Rules to Better Presentation PC's

Using Boot to VHD is very similar to dual-booting your machine, except that you do not have to partition your hard drive. It also has performance benefits over using a Hyper-V server for presentations.

When you do a lot of presenting on your laptop it is good to have a standard location to keep your VHD and instructions.

• Give the VHD the name of what the demo is for and a version number for the image. **Example: ** SharePoint2010_v2.vhd
• Use “RC” or “Beta” on the filename if your software is an RC or Beta Version Example: SharePoint2010RC_v1.vhd
• Store the VHD Image in a folder called DataVMs\VHDName\VHDName.vhd Example: D:\DataVMs\SharePoint2010_v2 \SharePoint2010_v2.vhd
• Keep an instructions.txt in the same folder as the VHD with any instructions for the VHD and the username and password to log into the VHD. Example: D:\DataVMs\SharePoint2010_v2 \instructions.txt

When you setup a new Windows Server VHD it will be lacking a few components that need to be installed so it can function as a personal computer as well as a presentation computer.

When preparing a Boot to VHD image it is important to know the size of the partition which is setup inside the VHD file – you should make a note of this when you create the VHD image. The reason for this is because the VHD file will expand to the size of the partition INSIDE the VHD.

When setting up a computer in a corporate environment – you would usually have a standard image with all the software everyone uses already installed. This isn’t the case for VHD’s. Install the following software:

• SnagIt (Screen Capture)
• O365 Apps
• TeamViewer

Windows will usually detect your video card driver during setup and will allow you to use the maximum resolution on your monitor. The problem is when you plug an external screen or projector – you will not be able to run 2 monitors at once, which isn’t very helpful when you are presenting.

Look up your laptop model on the manufactures website and determine what type of video card is in your laptop (NVidia, ATI, Intel) – then go to their site and download the latest driver for your card.

You don’t want to run the risk of discovering 5 minutes before a presentation that your VHD image is for some reason not working with a projector. Always test connecting your PC to a projector long before the presentation.

When using your presentation computer you may want to still be able to send emails but not want to download your entire Exchange mailbox to your Boot2VHD image. This is especially relevant for people with large mailboxes.

When you have finished with the VHD for the presentation you will want to remove the boot entries that were created for the VHD.