This becomes one of the topics little discussed on the Internet, although when it is mentioned in different forums and groups, there are too technical explanations that perhaps are not the solution of those who are trying to elucidate what this VHD virtual disk image really means.
Perhaps to be able to clear a bit the doubt of what represents a VHD virtual disk image, we should spell each of these characters that make up the word to know its meaning; VHD come to be the acronym of what is known as Virtual Hard Disk, Element found in 2 different environments within our operating system, be it Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.
First environment to recognize a VHD virtual disk image
We will briefly mention the solution that different groups and forums on the Internet usually offer when dealing with the subject of a VHD virtual disk image; It is usually used when you want to have a dual mode operating system, something that is one of the many uses in this field. To better illustrate what we are mentioning, the Windows 7 user (also Windows 8.1) could execute the following steps:
- Click on the Home Menu Button.
- Fetch the My team and click it with the right mouse button.
- From the contextual options choose «Manage«.
- Then choose «Disk Management»From the left sidebar.
- All our disk drives will appear with their respective partitions.
- Choose a specific hard drive or partition.
- From the top bar choose «Action -> Create VHD«.
As we have mentioned before, in this first part of the article we only wanted to refer to one of the areas where this VHD option is found, This will later suggest that we have to create a virtual space within the partition we have chosen. But that is not the part that we are really interested in knowing (and also, other users who are looking for this information), but rather, what can be done with a VHD virtual disk image.
Recognize, integrate and access a VHD virtual disk image
In order to offer a broader idea of what we will try to do when recognizing a VHD disk imageWe will mention what happens with certain queries on the Internet; a user may have gotten to this image, which has a VHD extension, which has been created through a process of backup in Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1). So if this file with VHD extension represents disk or operating system image that has been created in Windows 7, we should only know how to recognize it.
Based on the same example, let's assume that we have the disk image with this VHD extension and we need to read it and later integrate it into our computer, taking into account that the user must have previously carried out this procedure so that a backup folder is generated:
- We put our VHD disk image in a specific place.
- We open our Windows explorer.
- We go to the hard drive or the partition where we create the backup under the Disk Image method.
- In this place and at the root, there must be a folder with the name of «WindowsImageBackup«.
- We enter to said folder or directory by double clicking.
- We will receive several security messages so that we desist from this task.
- We navigate to the "Backup ..." sub-folder, where the ellipsis represents a date on which this disk image could have been created.
It is this place that many people really want to recognize, since here we can admire a large number of files with alphanumeric codes and names, which at first glance represent absolutely nothing. Out of all these files we will find a few that have a VHD extension, here being the place where we must place the image that we have achieved and that has the same termination.
Now if you VHD disk image represents a Windows 7 operating system (or any other), the way to recover it is making use of the «Recovery Disk», same that comes to be a conventional CD-ROM that inside, contains certain boot files for the recovery of the system with this image. If you don't have said "Recovery Disk", then you should create one with the following procedure:
- You are heading towards «Control panel«.
- From the first category you choose «Make a Computer Backup«.
- On the left side choose the option «Create a Repair Disc«.
With these simple steps, a new window will open, which will ask you to enter a conventional CD-ROM disk so that it can be used as a start-up on the computer, which will recognize the VHD disk image and consequently, it will restore the operating system if said image represents such a situation.
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