Is this legal and practical? - Distrubuting XP .vmc

[hdgreetings_com]

Microsoft has some useful prebuilt VHD's for various testing scenarios, however I prefer to use VMWare Workstation for testing.

The problem is Microsoft only provides .VHD files which cannot be opened with VMWare without using Virtual PC and completing these 99 steps: http://www.straylightrun.net/2009/05/13/running-ie6-virtual-pc-image-in-vmware/

So question is would there be anything wrong with creating the .vmc file once and allowing the world to download it so they don't have to install VirtualPC and redo these steps?

This would mean 1 download from Microsoft, 1 download from somewhere else, and no reinventing the wheel everytime or installing VPC!

If I'm missing something obvious then sorry, but just trying to look for faster ways of doing things.

Regards -

[RParker]

99 steps - 98 uneccessary = www.winimage.com

You don't need that much work, a simply conversion is all it takes.

as far as distributing the images, MS may not have a problem but it depends on the EULA agreement, I am pretty sure it's very specific, and it says something about NOT re-distributing without their permission.

did you call MS?

[hdgreetings_com]

Well, I'm guessing a .vmc does not even contain any Microsoft operating system code - that's why I'm thinking it may be legal.

I'm not an expert but I thought the .VHD contained all the operating system bits.

Thanks for your reply,

Lee