Virtual PC

Virtual PC is an emulation suite for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS operating systems, by Connectix, recently acquired by Microsoft.

Virtual PC emulates a standard PC and its associated hardware. Thus, it can be used to run nearly all operating systems available for the PC, however issues can arise when trying to install uncommon operating systems that have not been specifically targeted in the development of Virtual PC. Subsequently emulated hardware may not be fully functional, or certain operating systems may not run altogether.

The first version of Virtual PC was originally developed for the Macintosh and was released in June 1997. Four years later in June 2001, the first version of Virtual PC for Windows, version 4.0, was released. Microsoft later acquired Virtual PC, and an unreleased product called Virtual Server, from Connectix in February 2003.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 is the current version for the Windows operating system. Its equivalent on the Macintosh platform is version 6.1.

Similar but competing products include VMware (x86 only) and Bochs (open source).