Technology today is absolutely awesome and there is very little reason for a developer to screw up.  Many tools facilitate in developing solid code, one tool is the use of Virtual PC.  Microsoft has release Virtual PC which ultimately is a PC in a window; you create a new PC by starting a VPC from the Virtual PC software.  Once created you "boot" the machine in a window and it treated as a brand new machine with nothing on it.  You then proceed to install your operating system and software on it .... Voila!

Now as a developer,

• You can create different client operating system footprints and test each one with your software.
• You can test deployment of your software
• Applications can be tested in a distributed environment by creating several VPC's for web, database and application servers.
• You can create a Domain controller and play with security without having all the corporate red tape.
• Different browsers can be tested.
• Failover can be tested by simply simulating a crash of a server.

The best news is that it is a free download from www.microsoft.com/virtualPC.

After you have installed Virtual PC on your machine, now is the time to create a VPC, follow the steps below:

Creating a Virtual Machine

To create a custom virtual machine

1. Open Virtual PC Console.
   
2. In Virtual PC Console, click New.
   
   
3. In the New Virtual Machine Wizard dialog box, click Next.
   
   
4. In the Options dialog box, click Create a virtual machine, and then click Next.
   
   
5. In the Virtual Machine Name and Location dialog box, type a name for the new virtual machine, and then click Next.
   
   
   By default, the wizard creates a new virtual machine configuration file (.vmc) and a new folder, both with the same name, in the My Virtual Machines subfolder of the My Documents folder. If you want to store the new folder and configuration file in a different location, type the full path for this location or click Browse to find it.
6. In the Operating System dialog box, in the Operating system list, select the operating system that you want to run on this virtual machine, or click Other if the operating system is not listed, and then click Next.
   
   
7. In the Memory dialog box, do one of the following:
   
• To accept the recommended memory allocation, click Using the recommended RAM, and then click Next.
• To modify the recommended memory allocation, click Adjusting the RAM, change the setting by moving the slider or by typing the number of megabytes, and then click Next.
8. In the Virtual Hard Disk dialog box, do one of the following:
   
   To use a previously created virtual hard disk

• Click An existing virtual hard disk, and then click Next.
• In the Virtual Hard Disk Location dialog box, type the name of an existing virtual hard disk file (.vhd).
• Select or clear the Enable undo disks check box, and then click Next.
  
  By default, the wizard looks for the virtual hard disk file in the My Documents folder. If the file that you want to use is in a different folder, type the full path for this folder or click Browse to find it.
  
  

To create a virtual hard disk for this virtual machine 

1. Click A new virtual hard disk, and then click Next.
   
   
   
2. In the Virtual Hard Disk Location dialog box, type a name for the new virtual hard disk file, and then click Next.
   
   
   By default, the wizard creates a new virtual hard disk file in the same folder as the virtual machine file. If you want to create the new file in a different location, type the full path for this location or click Browse to find it.

9. In the Completing the New Virtual Machine Wizard dialog box, click Finish.
   

Install your operating system and software

1. Open Virtual PC Console,
2. In the list of virtual machines, click the virtual machine that you want to run, and then click Start.
   
3. In the CD menu, choose Use Physical Drive D:.
   

You may use either physical drives or ISO images, if you use the ISO, choose Capture ISO image from the CD menu and specify the path to the ISO file

4. Proceed to install your Operating System, register it and install service packs.
5. Shut down your operating system and Commit Changes to disk.

At this point I would recommend that you create new virtual machines for different servers with different applications.  This is briefly done by running Virtual Disk Wizard in the File menu and creating a differencing drive.  I will blog this in my next post.