How To Create Virtual Hard Disk In Windows 7

How To: Create and Use a Virtual Hard disk on Windows vii

How To: Create and Utilize a Virtual Hard Deejay on Windows 7

This topic is a how to.
Please keep information technology as articulate and simple as possible. Avert speculative discussions too as a deep dive into underlying mechanisms or related technologies.

Introduction
Create a virtual hard disk from the Disk Management snap-in
Create a virtual hard disk from the command line using Diskpart
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Introduction

Virtual hard disks (VHDs) are a file type that acts like a difficult disk. In previous versions of Windows, VHDs were used by virtual machines, such as those created past Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 or Microsoft Virtual PC. Additionally, Complete PC Fill-in in Windows Vista created a copy of the calculator'south hard disk drive as a VHD disk image. Beginning with Windows 7, you can now mount VHDs exactly similar a concrete disk: by mounting a VHD, you can easily re-create files to and from the virtual disk; additionally, Windows vii tin be configured to boot from a VHD.
Y'all can create a VHD from either the Deejay Management snap-in or the control line. Afterward you create the VHD, you must attach it and then format it before yous tin apply it, just like a physical sectionalization. Another tool (non included in the operating arrangement, but downloadable for costless) that can allow you to create a virtual hard disk starting from a physical one is the Disk2VHD tool by Sysinternals.

Create a virtual difficult disk from the Disk Direction snap-in

From the Disk Management console, follow these steps:

Correct-click Disk Direction then click Create VHD. Follow the prompts that appear.
Correct-click the new deejay and then click Initialize Disk. Click OK.
From the DiskPart command-line tool at an elevated control prompt, run the create vdisk command and specify the file (to proper name the file) and maximum (to set the maximum size in megabytes) parameters. The post-obit lawmaking demonstrates how to create a VHD file at C:\vdisks\disk1.vdh with a maximum file size of sixteen GB (or 16,000 MB).

The new virtual deejay is prepare to exist used, simply like any other disk.

Create a virtual difficult disk from the control line using Diskpart

From the DiskPart command-line tool at an elevated command prompt, run the create vdisk command and specify the file (to name the file) and maximum (to set the maximum size in megabytes) parameters. The following code demonstrates how to create a VHD file at C:\vdisks\disk1.vdh with a maximum file size of xvi GB (or 16,000 MB).

For additional options, run the control help create vdisk at the DiskPart control prompt. Afterward yous create a VHD, y'all must attach information technology, create a sectionalization, assign it a drive letter, and format it before it can exist used. The following script (which must be run within a DiskPart session) demonstrates how to do this.