Create A Virtual Hard Disk In Windows 7, 8

Windows operating system 7, 8 and 8.1 allows you to create a virtual hard drive and use it almost like a normal HDD. This can be useful for a variety of purposes, starting from the easy organization of documents and files on the computer and finishing the installation of the operating system. The virtual hard disk is a file with the extension VHD, when mounted in the system (it does not require additional software) can see in Windows Explorer as a regular extra disc. Another possibility is installing Windows on a virtual hard drive and boot from the disc. Given that the virtual disk is available in a separate file, you can easily move it to another computer and use it.

How to create a virtual hard disk

Create a virtual hard disk is no different in Windows 7 and 8, except that in the eighth version it is possible to mount a VHD file in the system, just double clicking on it: it will be immediately connected to both HDD and it will be assigned a letter.

To create a virtual hard disk, run the Disk Management Windows. This can be done from the Control Panel by pressing Win + X in Windows 8 and selecting a menu item, or press Win + R on your keyboard and type diskmgmt.msc, and then click OK. In the Disk Management utility in the menu, select Action - Create a virtual hard disk.

Then will run the wizard of virtual hard disk, where you can select the location of disk file size (not less than 3 MB), as well as one of the available formats: dynamically expanding or fixed size. Once you have set the settings and press OK in the Disk Management will be a new, not-initialized disk.

Next step, right-click on the new disk and select Initialize Disk. When initializing a new virtual hard disk will need to specify the partition style - MBR or GPT, for most applications, and the small size of drives suitable MBR. And the last thing that is required - to create a section or sections and connect the virtual hard drive in Windows operating system. To do this, click on the right mouse button and select New Simple Volume.

You will need to specify the size of the volume (if you leave the recommended size, the virtual disk will be a single partition that takes up all his space), set the formatting options and specify the drive letter. Upon completion of this step, you will get a new disc, which will display on Windows Explorer and you can work just as well as any other HDD.

In this article, we provided information, which we hope was helpful for you, and if you need to know more, just contact with the Windows customer service.