What is the VHD extension and how to open it. Create a virtual hard disk (VHD) to install Windows Vhd than open windows 10

If you often work with Virtual PC, then from time to time it becomes necessary to open a virtual hard disk file not in the virtual, but in the main system. In Windows 7, this is not a problem (the vhd file is easily connected through Disk Management). But in XP and Vista, everything is more complicated: you need to install the vhdmount utility.

vhdmount installation

The vhdmount utility is included in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (this is not a separate service pack, but a full-fledged server with SP1).

Run the installer (if enabled, then run as Administrator). Choose Install:

It is not necessary to install all server components. Select only VHD Mount:

We complete the installation. This completes the first stage.

Creating a context menu

Now let's start creating a context menu (so as not to suffer with the command line).

You need to create a file with the .reg extension and the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 @="Dismount" @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /u \"%1\"" @="Mount" @="\"C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Virtual Server\\Vhdmount\\vhdmount.exe\" /m /f \"%1\"" @="Virtual.Machine.HD"

If the installation folder differs from the standard one, then naturally, you need to change the path to vhdmount.exe. Vhdmount can be started with various options (for example, enable undo disk support to roll back changes). For more options, run vhdmount with parameter /? on the command line.

After the file is created, run it. We confirm the changes to the registry.

We check the result. When you right click on the vhd file, you should see the new menu items:

Installing vhdmount driver

To install the driver, open the control panel, switch to the "classic view" and launch the "Add Hardware" wizard:

Select "Install equipment selected from the list manually":

Select "Show all devices" and click on Next:

Click on "Install from disk":

Go to the vhdmount installation folder and open the file vhdbus.inf:

Select "Microsoft Virtual Server Storage Bus" and Next:

After the installation is complete, you need to connect any vhd file. During the connection attempt, driver installation will begin and fail. This is fine.

Open Device Manager. Here you will see the Microsoft Server Storage Bus Device01 marked with an exclamation point:

Right-click on it and select "Update Driver Software...". Choose manual installation:

In the "Look for drivers in the following location" field, select the vhdmount installation folder and click Next:

That's all. Now we connect a virtual disk, open "Computer" and work with the connected disk.

About shutdown. Under Vista, I never managed to shutdown without rebooting. A standard message appears that the resource is being used by another program, etc. No big deal, just be aware.

If your computer has antivirus program can scan all files on the computer, as well as each file individually. You can scan any file by right-clicking on the file and selecting the appropriate option to scan the file for viruses.

For example, in this figure, file my-file.vhd, then you need to right-click on this file, and in the file menu select the option "scan with AVG". Selecting this option will open AVG Antivirus and scan the file for viruses.

Sometimes an error can result from incorrect software installation, which may be due to a problem that occurred during the installation process. It may interfere with your operating system associate your VHD file with the correct software application, influencing the so-called "file extension associations".

Sometimes simple reinstall Microsoft Notepad may solve your problem by correctly linking the VHD to Microsoft Notepad. In other cases, file association problems may result from bad software programming developer, and you may need to contact the developer for further assistance.

Advice: Try updating Microsoft Notepad to the latest version to make sure you have the latest fixes and updates.

This may seem too obvious, but often the VHD file itself may be causing the problem. If you received a file via an email attachment or downloaded it from a website and the download process was interrupted (for example, by a power outage or other reason), the file may be corrupted. If possible, try getting a fresh copy of the VHD file and try opening it again.

Carefully: A corrupted file can cause collateral damage to previous or pre-existing malware on your PC, so it's important to keep your computer up to date with an up-to-date antivirus.

If your VHD file associated with the hardware on your computer to open the file you may need update device drivers associated with this equipment.

This problem usually associated with media file types, which depend on the successful opening of the hardware inside the computer, for example, sound card or video card. For example, if you are trying to open an audio file but cannot open it, you may need to update sound card drivers.

Advice: If when you try to open a VHD file you get .SYS file related error message, the problem could probably be associated with corrupted or outdated device drivers that need to be updated. This process can be facilitated by using driver update software such as DriverDoc.

If the steps didn't solve the problem and you are still having problems opening VHD files, this may be due to lack of available system resources. Some versions of VHD files may require a significant amount of resources (eg. memory/RAM, processing power) to open properly on your computer. This problem is quite common if you are using fairly old computer hardware and a much newer operating system at the same time.

This problem can occur when the computer is having a hard time completing a task because the operating system (and other services running in the background) can consume too many resources to open VHD file. Try closing all applications on your PC before opening VHDL Source File. By freeing up all available resources on your computer, you will ensure the best possible conditions for trying to open the VHD file.

If you completed all the above steps and your VHD file still won't open, you may need to run hardware upgrade. In most cases, even with older hardware versions, the processing power can still be more than enough for most user applications (unless you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive work like 3D rendering, financial/science modeling, or intense media work) . In this way, it is likely that your computer does not have enough memory(more commonly referred to as "RAM", or RAM) to perform the task of opening a file.

05.09.2009 05:09

In Windows 7, you can easily create, attach, and detach virtual hard disks.

General information about VHD

Virtual hard disk(Eng. Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)) is a file format that has a structure and content similar to a hard disk.

A virtual hard disk is used to store data and even operating systems in a single image file that can be opened by virtualization programs or virtual machines. Windows 7 includes all the necessary software to create, mount, and boot from VHD files.

Creating, connecting and disconnecting virtual hard drives in Windows 7 is done through the interface Disk Management Microsoft Management Console.

A virtual hard disk can be created anywhere on the computer's hard disk, except for the Windows folder and its subfolders.

The minimum size of a virtual hard disk is 3 megabytes. The maximum size is only limited by the amount of free space on the physical hard drive.

Create a virtual hard disk

1. Open Start, type in the search bar and press Enter.

2. Menu Action select .

3. Click Review.

4. Select the location where the virtual hard disk will be stored, give the created disk a name, and click Save.

5. If you want the capacity of the virtual hard disk to grow as data is stored on it, select Dynamic expansion. If you want the virtual hard disk capacity to remain fixed, select fixed size and specify the size of the hard disk to be created in megabytes, gigabytes, or terabytes.

6. Click OK and wait while Windows 7 creates the virtual hard disk and installs the driver for it.

After creating a virtual disk in the way described here, Windows 7 automatically attaches (mounts) it, so immediately after creating the disk, we can see it in the disk management interface of the Windows 7 management console in the list of all disks installed in the system.

7. To start using the created disc, .

Detaching a virtual hard disk

1. Right-click on the virtual hard disk and from the context menu that appears, select .

2. Confirm your decision.

Once detached, the virtual hard disk will be inaccessible until you reattach it.

When installed on a VHD virtual hard disk, the second Windows operating system is in no way inferior to the one that is located on another partition of the disk. On the contrary, the first has two significant advantages over the second. Firstly, to install Windows on a VHD disk, there is no need to redistribute disk space if there is initially no extra empty disk partition for the second operating system.

A VHD disk is created as part of the Windows installation process using the command line, and with its help it is mounted into the system in order to be visible among the partitions for installing the system. Secondly, you can work with the second Windows installed on a virtual VHD disk either by directly loading it on the computer or using the tools of hypervisor programs.

Any operating system installed on a VHD can be opened inside programs and and work with them in exactly the same way as with any systems created by means of these programs. Moreover, both programs initially provide the ability to create operating systems using a VHD disk. VirtualBox openly allows you to select the VHD format when creating a virtual machine's hard disk. But in the VMware Workstation program, at least such a moment is provided, but there is no usable selection menu, as is the case with VirtualBox. Extension ". vhd" for the hard disk being created, you need to manually register, replacing the pre-installed ".vmdk" – native VMware Workstation virtual hard disk format .

The only point in which the VHD-disk will be inferior "native" VMware Workstation and VirtualBox software formats, respectively, VMDK and VDI, this is the use of disk space in full. Whereas virtual hard disks of programs - VMDK and VDI– compress virtual machine data to save space on a real computer. In particular, VMware Workstation virtual machines on a physical hard drive take up almost half the amount of space available to guest operating systems.

So, we have an operating system installed on a virtual VHD disk.

How to open it inside the main operating system using VMware Workstation and VirtualBox hypervisor programs?

Opening a VHD in

In the main window of VMware Workstation, we start the process of opening a new virtual machine. This can be done both using the visual button on the home tab of the program, and in the menu.

The wizard for creating a new virtual machine will start, and in its first window, click on the custom configuration type.

Click in the program version compatibility settings window.

We do not install the operating system, therefore, there can be no download source. Choose the third item – installing the system later. We press.

In our case, there is a VHD disk with Windows 8.1 installed, and we select it in the lists of operating systems and their versions. We press.

We name the virtual machine and indicate its location on the computer. Work files will be stored in the specified location . The VHD disk itself, of course, will be where it was. We press.

In our case, there are as many as four cores, so with a generous gesture from the master's shoulder, we will give two of them to the virtual machine. We press.

But a generous gesture in terms of RAM will not work. We select only the necessary minimum - 1 GB . We press.

Preset network type NAT suitable in our case. We press.

Do not change the controller type I/O. We press.

The same applies to the type of disk - leave the preset SCSI. We press.

Finally, we got to the point of changing the preset parameters. In the virtual disk selection window, we need the second option -. We press.

In the next window, click the button review and point the way to VHD file. By default, VMware Workstation does not want to see this file format , presenting only files of its own production. And to see the VHD file, in the explorer window you need to install option to display all files .

Having registered the path for placing the VHD disk, click .

The virtual machine setup is complete.

Let's return to the main window of VMware Workstation and see the new virtual machine in the list of existing ones. Let's launch it.

The Windows startup process will begin with the adaptation of the system to the conditions of the hypervisor. Drivers, system settings, Windows 8.1 Metro apps will be updated. In some cases, starting a virtual machine may be accompanied by a Windows Recovery Environment window. In this case, you just need to choose continued use of the system.

The system will boot soon.

Opening VHD disk in VirtualBox

In VirtualBox, the process of opening a VHD file is simpler. In the main window of the program, click the button. Then, in the first window of the launched wizard for creating a new virtual machine, set it name, choose operating system and her version. We press Next.

Specify RAM size. We press Next.

In the virtual hard disk selection window, as in the previous case, select using an existing drive. Using the browse button, specify the path to VHD file. We press.

We return to the main window of VirtualBox and start the newly created virtual machine.

VirtualBox will also adapt the guest operating system to its specific work - drivers will be installed, system settings will be applied, etc.

In a minute or two, in the program window, we will observe the same Windows installed on the VHD disk.

The performance of such a system will be higher than when using virtual machines. Because when using virtualization, two systems run simultaneously on a computer. And in the case of VHD - only one and all the resources of the computer are given to her.

Windows 7 and above can be used as the main system. On a virtual disk in this way, you can install an operating system from Windows Vista and higher.

Attention!

Booting from VHD disks in Windows 7 is supported only by the Ultimate and Enterprise editions.

In Windows 10, booting from a VHD is supported by the Professional edition and above.

So, let's begin.

Create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)

There are two ways to create a VHD in Windows 7 - using the Diskpart utility (using CMD), or through the visual interface of the Disk Manager. The second method is simpler and clearer, so we use it.

Open Disk Manager. This can be done in the following way: Start -> Control Panel -> Administration -> Computer management -> .

Specify the location of the VHD file.

The file size must be large enough to deploy the operating system, install updates, necessary programs, and store various files. At the same time, the file size should not be larger than the free space on the disk where it is located.

Virtual hard disk format I prefer to choose " Dynamic expansion"because this mode saves space.

Click the OK button, the VHD file is created.

After that, the created virtual disk appears in the "" console. But it is not initialized.

It is initialized through the context menu:

As a result, we created a virtual hard disk, it is located on drive D :( D:\MyDisk.vhd) and is visible in the operating system. You can deploy another "OS" on it.

Deploying the Windows operating system on a VHD

This will require a utility imagex.exe from the Windows AIK or Windows ADK. I have already prudently taken this utility from the WADK and attached it to the article. Download imagex for x64 and x86 you can at the bottom of the page.

You will also need a file install.wim from the Windows distribution. In the distribution, it is located in the folder Sources. Suppose we have an installation DVD inserted into the drive and the path to install.wim looks like this - E:\Sources\install.wim.

Deploying the OS from the install.wim file to disk is performed as follows.

Since there can be several OS images in one WIM file, we will first determine the index of the image we need:

imagex /info E:\sources\install.wim

Let's say that the required Windows is at index 1.

We deploy 1 OS from the index to our VHD:

imagex /apply /check E:\sources\install.wim 1 Z:\

where Z: is the letter assigned to our VHD.

After the deployment of the operating system is completed, you can go to the VHD disk and make sure that the structure of its directories corresponds to the Windows system disk.

If everything went well, then we proceed to adding information to the OS bootloader that it is also possible to boot from our VHD.

Changing information in the Windows bootloader

We launch the command line with administrator rights.

We create a copy of the current operating system in the bootloader and give it the description "Windows 7 VHD":

bcdedit /copy (current) /d "Windows 7 VHD"

Running this command will also display the GUID of the new entry. Write it down or copy it - we will need it.

If you forgot to write down the GUID, you can find it out by running the command bcdedit without parameters.

bcdedit /set (GUID) device vhd=\MyDisk.vhd

bcdedit /set (GUID) osdevice vhd=\MyDisk.vhd

Don't forget to change the drive letter and path of the VHD file to your own.

Some x86-based systems require you to change the boot configuration option for the kernel in order to find information about certain hardware and successfully natively boot from the VHD:

bcdedit /set (GUID) detecthal on

where GUID is the identifier of our new entry in the loader.

Completion

Now you can reboot your computer.

When you start the computer on a black background, you will be asked to select an operating system within 5 seconds. Choose your newly created system.

Disable boot from VHD and return to original state

To return the computer to its original state, you must perform the following steps (in any order):

• Delete entry from bootloader.

  To do this, run the command bcdedit without parameters. She will bring us all the records. We find our added entry and its GUID in the list.

  To remove it, run the command:

  bcdedit /delete (GUID)

• Delete virtual disk from console "".
• Delete VHD file.

P.S. Describe in the comments, for what purposes do you use the technology of booting from a VHD virtual disk?