Last week SharePoint 2010 Beta was released to the public, you can register for a copy here.

As a developer I am keen to get involved with learning the new features that available as quickly as possible. I’m very pleased to see that Microsoft have allowed this version to be installed on Windows 7 or Vista (both need to be x64).

Another great feature to have come out of Microsoft with Windows 7 is the ability to boot from a Virtual Hard Disk. I’ve set up a Windows 7  (x64) environment on a virtual disk and installed this new beta to fully review it.

Here are the summary steps to installing Windows 7 on a VHD;

• 1. Boot from the Windows 7 DVD
• 2. When setup has started, press Shift and F10 to access the command line
• 3. You now need to run DiskPart to create a virtual hard disk

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diskpart
create vdisk file=e:\windows7dev.vhd maximum=50000 type=expandable
select vdisk file=e:\windows7dev.vhd
attach vdiskexit

• 4. You can now exit the command line and continue with the installation
• 5. When asked which drive to install to, select the newly created disk
• 6. You will see a warning telling you you can’t install on this disk – ignore that