What is the best way to mount a VHD File in Vista X64?

Question

I am looking for a way to mount a vhd file created by Vista's complete computer backup system within Vista Ultimate x64. What is the best way?

Answer 1

To follow up on Kevin Kuphal's answer (sorry wouldn't fit in the comment section):

Yes vhdmount.exe does work and remember you don't need to install Virtual Server. You can install only the VHDMount components (as the link Kevin provided stated), use the Custom option in the Virtual Server R2 SP1 installer and clear all components except VHDMount. If you want to use the command line options over the registry modifications use the following.

To mount an image:

vhdmount.exe /m vhd_path drive

where vhd_path is the path to the .vhd file you want to mount and drive is the drive letter to which you want to assign the image. You need to specify the colon after the drive letter (e.g., F:).

By default, VHD Mount creates an undo disk for each mounted image, just like Microsoft Virtual PC and Virtual Server do. If you want to override this behavior and write directly to the mounted image, you can add the /f switch:

vhdmount.exe /m vhd_path drive /f

To dismount an image, you have two options. If you want to save any changes you’ve made to the VHD before dismounting, follow the syntax:

vhdmount.exe /u /c vhd_path

If you don’t want to save any changes you’ve made to the VHD before dismounting, use this syntax instead:

vhdmount.exe /u /d vhd_path

Note that you need administrative rights to run VHD Mount. In Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 you can create and attach vhd's directly through the Disk Management tool or through diskpart.

Answer 2

Does the vhdmount.exe included with Virtual Server 2005 work?

Referenced here and other places (google)

Answer 3

I think both 32 and 64 bit versions of Virtual PC will work as well. You can make a new PC and attach it as a drive, or if you have the .vmc file that goes with it, you should be able to attach to it.