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How To: Get Windows 7 Aero in a Virtual Machine

This week, Microsoft made the XP Mode RC available to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate users. Most Virtual Machine emulating software has not offered support for Aero previously, including Microsoft's own Virtual PC 2007.

Now, thanks to the powerful set of "Integration Components" in Windows 7 Virtual PC and the enhanced, updated version of Remote Desktop in 7, we can now have the full Aero Glass experience in Windows 7 Virtual Machines, provided the host can handle Aero, and has it enabled.

The folks over at Redmond Pie explain in detail how to get aero in your Windows 7 virtual machines;
Here's how to get it:

This assumes you already have Windows 7 installed on your PC in Virtual PC.

Step 1: Enable Aero on your host machine.

Step 2: Install the latest version of "Integration Components" into your Windows 7 VM.

Step 3: On Windows Virtual PC, choose Tools->Enable Integration Features.

Step 4: Your VM will now be logged off. Log-in again and you will now have fully-featured Aero glass enabled VM running Windows 7!

Extra Step: If aero still doesn't appear, use the same process you would use to enable Aero on your host machine inside the VM. Go to Personalization, and pick one of the "Windows Aero" themes to enable it.

This process will work on any Windows 7 PC running the Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate SKU.

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