Four free programs for working with XP Mode, Virtual PC, and VHD files

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Disk2vhd (pictured above)
Need an easy way to convert a physical machine to a virtual one? Fire up Disk2vhd and create a snapshot of any system running Windows XP or later — including server OSes and x64 builds. Partition structure is retained, and you can even save your VHD to the same drive you’re backing up.

Boot VHD
Windows 7 can also boot those VHD files you create with Disk2vhd, but adding them manually to the BCD is kind of a pain in the butt. Boot VHD takes care of the heavy lifting: browse for your VHD and click create boot from VHD. A command prompt window will appear and the necessary additions will be made for you. Close that window, check the boot drop-down, and verify that your new entry has been created.

Remember, only Vista SP1 and later can be booted this way.

VHDAttach
While Windows 7 can manage VHDs like physical disks, mounting and dismounting them is a bit overcomplicated. You’ve got to open the disk management snap-in, click attach, then browse for your VHD. VHDAttach makes the process as simple as it can get: open the folder where your VHD is located, right-click it, and choose attach (or detach) from the context menu.

XP-More
Creating new VMs and managing their settings is already dead-simple in Windows 7, but duplicating a machine isn’t as straightforward as simple as doing a copy and paste in your Virtual Machines folder. XP-More streamlines things by creating both the .vmcx and .vhd files. The settings and create buttons launch Windows 7′s built-in tools.

If you don’t have the XP Mode or Virtual PC installers, you can download them over at Softpedia without having to go through Microsoft’s validation process.

Got another handy tool for working with Windows 7′s built-in virtualization features? Share it with us!

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