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Running Windows 7 Pro, 32 bit.

Installed Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode. Got XP Mode working but now when I run Start>Programs>Windows Virtual PC> Windows Virtual PC it just opens a Windows Explorer folder showing the XP Mode Virtual PC: Windows XP Mode.vmcx

What's up?

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5 Answers

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It looks like the Folders have gotten fouled up. I read one post that Folder Reset might fix it (but didn't for me) and that you could run the VPC Wizard (which worked for me) thusly:

vpcwizard.exe typed in the Start Search, or Start Run box, should give you access to the Create Virtual Machine Wizard.

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CAUSE: Windows 7 "forgets" that it should be showing the special toolbar for the VPC folder: The toolbar is missing on my PC. I read elsewhere that if you Reset the Folder it comes back. That worked for me, but I forgot how I did it exactly. So, two solutions: 1. Run the vpcwizard.exe OR 2. Reset the folder so the button show sup. – Clay Nichols Jan 13 '10 at 18:11
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up vote 2 down vote

That's the Virtual PC manager. You can have more than one Virtual Machine configured and that's the interface to manage them (you can change settings, how much ram is allocated, etc.) as well as starting and stopping them.

To start the Windows XP Mode that you set up, you can:

  1. Click on Start -> All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows XP Mode
  2. Open the Virtual PC Manager and double click the machine you want to start.
  3. Open the Virtual PC Manager and right click -> Open to start the machine.

As you install programs in Windows XP Mode shortcuts will be created in your Windows 7 start menu to launch them.

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Perhaps when running VPC you must specify which VPC you want to run, and the explorer window is simply a means to select which one (e.g. the .vmcx file)?

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I wondered the same thing myself once, and noticed that there was a special toolbar when I browsed that folder - do you have the same thing? One of the buttons should allow you to create a new virtual machine.

Edit: There is a picture of the toolbar on this post from MSDN: http://blogs.msdn.com/shaan/archive/2009/08/25/run-powerful-virtual-desktops-on-windows-7.aspx

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The toolbar is missing on my PC. I read elsewhere that if you Reset the Folder it comes back. That worked for me, but I forgot how I did it exactly. – Clay Nichols Jan 13 '10 at 18:10
In that case here is a link to a registry fix: social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itprovirt/thread/… From that page, it also has the suggestion of running %windir%\System32\VPCWizard.exe if all else fails. – ScottF Jan 14 '10 at 0:55
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I had the VPC options on the toolbar, but they were after the usual options "Organize," "Include in Library," "Share With," and "Burn." When I clicked on the ">>" button, I saw "Create Virtual Machine."

It totally threw me though because I've been using this since the 90s and I'm used to just having the main window open up. This is way less intuitive.

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