Windows 7 VHD Application Experience

I. Introduction to VHD

What is VHD? It is a virtual hard disk file. It was originally a virtual hard disk format used by virtual pc and virtual server. From the software perspective, it is a file suffixed with vhd. However, in windows 7, it can be directly identified by the operating system. It can be used as a container to store files and has many features on the hard disk. In terms of hardware, it is a "hard disk", which can be partitioned, formatted, read/write, and operated like a physical hard disk. Therefore, you can also regard vhd as a hard disk, just like a real hard disk of different specifications such as scsi, sata, and ide. Starting from Windows 7, the system can start directly from the VHD file, that is, the system can run in a VHD file in a way that is close to the real system performance without all the virtual software and hardware restrictions.

Which Windows 7 versions support VHD startup? Currently, only WIN7 flagship edition/Enterprise Edition and 2008R2 are supported. If you have the WIN7 flagship edition/Enterprise Edition and server2008 R2, congratulations! You can enjoy VHD and its convenient backup functions and other virtualization applications.

Ii. install and use VHD.

Early VHD installation applications were basically implemented by profound and boring commands. Here we put aside those dark interfaces, all of which were deployed using graphical operations.

I will take WINDOWS 7 Ultimate X64 system installation windows 7 ultimate X86 VHD (differential disk backup) as an example.

Preparations: first, you need a virtual optical drive to load the WIN7 ult X86 image on the hard disk to the virtual optical drive. Or the actual optical drive, put the WIN7 ULT X86 disc. The two methods are arbitrary. Of course, the previous method is much faster. Second, you need to download two auxiliary software, GImageX and jujumao windows vhd virtual hard disk file preparation tools. Get ready to start our VHD journey.

(1) Start --- Right-click my computer --- manage --- disk management, and choose "operation"> "create VHD" from the menu. If there are multiple hard disks, select the hard disk that saves the VHD file and click "operation". There are two other ways to achieve the same purpose, as shown in the figure (we recommend that you create a dynamic disk. My size is 60 GB, as you can, dynamic disks may lead to lower efficiency, but can save a lot of space when backing up the system );

 

 

 

 

Set the created Dynamic Disk to Windows7.vhd (note that there are no spaces in the name, and all VHD files must be in a folder without spaces with English names ). Still in disk management-Initialize disk-format disk (NTFS must be selected for the file system) and so on.

 

If the process (1) goes smoothly, there should be an extra partition in my computer. Naturally, it is the VHD Virtual Disk created just now, Disk 2.

 

 

Use a virtual optical drive to load the Windows 7 ultimatex86 image file. Then open the software gimagex_v2.0.17,

On the tab, select "application image" to open the "Application image" interface,

"Select image" --- find install. wim under the sources folder in your virtual optical drive;

"Application to" --- the VHD Virtual Disk just created

Next, pay attention to the following: there is an "image volume number". The default number is 1, which must be changed here, because 1 represents the version of Starter, click "select" on the right and you will be able to see that under normal circumstances 5 stands for the ultimate Edition.

 

 

It is best to select "check" and "Check integrity" below, and then click "application". It may take about 5 to 10 minutes to complete the task of filling in the Windows7 system in this step.

(3) Right-click my computer --- manage --- disk management, right-click "Disk 2"-"detach VHD", and detach the VHD disk partition created in Windows 7.

Next, open "WindowsVHD virtual hard disk preparation tool". On the first "Mount VHD" page, click "Browse" and select the VHD file, then, in the Add Startup menu, set a different OS name for the system.

Restart the computer and you will see the related startup options (the default system is "***** VHD system"). After the startup, install the system until it is complete.

 

 

 

 

If you just start Windows 7 from VHD, it can be said that the end is perfect. If you want to experience the backup function of the differential disk, perform the following steps;

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The following describes how to configure a differential (differential) disk and start it from a differential disk to experience the backup and restoration functions of a differential Disk:

(4) set the system you just started from VHD (set as you like, install some common software, drivers, updates, etc. You don't need to worry about this step, because once a differential disk is created, no changes are allowed to be made to the parent disk, and of course the system cannot be started from it. When you are feeling perfect, Please restart your computer !)

Switch to the real Windows 7 ULT X64 system. The next task is to create a differential disk;

(5) Open "WindowsVHD virtual hard disk preparation tool" and select "create VHD ", in the "parent VHD file path and name" column, select the file we just created and installed Windows 7, by default, you can name the sub-VHD file by yourself and click "OK"

Soon (the created sub-VHD file is in the same folder as the parent VHD file by default), and then the sub-VHD file is mounted using the method in (3.

At this time, the created sub-VHD system is very small, with only a few hundred KB to the order of MB. At this time, you can back up a copy of this Sub-system! If there is a problem with the VHD system, you can replace it with the current backup copy, and it will be a new system. How can this problem be solved? Quick method?

Restart the computer, and remember to start from the Child VHD file. Never start from the parent VHD file. Otherwise, the Child VHD file you just created cannot be used!

 

 

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