How to Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC

A Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) is a disk image format used by Microsoft Virtual PC. VHD enables users to test software on different operating systems without installing a second hard disk or a new operating system. If you want to open VHD files, you could use a small vhd viewer to view and extract VHD contents.

Solution

WinImage is a disk imaging application and also an useful VHD viewer.

  1. Download WinImage from BorhterSoft or Gilles Vollant (Official Site). WinImage is a Shareware, however, we could use it for 30 days with full function.
  2. Launch WinImage and click OK button to continue.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC
  3. This is the main interface of WinImage.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC
  4. Click menu "File->Open" to open VHD files to view.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC 
  5. Select "Virtual Hard Disks (*.vhd, *.vud)" from the "Files of type" drop-down menu to display VHD files in Windows Explorer. Then select VHD and click on Open button to open it.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC
  6. In the prompt window, click OK to continue.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC 
  7. And now your VHD file is opened in WinImage and the structure of VHD files is displayed visualized.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC
  8. Right click any file or folder and select "Extract" from the right-click menu to extract files from VHD image.
    Open VHD Files without Windows Virtual PC 

Tips

See also

How to Convert VHD to VMDK
How to Convert VMDK to VHD
How to Mount VHD Files in Windows 7
How to Boot from a VHD in Windows 7

When you install some special programs you may need a new disk not just a new folder, Windows 7 allows you to create a Virtual Hard Disk(VHD) to solve this kind of problems and it is very simple.Just follow these steps to create a new Virtual Hard Disk (VHD)in Windows 7.
Sometimes, you may need to make your Windows 7 contained in a .vhd file start up on another computer. However, Windows NT family operating systems such as Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 7 has the unique security identifier (SID) for each computers, which prevents you from directly copy the current system to another PC. In this guide, you will learn how to Migrate Windows 7 VHD from virtual environment to physical in a high efficiency way.
The Windows 7 backup tool which allows you to create a system image uses the VHD format. So mounting VHD files is useful. I will show you the steps to mount VHD files in Windows 7.

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