Some advice on Virtual Machines please.

[hellbringer616]

Hi, I am trying to find out if there is any Virtual Machine software that i can use my actual hardware to emulate. Because i have an nForce motherboard and need their SATA drivers. And i want to remove all the Windows drivers from the CD except my own.

So i'd like to make sure it works before i wipe my PC install it and find out my motherboard drivers are poof haha..

Also if not, what is the best VM software out? (thats free as i am poor)

[johnhc]

hellbringer616, I know of no virtual systems that emulate down to the MB level. Testing drivers is one of the short comings of these systems. The ones I have heard of are VirtualPC, VirtualBox and VMware Server - all free. I use VMware Server because I run XP x64, and at the time I first needed a system, it was the only one to support x64. It is huge however, almost 600 MB in the latest version. The other two are much smaller, maybe 40-50 MB, I think. Hopefully someone with experience will comment. There are other systems but I know nothing about them. Enjoy, John.

[GMan_PCTT]

The only true approach you can take here is to use a separate, blank hard drive and install your creation directly to that. It's the only way that the Windows install will focus directly on your specific hardware and show you what you really need to see here.

Just be sure that no other hard drives are attached when you install the nLite'd beast. That way, your primary install and all of your data will be kept out of harm's way.

[hellbringer616]

Means i need to get another SATA drive haha. Oh well. thanks

[GMan_PCTT]

Unfortunately, it also means physically burning your creation to a blank instead of just mounting the ISO, unless you have the means to install from a USB stick.

[johnhc]

hellbringer616, you could also re-partition your current HDD to leave your old system intact and provide a partition to use to try your new installation. Enjoy, John.