HowTo : Mount Virtual Hard Discs (VHD)

Windows 7 allows you to create and manipulate virtual hard disk files (or “VHD”s) as if they were real disks. This is great as it allows Virtual PC users to mount their virtual disks within a live Windows installation without the need of booting the virtual PC environment.

To create virtual hard disks:
1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage. Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.
2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.
3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Create VHD.

Here you will be able to specfify the size and the location of the virtual hard disk file.

To attach a virtual hard disk file:
1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage. Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.
2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.
3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Attach VHD.

In the dialog that appears, you can specify the location of the VHD file as well as mark it as read-only.

Initializing virtual hard disks:
1. Click on Start, right click on Computer, and then click on Manage.Provide consent to the User Account Control dialog if required.
2. In the left hand pane, click on Disk Management, and wait for it to load.
3. In the menu bar, click on Action, and then click on Attach VHD.
4. Specify the location of the VHD file and click on OK, the Disk Management Service will go ahead and mount the VHD file.
5. Once it is mounted, right click on the virtual disk (which will show up as a blue hard drive) and click on Initialize Disk.
6. In the dialog that appears, select the partition style you wish to use and click on OK. The Disk Management Service will now initialize the disk for use.
7. Right-click on the unallocated space in the virtual hard disk and click on “New Simple Volume”, and follow through the instructions in the wizard to create a new partition within the VHD.

Now, if you go to Windows Explorer, you’ll see another hard drive here, which is the virtual hard disk – you can interact with it as if it were a real hard drive.