Virtual voice for Yahoo on Vista
Vista, Virtual PC 2007, Windows 98

Creating Virtual Windows 98

We continue the discussion about how to use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 (free) running on a Windows Vista main PC and the items required to install Windows 98 on the virtual PC so that we can add Yahoo chat and voice chat.

This page describes the things we are going to need, and why they are needed.

What is required

Later on in this page We'll give links to where to get the following items. Here is the shopping list :-)

What each part does

Microsoft VISTA running on your main PC
Your PC is running Vista so it almost certainly has enough CPU power to run at least a couple of virtual PC's at the same time.
A CPU like an Intel Core 2 DUO or AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual is great but not required.
Some PC's support 'hardware virtualization' that let the virtual PCs run faster. If your PC supports hardware virtualization you're in luck, but even if it doesn't you will be able to run VPC with good performance.
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
This is the program that lets you create the Virtual PCs that look and act like physical PCs, but it is all done in software on your main PC.
After you prepare the Virtual PCs you can run one or more of them at the same time on your main PC.
It is actually even more convenient than having another PC because you still use just one keyboard and monitor and mouse.
When the virtual PC is running you just move the mouse over it and click and it is like you are using that 'virtual' PC as if it were a physical PC, except you don't have to swap mice and keyboards and such... very convenient.
You can switch back to the main PC by tapping the right-[Alt] key so that the mouse pointer is released and can move outside the virtual PC window.
When you are finished using the VPC you can just close it, like you would close any program and *presto* the Virtual PC disappears until the next time you want to use it.
Your Virtual PC can be configured to do almost anything a physical PC can do, including (if you allow it) access to your network, CD, floppy disk, printer etc.
Windows 98
This is the OS (operating system) that we will install on the Virtual PC.
We choose Windows 98 because we know it supports our Yahoo Chat and voice.
This can be either on a CD that you can put into the main PCs CD Drive.. or it can a Folder on your main PC hard disk that contains a copy of Windows 98 in which case the folder must be coverted to an ISO CD image.
NOTE you WILL need the Microsoft activation key for your win98 OS when you install it.
You'll also need to have the licenses for any licensed programs that you want to install on the virtual window 98 PC.
Remember this is going to behave just like a physical PC running Windows 98, W98 isn't going to be any better or any worse than you remember it. It'll still have its quirks and BSODs and scandisk etc. but at least it will be contained on the virtual PC file instead of your main PC.
You can even make copies of the virtual PC hard disk image (more about that later) in case one of them gets trashed.
If you copy the virtual hard disk image that we are going to create, you can also run multiple W98 virtual PCs at the same time!
ISO Converter program
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 can read CD ROM Drives and 'ISO CD Images'
An ISO CD image is just like a CD but it is a file on your main PC instead of a CD in the CD ROM drive.
Personally I kept copies of Windows 95 and windows 98 CDs in Folders on my hard drive for the case of driver updates and such, so it was natural to convert the Windows 98 folder to the required win98CD.iso CD image.
If you have the original Windows 98 CD you don't have to bother with this.
Yahoo chat program with voice
When the Virtual PCs are finally created and the operating system installed and running we can then install YahELite or Yahoo messenger onto the Virtual windows 98 hard disk image and we're done.

The steps required

here is a list of all the steps we are going to do.. And that is where we stop, at that point you can install Yahoo messenger or YahELite and chat with voice.





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contents © copyright 2007 David J. Binette