VMware Converter

VMware has a very good utility called VMware Converter.

It can be used to convert Microsoft Windows based physical machines (local and remote physical machines) and third party image formats (such as Microsoft Virtual PC and Microsoft Virtual Server) to VMware virtual machines.

There are two available editions of VMware Converter:-

1. VMware Converter Starter -- is a free download available to everyone. It is an easy to use product for single conversions.

2. VMware Converter Enterprise -- is a robust, enterprise-class product for managing and automating large scale conversions

For details, u may refer to:-http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

Virtual PC and Virtual Server

The following article describes the differences between Virtual PC & Virtual Server:- http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/techinfo/vsvsvpc.mspx

In summary…

1. Virtual PC is a virtual machine software for running on desktop operating system whereas Virtual Server is a virtual machine software for running on server operating system.

2. Virtual PC is NOT free, but Virtual Server is free.

3. For Virtual PC, both the host operating system (the one on which you install Virtual PC) and the guest operating systems (the ones running inside virtual machines) must be desktop operating systems. For Virtual Server, supported host and guest operating systems are all server operating systems, except for Windows XP Professional, which is supported as a host operating system.

How can your use Virtual PC/Virtual Server?
There are a number of other ways you might want to use Virtual PC. For example, you may use Virtual PC at home so that your family can use it to surf the Internet. This can then eliminate worries about applications or files your family might download—those downloaded materials will not affect the host operating system. If the virtual machine becomes corrupted or infected with a virus, you can simply delete the virtual machine and start it over.