"Ron O'Brien" <castcall@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OO9IQDL7IHA.4192@xxxxxx
Quote:
> I have a new PC with 64bit Vista Ultimate and 8gig RAM which I was hoping
> would speed up HD digital video editing, but my software application will
> not run under Vista, so I'm thinking use Virtual PC.
>
> The problem, I only have 32bit XP pro, but if That is installed as a
> virtual set-up on the 64bit Vista Host, will it then be able to take
> advantage of the 8gig of RAM or will it still max out at just under 4gig?
The key to this, as with 99% of Virtual PC questions is to consider what
would happen on a physical machine. As far as software (both OS and
applications) is concerned, there is no difference between a physical
machine and a virtual machine - in fact, the vast majority of software has
not the slightest idea that it's running on a virtual machine as opposed to
a physical machine.
So...
If you had a physical machine with 8GB RAM and installed 32-bit Windows XP
on it, would it be able to see all of the RAM? No, it would see just under
4GB of it, depending on the motherboard.
Similarly, if you created a virtual machine and assigned it more than 4GB of
your host's 8GB RAM, would 32-bit Windows XP be able to see all of it? No it
wouldn't, as above.
This is not a limitation or problem with Virtual PC - it is simply that 4GB
is the maximum amount of RAM which a 32-bit operating system can address.
--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net