Hyper-V Virtual Machines
Advantage:
- 64-bit support
- dynamic memory allocation
- multi-core CPU
- Can install Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 and later
Disadvantage:
- Can't get sound to work on those machines yet
[Updated 2011-05-05] This is disappointing, but I guess it fits most people's requirement as most people don't use Hyper-V for personal development environment. Guess I'll just have to set up those machines for remote connect.
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/john_paul_cook/archive/2009/09/14/enabling-sound-on-hyper-v.aspx
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/hyper-v-troubleshooting-enabling-audio-over-rdp.aspx - Trying to add an new wireless adapter to create a new virtual network is a pain.
Windows Virtual PC after XPMode installation
Advantage:
- USB connection
- Direct access to all host drives
Disadvantage:
- Not really intuitive management UI at first
- No 64-bit support
- No Windows 7
Regular Virtual PC
Advantage:
- Simple and quick to get started
- Virtual hard drive created here has the least problem getting migrated into other setup.
Disadvantage:
- Not scalable at runtime
- No 64-bit support
- No windows 7 support