to take your virtual machines with you wherever...

VMware Workstation Player

VMware Workstation Player is a Type 2 hypervisor developed by VMware for desktop virtualization. It allows users to set up multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine and run them simultaneously.Key features of VMware Workstation Player include:Ability to run production environments and test software on different operating...

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine)

KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is an open-source virtualization technology built into Linux. It allows you to create and run virtual machines (VMs) on any Linux server or desktop with hardware virtualization capabilities.KVM is implemented as a kernel module that leverages the virtualization extensions of modern CPUs like Intel VT...

Virt-manager

virt-manager is an open-source graphical application for managing virtual machines using the libvirt toolkit and related technologies. It provides a simple way to view, control, and manage guest virtual machines running on the KVM and Xen hypervisors as well as other libvirt-supported technologies such as LXC, QEMU, and VirtualBox.Some...

VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion is a Type 2 hypervisor developed by VMware for Mac users. It allows you to create and run virtual machines that emulate other operating systems on your Mac hardware. Fusion provides a simple user interface to set up, manage, and use virtual machines.Some key features and capabilities of...

AQEMU

AQEMU is an open-source machine emulator and virtualizer. It can emulate a variety of guest hardware platforms and allows you to run operating systems and software within virtual machines on your existing host operating system.Some key features of AQEMU include:Processor emulation including x86, ARM, SPARC and PowerPC architecturesVirtualized...