You can remove Windows XP Mode, virtual machines, or Windows Virtual PC if you no longer want to use them. This has the following effect on your files and folders:

• When you remove Windows XP Mode, that process deletes the associated virtual hard disks, which means that all data saved to these disks will be deleted. For example, if you used Windows XP Mode and saved data to Windows XP directories such as My Documents or to folders you created in Windows XP Mode, that data will be deleted. To avoid this, back up data in these folders to a location on the host drive. Data that is stored in a folder on a host drive is not affected by the removal process.
  
  
• When you remove virtual machines or Windows Virtual PC, files used by the virtual machine, such as virtual hard disk (.vhd) files, are left intact. This helps prevent unintentional data loss, but requires you to delete the files manually if you want to recover the space they consume.
  
  

To remove Windows XP Mode

1. If Windows XP Mode is running, shut it down.

2. Open Control Panel.

3. Under Programs, click Uninstall a program.

4. Double-click Windows XP Mode.

To delete a virtual machine

1. If the virtual machine is running, shut it down or turn it off.

2. If you want to delete the virtual hard disks, open the settings for the virtual machine and note the location of all virtual hard disks.

3. From the Virtual Machines folder, right-click the name of the virtual machine and then click Delete. The virtual machine is removed from the folder and the virtual machine (.vmcx) file is moved to the Recycle Bin.

4. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the location where the virtual machine files are stored. For example, the default location for virtual machine files is the following, where username is the name of your Windows 7 user account:
   %systemdrive%\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines
   

   Look for and delete files that are named the same as the virtual machine and have the following extensions: .vmc, .vmc, .vpcbackup, .vsv, .vht, and .vud. You also can search for files with those extensions.

5. Empty the Recycle Bin.

To remove Windows Virtual PC

1. Open Control Panel.

2. Under Programs, click Uninstall a program.

3. In the left pane, click View installed updates.

4. Under Microsoft Windows, double-click Windows Virtual PC (KB958559).

5. Restart the computer to finish the removal.

See Also

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