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Microsoft Virtual Server
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<h2 id="differences-from-virtual-pc">Differences from Virtual PC</h2> <ul><li>VPC has multimedia support and Virtual Server does not (e.g. no sound driver support).</li> <li>VPC uses a single thread whereas Virtual Server is multi-threaded.</li> <li>VPC will install on Windows 7, but Virtual Server is restricted from install on NT 6.1 or higher operating systems i.e. Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.</li> <li>VPC is limited to 127GB .vhd (per IDE CHS specification), however Virtual Server can be made to access .vhd up to 2048GB (NTFS max file size).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="version-history">Version history</h2> <p>Microsoft acquired an unreleased Virtual Server from Connectix in February 2003. The initial release of Microsoft's Virtual Server, general availability, was announced on September 13, 2004.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> Virtual Server 2005 was available in two editions: Standard and Enterprise. The Standard edition was limited to a maximum 4 processors for the host operating system while the Enterprise edition was not. </p><p>On 2006-04-03, Microsoft made Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition a free download,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> in order to better compete with the free virtualization offerings from <a href="/facts/VMware/lKHGULx3">VMware</a> and <a href="/facts/Xen/U5fq6ESl">Xen</a>, and discontinued the Standard Edition.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Microsoft Virtual Server R2 SP1 added support for both Intel VT (IVT) and AMD Virtualization (AMD-V).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="limitations">Limitations</h2> <p>Known limitations of Virtual Server, as of September 2007, include the following: </p> <ul><li>Will not install on Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 or newer operating systems. Upgrades from Vista/Server2008 can be patched.</li> <li>Although Virtual Server 2005 R2 can run on hosts with <a href="/facts/X86-64/cyWvUFlP">x86-64</a> processors, it cannot run x64 guests that require x86-64 processors (guests cannot be 64-bit).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li> <li>It also makes use of <a href="/facts/Symmetric_multiprocessing/T9CahUsN">SMP</a>, but does not virtualize it (it does not allow guests to use more than 1 CPU each).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a></li> <li>Performance may suffer due to the way the instruction set is virtualized in this platform, with very limited direct interaction with the host hardware.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Virtual_appliance/CDgMshNf">Virtual appliance</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Virtual_disk_image/wbVUwIeh">Virtual disk image</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/X86_virtualization/utQwmdY3">x86 virtualization</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-microsoft-virtual-server-2005.aspx">Benchmarking Microsoft Virtual Server 2005</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060428220053/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-microsoft-virtual-server-2005.aspx">Archived</a> 2006-04-28 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li> <li><a href="http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-vmware-esx-server-25-vs-microsoft-virtual-server-2005-enterprise-edition.aspx">Benchmarking VMware ESX Server 2.5 vs Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060503053421/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-vmware-esx-server-25-vs-microsoft-virtual-server-2005-enterprise-edition.aspx">Archived</a> 2006-05-03 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a></li> <li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071019025121/http://hyperadmin.com/index.php?ref=5">HyperAdmin: Microsoft Virtual Server Management</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/industry/government/solutions/Server_Virtualization/default.aspx">Microsoft Server Virtualization for government agencies</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/10622.aspx">Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Resource Kit Book</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx">Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm/default.mspx">System Center Virtual Machine Manager</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/virtualserver/2005/proddocs/vs_deploy_reqs.mspx?mfr=true">System requirements for Microsoft Virtual Server 2005</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Linux Guest Support for Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/downloads/linuxguestsupport.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/downloads/linuxguestsupport.mspx</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Virtual hard disks". 30 July 2008. <a href="https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708315(v=WS.10).aspx" target="_blank">https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc708315(v=WS.10).aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>"Virtual Server 2005". Microsoft Press Release. 2004-09-13. Retrieved 2009-07-02. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/sep04/09-13availabilityvs2005pr.mspx" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/sep04/09-13availabilityvs2005pr.mspx</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Download Frequently Asked Questions". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-10-15. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Microsoft Virtual Server is now free <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/04/03/566267.aspx" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2006/04/03/566267.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>"Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Product Overview". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-08-24. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/evaluation/vsoverview.mspx#EMC" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/technet/virtualserver/evaluation/vsoverview.mspx#EMC</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>"Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Download Frequently Asked Questions". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-10-15. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>"Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 Download Frequently Asked Questions". Microsoft TechNet. 2007-06-11. Retrieved 2007-10-15. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/software/faq.mspx#EIB</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>"Benchmarking VMware ESX Server 2.5 vs Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Enterprise Edition". Virtualization Benchmark Review. 2006-04-19. Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2009-06-11. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060503053421/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-vmware-esx-server-25-vs-microsoft-virtual-server-2005-enterprise-edition.aspx" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060503053421/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-vmware-esx-server-25-vs-microsoft-virtual-server-2005-enterprise-edition.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>"Benchmarking Microsoft Virtual Server 2005". Archived from the original on 2006-04-28. Retrieved 2009-06-16. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20060428220053/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-microsoft-virtual-server-2005.aspx" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20060428220053/http://capitalhead.com/articles/benchmarking-microsoft-virtual-server-2005.aspx</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>