Create a Virtual Hard Drive in Windows 8
Unlike all previous versions of the operating system, Windows 8 fully supports the creation and mounting of virtual hard drive (VHD) files. Creating a virtual hard drive sets aside a certain amount of space on your hard disk which can then be used as if it were a real hard drive, allowing you to copy to and from it, and even to install a whole operating system (such a previous version of Windows or a Linux based OS such as Ubuntu) onto it.
Steps
- In the desktop, move the mouse cursor to the bottom left of the screen and right-click.
- Select Disk Management from the pop-up menu.
- From the Action drop down menu, select Create VHD.
- In the Create and Attach Virtual Hard Disk dialogue box you should select where you want the .vhd file to be saved.
- Choose which format you prefer and how large you want the virtual drive to be. As the instructions in the dialogue say, the VHDX format allows for much larger virtual drive sizes, but you will run into compatibility problems if any other operating than Windows tries to use the file.
- A fixed size VHD stays at the same size and behaves just like a physical drive, while a dynamic expanding VHD grows and shrinks as files are added to, or deleted from it.
- The new disk will now be displayed in the Disk Management window but cannot be used until it has been Initialized. Right-click on the disk title and select “Initialize Disk”.
- Choosing the MBR (Master Boot Record) style is the safest thing to do here.
- Once initialized, the disk needs to be set up as a simple volume and assigned a drive letter. Right-click on the drive itself in the Disk Management window and select New Simple Volume.
- When the Wizard opens, click "next" to enter the Specify Volume Size dialogue. By default, the volume size is set as the size of the entire virtual disk, but you can choose any smaller size you wish.
- Next assign it a drive letter and then format it.
- Navigate to where you saved the VHD file during Step 4 in File Explorer, and double click to mount it. The virtual disk will now show up in File Explorer (and elsewhere) as a regular hard disk, and can be used just like one.
- Have fun using it!
