Running PC to a Virtual Machine

[darisha]

Good day Everyone,

I am in a sticky situation, I have a Windows 7 pc with a very particular and custom app - the app was made for our small family business and it keeps all customer and job info. The app cannot be reinstalled, so if this pc goes, I am done. I have been thinking and I think I need to make a clone of my current Win7 pc, so that we can keep using the application without worry.

What could I do to turn that pc into a virtual machine and then use that VM on a daily basis - this VM would need to also allow for new data to be saved and current data to be changed - on a daily basis.

All and any suggestions are very welcome =)

What would my solution be - free if possible?

Thank you

 

[bazz2004]

I'm not sure whether that's possible. You can install W7 inside a virtual machine like VMWorkstation and then reinstall programs that you need but won't work directly with the host OS Windows 10 or 11. I've done that with XP. In your situation you are unable to reinstall the essential piece of software so you'd need to find another way. It would be much easier if you could work out how to reinstall the software. Otherwise, you can clone a hard disk so you have a spare. There is a hardware method using a usb copy station in which you fit the two hard drives and clone the new one from the old. More commonly, there are software solutions. I bought a copy station because years ago the cloning software was not very reliable and it has served me well..