How to Install Windows Vista in Hyper-V Manager

By Tolga Bagci July 7, 2021 Hyper-V 0 Comments

In this article, we will examine how to set up Windows Vista on a new virtual machine using Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization software on the Windows 10 x64 Bit operating system.

How to Install Windows Vista on a Virtual Machine using Hyper-V

Microsoft released the Windows Vista operating system, which is completed on November 8, 2006, on January 30, 2007. However, Microsoft continued to support this operating system for 10 years and officially ended its support on April 11, 2017.

Windows Aero feature, Windows Sidebar feature that enriches the desktop, and DirectX10 support were introduced with Windows Vista for the first time.

This version has features that offer great ease of use for both home users and business users, allow applications to work and develop better, and increase the security of user information.

Although the user interface and graphics were greatly improved, Microsoft released a major update for this system when users encounter system slowness and many security vulnerabilities.

It is Microsoft’s first operating system that uses 64-bit architecture most effectively and also introduced Microsoft Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 applications.

How to Create a New VM for Windows Vista

After installing Hyper-V virtualization software built into Microsoft’s Windows 10 system on your host computer that supports virtualization, you can easily install both new and old systems of Windows.

When creating a virtual machine with Hyper-V, you must configure the operating system settings correctly. Because when you try to set up a system that has been discontinued, you may not be able to run hardware such as a network adapter.

Step 1

After running Hyper-V, click Action / New / Virtual Machine to start the virtual computer creation wizard.

Step 2

When the VM wizard opens, you can click Finish if you want an automatic virtual machine to be created with default settings, or click Next to prepare a manual VM.

Step 3

Type the name in the Name field of the Windows operating system and if you want to set the installation location to an external storage unit, select the relevant option and specify the location by clicking the Browse button.

Step 4

When you install an old system in the Generation selection window, you must select Generation 1. Because older systems do not support UEFI firmware. If you are going to install a newer system such as Windows 10, you can enable UEFI by selecting Generation 2.

You must choose Generation 1 as Windows Vista does not support UEFI by default. There are some resources on the Internet that Vista also supports UEFI installation methods.

However, in our article, we choose the BIOS-based Generation 1 because we will install it with an original Vista image.

Step 5

If you are going to use another guest machine other than a Windows Vista virtual machine on your host computer, you can make more administrative resource allocation by enabling the Dynamic Memory feature.

If you are going to use only one VM in Hyper-V, disable the Dynamic Memory feature for performance and write the RAM size allocated to the VM in the Startup Memory field.

Step 6

Continue without selecting any adapter in the network settings window of the virtual computer, because Vista is an old system, and the driver for the network adapter is not installed automatically.

Step 7

By default, the virtual disk size is set to 127 GB, but if you are installing your guest system for testing purposes only, you can set the virtual HDD capacity to 50 GB.

Step 8

You can use your host’s CD/DVD drive or a bootable ISO image to install the guest operating system. After enabling the Bootable CD/DVD-ROM option, select Image File.

Step 9

In the window that opens, add the Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 x86/x64 EN ISO image that you downloaded to your computer from the link here.

Step 10

After adding the Windows image file to the VM, click Next to continue.

Step 11

After checking the settings you have made in the summary configuration of the Virtual PC, close the window.

Step 12

After preparing the virtual machine, before adding an old network adapter, open the Virtual Switch Manager and create an external switch.

Step 13

Type a name for the External Switch and configure the External Network setting as your host’s adapter connected to the Internet and apply the settings.

Step 14

Open the settings of the virtual machine you created in Hyper-V, select the Network Adapter device and click the Remove button, then apply the action.

Step 15

In the VM’s settings window, select Add Hardware, then tick Legacy Network Adapter and click Add.

Step 16

View the old adapter settings and configure the Virtual Switch setting as External Switch.

Step 17

You can increase VM performance by configuring the number of Processors depending on the hardware power of your host.

Step 18

In the Virtual Machines section, right-click the VM and click Connect. After connecting to the virtual computer, you can start the guest operating system installation by clicking the Start icon or the Start button in the tool menu.

How to Install Windows Vista

After preparing and running the virtual PC correctly, all you have to do after this step is to install the operating system.

Step 1

After running the VM, press Enter on x64 Setup when Windows Boot Manager opens.

Step 2

Configure your system display language, time and format, and keyboard layout on the Windows Vista setup screen and click Next.

Step 3

In this step of the installation wizard, you can get more information, repair your system or start the installation directly by clicking Install Now before installing Windows.

Step 4

Select the Windows Vista architecture you want to install on the guest machine and click Next again.

Step 5

After reading the Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 license agreement, accept it and click Next.

Step 6

Since you are doing a Windows Vista installation from scratch, choose Custom (Advanced) and continue.

Step 7

Click Drive Options to edit the virtual disk or click Next to automatically configure partitions to start the installation.

Step 8

To create a new partition in the disk configuration window, first, click the New option and then the Apply button.

Step 9

After creating a new partition on the disk, click Next to install the primary disk partition.

Step 10

Wait while the setup wizard expands the Windows Vista system files.

Step 11

Your virtual system will restart within the specified time period, otherwise, click the Restart Now button to restart immediately.

Step 12

After your virtual system restarts, wait while the setup wizard starts configuring the final settings.

Step 13

Type a username for your Vista guest operating system and select the profile picture you want to use and click Next.

Step 14

Likewise, type a computer name that will be different from other computers in your network environment and select your desktop background photo and click Next again.

Step 15

You can click Use Recommended Settings for Windows Update settings or choose to configure system updates later.

Step 16

Configure the time and date settings of your guest machine according to the time zone of the country you live in.

Step 17

You can configure the place where you physically use your host computer as a home, work, or general environment.

Step 18

After configuring the necessary system settings, click Start to launch your virtual system.

Step 19

After your system restarts, wait while the Windows Vista setup wizard performs hardware performance.

Step 20

When your Microsoft Windows Vista virtual system is turned on, you can see your system information in the Welcome Center window on the desktop and make the necessary settings.

How to Check Internet Connection

One of the first things you will do after installing the virtual machine is to check the Internet and network connection. If you had installed the adapter added by default in the VM wizard, you would not be able to access the Internet. So we have added a legacy network adapter to the VM.

Step 1

Open the start menu on your virtual computer and open the CMD command prompt and test your Internet connection by pinging the Google servers by executing the ping 8.8.8.8 command.

Step 2

When the ping check is successful, open Internet Explorer and check your connection by visiting the homepage of the Google search engine.

How to Use the Virtual Machine in Full-Screen Resolution using Remote Desktop Connection

After installing Windows Vista with Hyper-V, you may experience screen resolution problems and not be able to hear system sounds when you connect to the VM. Therefore, you can connect to your guest system using the Remote Desktop Connection tool on the host and use the full-screen mode and hear the system sounds.

Step 1

Before connecting to the guest OS with the remote desktop, you need to find out the IP address that the VM gets from the DHCP server in your local network.

Open Network and Sharing Center and click View Status, then click Details in the Local Area Connection Status window and note down the address in IPv4 IP Address.

Step 2

After checking the IP address of the virtual machine, right-click on My Computer and open Properties to allow remote connections.

Click Advanced System Settings in the window that opens, and when the System Properties window opens, select “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)” from the settings in the Remote tab and click OK.

Step 3

Finally, you need to create a user password to establish a remote desktop connection from the host to the VM.

Right-click / Manage on my computer, click Users under Local Users and Groups in the Computer Management window that opens, and right-click / Set Password on the user account.

In the Set Password for User window, create a memorable password and click OK.

Step 4

Find and run the Remote Desktop Connection tool from the Start menu on your host computer.

Step 5

Type the IP address of the virtual machine in Computer and click Connect, then type the user name and password of the guest system and click OK. When you get a certificate error during remote desktop connection, click Yes and continue.

Step 6

After making a remote desktop connection to the Windows Vista virtual system, you can use the VM in full-screen resolution and hear system sounds.

How to Use USB Flash Memory in VM

If you want to use USB flash memory on the guest machine, you must configure the local resources to be used in the VM in the Remote Desktop Connection tool.

Step 1

Open the remote desktop application on your host and click on Show Options and the Local Resources tab before connecting to the VM.

Step 2

In the Local Resources settings, click the More button under Local Devices and Resources, in the window that opens, under Drives, mark the USB memory you have inserted in your host and click OK

Step 3

If you do not want the window that appears when you try to connect to the guest system to be displayed again, select the Don’t ask me again for connections to this computer option and click Connect.