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Paragon Virtualization Manager 14 Compact

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Started 10 years ago by mikiem2
Latest reply from mikiem2

mikiem2
Moderator

As simply as possible, Paragon's virtualization software A) clones a hard drive partition to a VHD [Virtual Hard Drive], & B) works its migration magic, removing registry entries for core hardware drivers, so that Windows will start & then proceed to add needed replacement drivers. Can you do it without their software? Sure... Don't need any software really -- should work as well to 1) create a .vhd file/drive in win7/8, 2) clone a system partition to that .vhd, 3) create a new VM using that .vhd, 4) start that VM running a repair install using a Windows setup disc or ISO. Paragon's software is easier, plus you don't have to jump through hoops to create a VMWare or V/Box VHD, mount it, & then clone your partition to it [Windows only does .vhd natively].

I think Paragon's software, particularly their virtualization stuff is really great, but I don't want to give anyone false impressions. When their virtualization stuff 1st came out I was super excited -- then I used the software quite a bit and found much of my excitement was unfounded. It's not that the software didn't work well -- it did its job better than I had dared hope... Windows installs migrated to VMs were just kind of meh. There was a reason behind every hardware upgrade I'd performed over the years -- these VMs reminded me of that.

VMs [Virtual Machines] are cool, but only useful in limited situations. And they ALWAYS have downsides that should be weighed against any positives. Unless you're running a special host OS, VMs don't have enough resources to be fast -- you still have to have enough to run Windows. You don't have direct hardware access to any real hardware, so anything requiring that sort of thing is out, DX support is minimal, if present, and all the added software layers slow things down along with the reduced reduced resources you have available. There's the potential for software bugs in the VM host software itself -- one recent V/Box update deactivated Windows VMs across the board. It's possible to set up some pretty advanced networking, but getting that set up & actually working requires a bit of tech expertise &/or experience. VHD hard drive maintenance can be a real chore. Windows maintenance can be a chore for that matter -- the idea of using a VM so you don't have to hunt up & install software in win7/8 may sound like a time saver, until you realize that every Update Tuesday for example you've got twice the work.

VMs are good when you want to isolate a copy of Windows -- when you read articles, blogs etc. written by security experts they always talk about how they test whatever in VMs. They can be good for flexibility -- corporate IT can use one piece of hardware for several different kinds of servers, all depending on which VM(s) is(are) run -- I can run a 32 bit copy of win7 without having it installed. They are fast & easy to restore, simply by copy/pasting a known good copy of the VHD over the top of the old one you want to replace -- corp. IT can have a basic, up to date copy of Windows that runs for everyone by duplicating the same VHD file, &/or keep individual copies that have been modified, and make those available pretty much anywhere, almost regardless the hardware used by the employee. You could use the exact same copy of Windows, with all your customizations, files etc., in every office on every PC.

VMs **may** be cool when you need to run old software, but that's usually only a temporary or last resort -- never the best option. There are fairly few apps that can't be replaced with newer versions or software designed for the main, host version of Windows you're using. They'll run better & you don't have extra work or overhead. As a transition from XP to 7/8/8.1, in my experience it's less work & faster to just dual boot, going into XP proper when/if you need to, even if it's only to collect some registry entries -- you not only have the overhead of setting everything up, but the continual overhead or having to start the VM, and the slower speeds once you do get it started. As far as transferring a working copy of XP to a VM, in my experience, as a VM that copy runs too slow to be all that useful -- better IMHO to endure the pain of freshly installing XP to a new VM, along with all the updates. It could just be me & that old XP Pro install that's been around since early 2008, and I do hope that anyone deciding to try this has better luck, but after spending considerable time migrating that copy of XP to a VPC & V/Box VMs, I found it too sluggish to use on any regular basis.

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Now to Virtualization Mgr itself...

As is common with Paragon software prgiso.dll, msvcrt.dll, & msvcp60.dll are slated to be added to Windows system folder -- I normally add them to the software's program folder to prevent any potential issues with different versions used by different Paragon apps. It also makes these apps near or fully portable, though you will still get new registry entries, usually just cache related more-or-less garbage stuff. When I say the program folder I mean the one that's normally labels Preogram, where you'll usually find the launcher.exe -- in this case it's explauncher.exe. When I say near portable, if the app uses drivers those functions that need those drivers will not work, e.g. I can't mount backups in their backup app running portably.

As is common with .msi setup files, you'll get a bunch of what I feel are needless registry entries, plus .msi files added to the Windows folder. In this case it's not a huge deal, with 364 new registry entries recorded, many of those cache related. Still, it's a habit of mine to avoid the .msi baggage, & so I just used Universal Extractor to expand that .msi file. This gave me a System32 folder, with those 3 files I mentioned earlier -- & which I dragged/dropped into the Program folder [Paragon Software\Virtualization Manager 14 Compact\program\] -- and that Virtualization Manager 14 Compact folder itself, which I dragged/dropped into the Program Files (x86)\ Paragon\ folder with my other Paragon apps. Note that monitoring installation I recorded no Paragon specific entries that the software might use -- the closest I came was uninstall keys, which since everything is now in that single folder, are useless to me.

Posted 10 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

From the download page in case it's useful...

Paragon's Virtualization software is unique -- you should grab it if you have any interest, or think you might have future interest in VMs. SysInternals at Microsoft has their Disk2vhd program -- it's usable but not nearly the same thing.

In a nutshell Paragon's Virtualization Manager clones a hard drive partition to a virtual hard drive [VHD], which is a single file that Windows sees as a real hard drive. Step 2, it removes Windows registry entries for the old core hardware drivers, the one's that let Windows talk to your hardware to start Windows. Step 3, the drivers for your VM host software are added, & you then add a special set of software to your new VM [Virtual Machine] tailored to the version of Windows [with the free VirtualBox they're called Additions], that allow you to do stuff like copy/paste text between the two.

There are 3 main VM Host apps, Oracle's VirtualBox, Microsoft's Virtual PC, & VMWare. VMWare *may* be the best, but it the most expensive. VirtualBox is free, it's what I run, but V/Box & VMWare require you to setup a folder or folders that are shared with the host copy of Windows that's running everything, & that's how you get files in/out of the VM. Microsoft's solution, free with win7 [it's the XP Mode VM that's restricted to certain versions], uses the remote features built into Windows, which means you can see & access all the files & folders you can normally see in Windows Explorer from inside the VM. The big catch is that you can only use certain versions of Windows, and the size of the VM's VHD is restricted. Of the 3 V/Box is the only one that has an unofficial portable solution in the form of a launcher, that adds the needed drivers to Windows, starts your VM, then uninstalls those drivers once you close V/Box.

Stuff to be aware of...
Microsoft has changed their licensing agreements for Windows regarding VMs, a few times, so check for the latest for the version(s) of Windows you want to turn into a VM. And yes, it will have to be re-activated, because as far as Windows knows you are using it on a new PC. Backup software doesn't like VHDs as well as regular files, at least major brands like Paragon & Acronis, so I back them up by copying the VHDs somewhere else. I also delete the VHDs on my system partition prior to performing a backup. A minimal Windows VM will have a VHD of about 15-20 GB -- that grows as you add software. I run 4 VMs off my system partition, restoring them by copy/pasting copies I store elsewhere on top of those files -- doing it that way, just copying VHDs rather than cloning etc., nothing changes so I don't have to always re-activate Windows. I also use Dynamically expanding VHDs that start out small & grow as stuff's added -- CloneVDI can help, a Lot, making them smaller by getting rid of free space that will accumulate https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=22422

V/Box can work with virtual hard drives in the Windows VHD format, or virtual disks formatted for VMWare or V/Box. Using the Windows VHD format gives you more options, since you can mount that VHD in Windows and work with it just like any other hard drive. To do the same sort of stuff with a V/Box .vdi file I have to either fire up the VM on that .vdi, or attach it to another V/Box VM -- in that 2nd case it's like adding a 2nd hard drive to your PC. As far as that sort of thing goes, you can do most stuff with a VM you can do with a regular PC, e.g. you can have a VM dual boot.

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As far as migrating your installed copy of XP to a VM...

Here's what I've done & found... You need another OS obviously, & do most everything while running that other version of Windows. If you dual boot between say XP & win7/8, you can preserve your XP install until you're sure everything's working as planned, then remove it or keep it in place. If you're replacing XP you can get it ready, preparing it to become a VM, then made a disk/partition image backup & create your VM from that. Some of Paragon's virtualization software can work with their backups as source, while with others you'll have to restore that backup to a new VHD you create in win7/8, then delete once you've got your VM. I kept XP in place & bootable, so I restored a backup to a VHD so I could do stuff like get rid of the partition's free space without having to change the original or anything, but that's just one way to do it -- I could have as easily changed everything I wanted to & then restored a backup of XP for example.

Because I was working with a clone of my XP install that was not running I rename folders for stuff like AMD's Catalyst Control Center, which is software for my AMD graphics card that starts with Windows, & I try to disable at least temporarily anything that does start with Windows. You could as easily uninstall that sort of thing while running the original copy of XP. The point is that you do not want anything starting with Windows that might be avoided, *Especially* security software. That's because when you first start your VM there will be all sorts of drivers to install, then more to install once you add [what V/Box calls] the Additions. VMs are a bit slow when you're running the VM host software in Windows -- after all you still have to use your CPU & RAM etc. for the host copy of Windows, split off some of your CPU & RAM for the VM, and have that new software layer in between your VM & your actual hardware. When you're going through that flurry of activity as Windows adds all these new drivers in a slower VM you Do Not want anything else running that can slow things down. I wait until everything is running before I deal with any folders I renamed, removing &/or getting software working that starts with Windows -- if you worked with the original Windows partition rather than a clone in a VHD this part's easier since you could uninstall stuff running that copy of Windows rather than disabling things by renaming folders.

Posted 10 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

#4: "Sorry, forgot to ask:
What about Linux?"

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#7: "“Even if you moved from PC to Mac, you can continue using your Windows as a virtual machine on a new Mac;
Does that mean this software can be installed on a Mac?"

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VirtualBox is available for Windows, OS X, Linux, & Solaris. While you may run into some gaps, most features should be cross platform. You should be able to create, test etc. a V/Box VM in Windows using Virtualization Mgr., & then get that same VM working in V/Box installed to your Mac, installed in Linux etc..

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#8: "1)Does it mean the converted virtual image file(using this GOTD Paragon Virtualization Manager 14 Compact) can be converted back to physical image if someone have a full version of paragon software that support it(virtual to physical)?"

That was originally how Paragon marketed their virtualization software, so yeah, it works. OTOH when you migrate Windows to new hardware you leave in place the old driver files & some of their registry entries -- the more you do that the more garbage accumulates & the higher the potential for problems.

"2)Is the converted paragon virtual image file compatible with other virtual system like virtual box, parallel desktop, vmware etc?"

I've done it, used one VHD with different VM host apps, but because of what I wrote above I prefer to create one for VPC, one for V/Box etc.

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#13: "I’m a total novice in this field… I’m a big XP fan and I’m using Windows XP Pro. with lots of important photo and graphical programs!
My question is: If I install this; “Paragon Virtualization Manager 14 Compact” on my PC with my old Windows XP, is it possible for me, additional to install Windows 7 and still keep and run my XP, together with all my important graphical programs, and without any problems?"

One thing to check out 1st, is you say lots of important graphics apps -- if any of them use the computer ID for activation, putting them in a VM will change that ID. If for example you have a newer version of P/Shop, if you don't de-activate it beforehand, it can be almost impossible to get it activated in it's new home. 2nd thing to check out is if any of that software uses graphics hardware assist -- if so it will not have that in a VM. 3rd thing is I would personally suggest win8 rather than 7, because win8 has better compatibility with old software than 7 does -- you won't know how the software will run in a VM until A) you try, or B) you find someone who runs it that way now, & if it doesn't work well, you *might* have better luck getting it running in win8.

The closest you can come to any guarantees that whatever apps will work in whatever VMs is to find someone that has run the exact same software in a VM.

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#14: "My idea is running XP afterwards only offline i.e. without danger.
A lot of people like me don’t want to throw away older machines not apt for Windows 7/8 and I want to use further on old scanners, printers etc. for which no Win7/8 drivers are available."

That's the best solution by far IMHO. As I mentioned elsewhere, getting hardware to run with a VM can be iffy. You can stick XP in a VM, but it will run slowly -- the more you have installed the more unwieldy it becomes. If there's one or a few apps you must run in XP, better to start out with a fresh XP install in a new VM, then install that software.

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#17: "There are many users like myself who wish to remain with XP but would like to improve our security when we continue to use it. My question is how, would we use, or is it worth using a virtual machine to improve our security?"

I'll start out by saying that I don't think you'd be happy using any VM as your main system because it's too slow -- when corporate IT sets up all these VMs for a company's employees/users they use a special VM host rather than host software running in a full-blown copy of Windows. Where a VM can provide greater security it's because it can be isolated from everything else, so while the VM might become infected or damaged, hopefully the host system & network escape any ill effects. If you had a minimal install, i.e. Windows without much software, it's also fairly easy to restore -- just copy a copy of your vhd & paste it over the old copy. Since a minimal Windows install might mean a 15-20 GB VHD, that's not a big deal -- I wouldn't want to regularly copy too much more than that.

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#19: "Well if I want my Windows 2000 computer on my new Windows 7..."

1st thing I'd suggest is research win2k in the different VMs & read user reports to make sure in the end that it will be usable enough to do what you want it to.

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#28: "I have a program running on Windows 7 64 bit that I need to run on Windows 8.1 64 bit. Is this the answer, or does it just work with XP?"

You can create a VM running just about any OS, though I'm surprised there's something 7 will run that 8 won't. AT any rate you create a new VM in your host software, using either a virtual disk that's already been created, or a new one. If it's a new VHD, you install the OS normally. If it's one you created with Virtualization Mgr., it'll start that copy of Windows.

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#29: "One thing I have found out about Windows virtual PC is that it supports a maximum virtual disk size of 127GB.
As far as I can see this means it only works if the disk you want to virtualise is 127GB or less (not the space used but the whole disk size)
As most of us have disks bigger than that, Windows Virtual PC would be no use."

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What you need to do is get rid of the free space on your partition -- if it's then still over ~100 GB you'll need to uninstall some software or delete some files to get it below that if you want to run VPC, but I think an awful lot of people [most?] have less than 100 GB actually in use by installed software in XP. The big exception I can think of is games, but they won't run well in VPC anyway -- use V/Box then as it has some limited DX support.

You can defrag to put your files at the start of the partition, then shrink the partition, then use Virtualization Mgr. Or you can back it up & restore the partition image to a VHD, where again you can shrink the partition.

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#33: glnz basically asks what it's like running a VM

Well, your VM host in Windows is just another app. For VirtualBox & VMWare you start it like any other software -- Microsoft's Virtual PC is started from a special folder view in Windows Explorer. Which one to try? VMWare is expensive so that tends to eliminate that for most home users. Virtual PC is easier, but much slower with the regular versions of XP in my experience -- it may still be worth a try however since you're new to this.

For VPC... Once you're in that folder view I spoke of you create a new VM, use the VHD Virtualization Manager created for you, start it, & watch the VM add all sorts of drivers. Then you add the VPC extensions. It's not possible to include everything here, so you will have to do some research on the various settings to use with VPC. Once it's all set up, you just have to start the VM & you'll get your old copy of Windows running in a window on your desktop. If/when you open Windows Explorer in your VM you'll see the files & folders not just for your VM but also your host PC/laptop.

For V/Box... You start the host software, which opens in a regular, though smaller window. Here you'll create a new VM -- again you'll have to research a little bit for where everything is -- using your new VHD for your new VM. Once you start it you'll see the same adding drivers etc., then you'll add the V/Box additions [included in an ISO in the Oracle VirtualBox folder]. With V/Box you have to designate what folders you want to share with your host Windows -- they can be permanent or temporary. TO run your VM you start the host software, select the VM you want to run, & click the Run button -- your old copy of XP again appears in a window on your desktop.

In both cases you can move your mouse from Windows to your VM just as if it was any other software -- when you type it appears in whatever Window has the focus. It's really just like running any other program, except in this case that other program is a copy of Windows.

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#39: "I guess the only question I have is: will I be able to save files (from the VirtualXP session) to a physical hard drive?"

It can get a bit sticky depending on which VM host you use, but you *might* want or need to save your files to the VM's VHD, then copy them to a folder outside the VM. In V/Box I'd set up a shared folder, map that folder in the VM, & see if the scanning software worked with that, & how fast/slow it was.

"I have a full-page scanner (with slide/negative attachment) that I want to use, but it won’t run in Win7 (Xp is the latest). I don’t have an XP machine to hook it to, but I do have XP discs that I can install XP with."

First off you'd probably be better off using Vuescan -- it comes with drivers for most scanners. That said, assuming the scanner is USB, it may or may not be compatible with the VM host software. Microsoft's Virtual PC host can be a little better than V/Box for USB, but it's really up to your scanner & what it will work with. In any case you attach the USB device to your PC/laptop, then go into your VM & assign or attatch that device to the VM, then see if it works.

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#42: "Most people have WinXP OEM licenses on their old computers, and Microsoft will not allow an OEM license to be activated on a different computer, including a virtual machine."

1st, MS changed their licensing for Windows, more than once, so I'd suggest anyone interested check it out at microsoft.com. 2nd, restrictions preventing installing an OEM copy of Windows elsewhere was AFAIK built into the Windows install discs that came with the PCs/laptops people bought -- not in Windows itself. In this case it's no different than moving your copy of Windows to another PC/laptop [P2P] -- Windows does not know it's in a VM. That said, if in doubt do not remove your original copy of XP you have installed until you have the VM running & are sure it's activated. Then either leave it in place -- sure beats a boot or rescue disc -- or get rid of it, reclaiming the disk space. If/when removing XP bear in mind that partition may also hold the boot files for win7/8 -- you can easily fix that with EasyBCD, which does run portably, but you need to be prepared for that.

Posted 10 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

#53: "Before anyone panics, even though updates, security or otherwise, stop, don’t think you’ll ” suddenly be under attack by hackers. ” XP’s a good system. Whether you decide to use Paragon Virtualization Manager or not, keeping a good anti-virus and checking your computer with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and SUPERAntiSpyware Professional, you’ll be just fine. TY GOTD !"

FWIW, yes, you can expect more targeting by the bad guys/gals. XP still has a significant user base [~30% per some stats], so it's worth it as a target for exploits. Lots of security software still works in XP, but lots of it doesn't work as well -- Bitdefender for example hangs XP Pro SP3 on this rig during startup unless I turn off auto-updates -- so in that respect it could be easier to write mal-ware that escapes detection by security apps when/if you target XP. Besides being less secure theoretically & statistically, XP still has security holes that will continue to be found -- when [not if] that happens MS will not patch it, and those holes will be exploited, probably a lot as low hanging fruit.

Also FWIW, many infected systems got that way by not running up to date security software. BUT, when the companies writing security software report a new exploit &/or mal-ware etc., have you ever wondered how they found out about it? Much of the time it's because systems running their security software got infected. Read the tests, the reviews, the stats, & nothing is 100% successful blocking 100% of mal-ware. However much you rely on security software, know that it isn't perfect.

Also, also FWIW, not only would access be arguably cheaper [with no money spent of countermeasures], but the online world would be a nicer, faster place if there were no bots & none of the traffic they generate. So, all those infected PCs/laptops making up the botnets really are effecting you. Besides the bootnets, every time a crook is successful stealing whatever from a server or PC or laptop etc., that's more motivation for more people to try and steal more. Again those people & companies that were/are a bit lax when it comes to security do effect you. IF this bothers you, it should.

Posted 10 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Apologies for trying to write a book here. :)

Posted 10 years ago #

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