I use Virtual PC for my desktop virtualisation needs. I love how virtualisation works. I have a set of base images I use to quickly set up any development environment, anywhere (provided the host pc has enough memory, which is pretty much a non-requirement these days).

Today I was getting settled down to do some SharePoint development. I created a desktop shortcut to my Virtual PC image file, double-clicked it to get started and..promptly cancelled the boot process. Why? Because, perfectionist as I am, I noticed the Virtual PC Console fireing up as well.

The Console is undoubtedly very handy when you have multiple VPCs running simultaneously. It shows you which machines are running together with a thumbnail image of the machine’s desktop. But when you are running only a single VPC at any single time, it’s overkill. And it clutters my otherwise pristine desktop.

Google to the rescue (again). After a little searching and some experimenting, I changed the Target property of my shortcut to the following:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Virtual PC\Virtual PC.exe" -pc "RI SharePoint Development" -singlepc -launch

The -pc option simply specifies the name of the Virtual PC Image you want to launch. The -launch option tells VPC to, well, launch the specified Image. And last but not least (since that’s why I am writing this in the first place) the -singlepc option tells VPC to forget about the Console and just go ahead and run the Image.

I’m happy again now

Note 1: The -pc option must be the first option specified. If you don’t, this is what you’ll get:

Note 2: If you are using the Save State option it can take a while for the VPC Image to launch. Don’t worry, it’s on it’s way.