Welcome to the world of Windows7 where everything seems possible, today we are going to explorer all about Virtual Hard Disk in Windows 7. Topic we will be covering are

What is Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

Why do we need Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

What are the advantages of Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

What are the disadvantages of Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

How to Create and configure a VHD in Windows 7 ?

How to Detach VHD ?

 

What is Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

Virtual hard disks (VHDs) are a file type that acts like a hard disk. A Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) acts as a separate hard disk in a PC.

Why do we need Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

VHD in Windows 7 can be utilized in many ways such as for multi purpose O/S, single file backup and much more.

What are the advantages of Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

i) Create as many as VHD and install as many as O/S on them as long as it supports booting from a VHD.

ii) Copy just one file (.VHD file) and your entire system is included.

iii) Easy to encrypt and transfer one single .VHD file.

iv) Ability to create as many as Virtual hard disk from Single Physical hard disk.

What are the disadvantages of Virtual hard disk in Windows 7 ?

i) The .VHD booted OS needs to be Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 or later.

ii) You can fill performance decrease of about 2 to 3 %.

iii) Windows Experience index will not work.

How to Create and configure a VHD in Windows 7 ?

Creating and configuring a VHD is as simple as couple of clicks, follow following steps to create and configure VHD in your Windows 7 PC.

Step I - Right click on computer > click on Manage OR type compmgmt.msc on search box and click on Compmgmt as shown below.

                                      OR

Step II - Highlight Disk Management and than go to Action and click on Create VHD as shown below

Step III - Browse to the directory you want the disk to be saved, choose the name of the disk, choose the size you want it to be, and select dynamic or a fixed. If you want the disk to expand in size as you add files to it, then pick Dynamically expanding. Check Fixed size if you want a specific size and for it to stay that way. After the input click on OK.

For example: As a part of this tutorial we are saving VHD file to E: drive with the name of ComputerAnthemVHD, VHD Size of 1000 MB and format as a fixed size. You can change this according to your need.

 

 Step IV - Once you click on OK, you will see process of creating virtual disk and percentage complete as shown below.

Step V - Once the process is completed you will see the virtual drive listed as unallocated space in computer management box as shown below

 

Step VI - Now right Click on disk > and click on Initialize disk as shown below.

 Step VII - Tick on MBR radio button and click on OK as shown below

Step VIII - You will see your unallocated disk come online, now it is time to create a volume by Right-clicking the unallocated space and select New Simple Volume as shown below.

Step IX - Click on Next

 Step X - Allocate Simple volume size and click on next.

Step XI - Assign drive letter to newly created VHD drive and click on Next as shown below.

Step XII - Leave default value and click on Next.

Step XIII - Click on Finish to Create a new simple Volume.

XIV - If you have AutoPlay enabled it should pop up for you to open up your new virtual hard disk.

XV- It will also be listed with the other disks in Disk Management.

 

XVI - You can also see your newly created drive listed in My computer.

 

How to Detach VHD ?

Once you are done with your VHD or you no more need it, you can only detach VHD or you can detach and delete VHD. Follow following steps to do it

Step I - Right click on VHD and click on Detach VHD as shown below

 Step II - You can just detach the VHD or delete the VHD as shown below.