How to test software installations on clean Operating Systems?

Question

I want to test the installation/deployment of my software on a variety of Operating Systems.

Is my only choice to do the following?

• Purchase VMWare Workstation
• Purchase the discs for each of the operating systems I want to test against

Answer 1

There are a few VirtualPC Virtual Hard Drives that are free to download (they do expire, not sure the rules on reinstalling) you can use if Windows XP and Vista are part of your target OSes

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en

I also have had luck with VMWare server, it is free. You can install Linux distributions limited only by the distributions license terms. But you would need to purchase OS licenses for Windows.

As far as Windows licenses, have you looked into BizSpark?

Answer 2

Is my only choice to do the following? Purchase VMWare Workstation

Although VMWare Workstation would be a more appropriate choice than VMWare Server if you're doing software testing (multiple snapshots support), there are alternatives. Personally, I'm very happy with Sun Oracle VirtualBox.

Purchase the discs for each of the operating systems I want to test against

For the commercial ones, you'll need indeed a license (and maybe even approved hardware e.g. for OSX).