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[Cymon]

Okay, I want to record a video of doing an install without nuking my computer. So the obvious answer is virtual machines. However the problem is being cheap (as in broke) I can afford the license to buy windows so I can have a clean install for this one project. And near as I can tell there's nowhere I can download them.

Come on, I know they don't want folks stealing their software, but this is a virtual machine, temporary by nature. I know some folks use them for long term server solutions, but jeeze, I'm not. I can't even find a place to get pirate copies for the short time I need this.

Any suggestions?

[JoeHonkie]

You can get demo versions of most Microsoft software.  They expire after a couple of months, but if you are testing that won't be an issue, correct?

[mcc]

You're looking for copies of windows, or virtual machines?

Qemu is free and works (or seems to) but is rather slow. But maybe you could just speed the video up?

[JoeHonkie]

You're looking for copies of windows, or virtual machines?

Qemu is free and works (or seems to) but is rather slow. But maybe you could just speed the video up?

What's up, Mcc?

And most virtualization stuff is free now: VMware Server, VirtualPC, and VirtualBox.

[Cymon]

You're looking for copies of windows, or virtual machines?

Qemu is free and works (or seems to) but is rather slow. But maybe you could just speed the video up?

What's up, Mcc?

And most virtualization stuff is free now: VMware Server, VirtualPC, and VirtualBox.

Yeah, that's not the problem. It's getting the VMs themselves. I mean, I know you just load up the software and start up a virtual machine, then load your OS on it. VMWare won't let you do that free, tho. Maybe I should look at Qemu or something else.

Got the link to the demo version of windows XP or windows Vista?

[Bad Sector]

QEmu is free. Make sure you get and install KQEmu too which makes the OS run in -mostly- your native CPU and not an emulated one, otherwise it will crawl.

[minasss]

I'd go with virtualbox
it's pretty fast and you can easy install various os from cd/dvd or iso images

I've used it in windows & osx to test some software and it was very helpfull and easy to setup

[JoeHonkie]

Yeah, that's not the problem. It's getting the VMs themselves. I mean, I know you just load up the software and start up a virtual machine, then load your OS on it. VMWare won't let you do that free, tho. Maybe I should look at Qemu or something else.

Got the link to the demo version of windows XP or windows Vista?

VMware server is free and lets you create empty VMs and install software on them, as do Virtual PC and Sun XM VirtualBox.

I would avoid VMware Player, which may be what you are thinking of.  It's pretty limited.

The downside to VMware Server is that it loads a bunch of support stuff on your PC that can degrade performance if you aren't using the VMs often or for anything complicated.

I like XM VirtualBox, but if you are doing Windows OSes only, I would consider VirtualPC.  It's a pretty weaksauce application for anything fancy (32-bit only, ugh), but it's as easy as pie to use and has great Windows support (and also doesn't load up anything when you aren't using it, which is also true of VirtualBox).  So yeah, either of those two should suit you fine.