Virtualization Alternative

[luanme]

I'm interested in somehow getting a virtual computer program on my computer such as VMware or others. The thing that I've had noticed, however, is that they all require you to have the additional operating system that you want to run in order to boot from it.

I'm looking for virtualization that simply uses a sort of "copy" your current computer(OS and all) without you having to have an additional OS cd, .iso, etc since i just want it to test software and am not looking to test (and do not want to buy) a different OS.

Can any of VMware's software do this? If not, is there another program that can do what I described above without having an additional OS?

Thanks in advance.

[Spiral123]

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 3 will do what you are asking, but you will run into activation issues with some windows products...

[chris2busy]

Unix OS's are always a free option..not sure if they are an option for you though..

[luanme]

I checked out the vmware vcenter converter starter and some questions came up

1. Once i make a copy of my computer into a virtual one, do i have use vmware player to run it? or can the converter also run the virtual machine?

2. When i do run it, will it boot up normally like my comp does or do i need to "install" the os?

3. When creating a virtual os, vmware converter gives you the option to allocate space. Can i make that space smaller than what my current computer takes up by editing what files i want it to copy?

Thanks again

[farmerlee]

Another option you could try is something like rollback rx. You can test whatever programs you like and when you're finished simply rollback the system to how it was before you began.

[Threedog]

Check out Returnil if what you want is to test out software without messing up your OS. If you dont like what your testing just reboot and poof it is gone. I use it all the time for testing out stuff, works great.

[luanme]

Ill check out Returnil. Also, is rollback free?

[Osaban]

-{ Quote: "
I'm looking for virtualization that simply uses a sort of "copy" your current computer(OS and all) without you having to have an additional OS cd, .iso, etc since i just want it to test software and am not looking to test (and do not want to buy) a different OS.
" }-

FirstDefense PC Rescue seems to fit your description : http://www.horizondatasys.com/253715.ihtml

[MrBrian]

Windows SteadyState from Microsoft is free and will allow you to test programs that require a reboot.

[farmerlee]

-{ Quote: "Ill check out Returnil. Also, is rollback free?" }-
No rollback isn't free unfortunately, most of the free solutions are limited in certain ways however they may suit your needs just fine.