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Virtual PC 5.0 under Panther

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Anyone have an idea whether this is a functional combination? I really don’t want to shell out for VPC 6 after M$ bought VPC… I installed VPC 5 on one of my harddisk under Panther and dragged the image of my “old” Windows “harddisk” over into the Configurations folder in the VPC 5.0 Preferences folder. Unfortunately I get an error saying that I need to try to reinstall a certain VPC 5 extension again Sad

25 thoughts on “Virtual PC 5.0 under Panther”

  2. Well, it’s kind of working. On my machine (G4 400 mHz) it seems to be a bit slower. Drag and drop from desktop doesn’t work, though :(

  3. G4 1GHz 512 MB RAM: 10.3 and vpc 5: vpc 5 freezes it all up at random points in time. can anyone tell us whether vpc 6 will help?

  4. I sure that VPC6 should be better than VPC5. But if VPC5 is working at an acceptable level, I would wait for the next update to VPC. That might not happen :) Also depends on your use of VPC. If you use it a lot then go for VPC6.

  5. G4 733MHz 640MB RAM 10.3 & vpc 5: I get the freezes too. I have to do a hard reset (ouch) to recover. This isn’t an acceptable level, but I’m not giving Micro$oft any more of my money until someone can convince me it’ll work.

  6. Just installed Panther-up-to-date CDs and VPC 5 will not mount my Windows 98 disk images from Jaguar.
    It says “The primary drive image could not be writen to. The image file may be locked. The drive has been mounted read-only. Most operating systems cannot boot with a read-only primary drive”.
    It then tries to load and Scandisk gets to about 96% and the whole thing freezes. Had to reboot my whole system twice. Even tried creating a new disk image but the thing froze again.
    Anyone know if 10.3.2 fixes this?
    Thanks
    Ronan

  8. I have just reinstalled VP 5 (V3 and thenupgraded to 5) under Panther 10.3.2 and it takes literally hours to boot up and a similat time to do anything.
    The drag and drop issue may be related to “VPC additions”. You need to run this to get the extra features.

    Have microsoft bought Connetix to bury this programme? No support for V5 seems available.

    Does anyone know if Soft PC is still an option?

  9. Tony,
    I think Microsoft will try to keep this prgramme working, but you (and I) will probably have to upgrade :(
    Next version of Office v. X can be bought with VPC7 and XP.
    I imagine some of the slowliness could depend on your machine. G3, G4 or G5 processor.

  10. Folks,

    …trying to run VPC 5.0.4 with W2K under OS X10.3 (PowerBook 667, 768MB RAM) I’ve also experienced the ‘mysterious’ Windows dialog message about needing to reinstall a certain .DLL. though was able to click ‘conitnue’ past it. though as well, i’ve noticed drastic slowdown of VPC 5 overall. i’ve not sicne been abl eto actually start it up fully and get to the Windows desktop again. it will go past teh Windows startup screens _almost_ ok, but once it reaches the blue screen before the desktop it just sits there and spins. i haven’t left it for hours or anything to see if it does indeed fully boot, though. however, booting back in OS 9.2.2 i can run VPC 5 fine. VPC 5 did run satisfactorily under OS X 10.2 before i upgraded to 10.3, though…

  11. Well, conclusion must be to run VPC 5 under 9.2. if you don’t want to buy VPC 6. If you are running M$ Office the upcoming update including VPC 7 might be worth a look. Assuming you are running a “recent” machine, i.e. no G3’s or slow G4’s (like me) OS9 is probably the way to go.

  12. I have vpc 5 running on a 12″ g4 powerbook under 10.2.8 with w2k and it works great. However, it took 27 hours to install windows 2000 on two different g4’s under panther. Panther and vpc 5 do not seem to be compatible.

    It’s incredible to me that there is no definitive information about this problem on Apple or Microsofts web sites.

  13. I have VPC 5.0.4 (.4 being the important issue). It’s working on Panther. It’s slow, keep ram setting at 64. 5.0.4 update not posted anywhere! Have to get it from someone who already has it. I have it.

  14. I have VPC 5.0.4 (.4 being the important issue). It’s working on Panther. It’s slow, keep ram setting at 64. 5.0.4 update not posted anywhere! Have to get it from someone who already has it. I have it. You can download it from my home page. mac man

  16. Thanks, I have been looking for this file for sometime. I have both VPC 6 and VPC 5 (for OS 9) and I run WinXP Pro on Panther on a G3/350 1GB RAM. It’s a little slow but works!

  18. Mac Man: Thank you for posting Virtual PC 5.0.4 update on your site. I’ve been searching all over for it, cursing Microsoft something fierce for not at least posting an existing update to an older product. It’s not like they have to develop it or anything. Typical Gates stuff: strongarm tactics to pay out for a newer version. Thanks again, for allowing me dodge the strongarm.

  19. Mac Man, I downloaded VPC 5.0.4 from your .Mac. Thank you. You are my hero. I sent you an iCard. Did you get it? When iTMS comes to Canada, I owe you a song. Cheers, Toronto Sean

  20. Could anyone post the 5.0.4 update again please? Mac Man link seems to be down. Same problem with VPC 5.0 and Panther in my new 1.2 iBook. Thanks!

  22. I tried to run this on my new G4 1.5g with 512 ram and it doesn’t even get as far as loading the disk (Win 2k). i also tried to install Win XP and that failed also – really slow! mad. i expected it to fly on new PB but nope it dies. Bad efforts!

  25. Experience with my G4 12″ Al PowerBook with 256 MB of RAM, VPC 5 and Panther (10.3.4)

    1. System completely up to date per Software Update. In Preferences/ Energy Saver/ Options; set Processor Performance to Highest.
    2. Installed VP 5.0. Had the dialog box about misplaced extension that prevented the use of Virtual Switch.
    3. Installed original Win 98 disk image in my home folder.
    4. System very slow. Practically unusable.
    5. The following actions were taken:

    Copied the disk image to the Documents folder out of my home folder. The encription/ decription rutine of FileVault slows the system a LOT.

    Installed the .04 update. System booted in under 2 minutes. Virtual switch worked OK now.

    A dialog box offered to install VPC additions. Did that and on reboot the unit was so slow as to be unusable.

    Trashed the win 98 disk image and installed a back up (In same place, outside the Home Folder}

    System too slow.

    Booted from the Softtware Install and Restore disk.

    Did NOT reinstall system software. Just run Disk Utility and repaired disk and fixed permissions.

    Running VP 5.0.4 fine now. Noticeably faster thet same program version wit daughters 800 MHz G3 IBook with 256 MB RAM running 10.2.6

    Hope my experience helps.

    Luis.

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