Virtual Hard Disk file
File type: Virtual machine, virtualization software related file
A vhd file extension is commonly used for virtual hard drives for Microsoft Virtual Server. A vhd file contains disk image used in virtual machines. Several programs can work with .vhd files including Microsoft Virtual PC, or ISOBuster.
Found 2 different file type records with the same vhd filename suffix.
File type category:
Virtual machine, virtualization software related file
Date updated: July 19, 2025
File extension vhd is associated with Virtual Hard Disk. A disk image for Microsoft Virtual Server. Microsoft has set the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) file format as the standard for running and managing virtual machines using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
The VHD file format provides for a range of disk types, including dynamically expanding, linked, undo, and different disks.
The Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format is a publicly-available image format specification that allows encapsulation of the hard disk into an individual file for use by the operating system as a virtual disk in all the same ways physical hard disks are used.
These virtual disks are capable of hosting native file systems (NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and UDFS) while supporting standard disk and file operations. VHD API support allows management of the virtual disks. Virtual disks created with the VHD API can function as boot disks.
The vhd file extension is also associated with Windows Vista complete PC backups.
The vhd files are used to restore whole system or only certain directories back from the backup. Microsoft has added several new features to Windows Virtual PC to make it easy to use and to help you run many older Windows XP applications in Windows 7.
VHD is the default format of Microsoft Virtual PC that can be downloaded from free from Microsoft Internet servers.
Another application that can open and work with *.vhd files are Microsoft Virtual Server, VirtualBox and ISOBuster.
Various virtualization software is able to import *.vhd files and export them to other disk formats.
Parallels Workstation (Microsoft Windows)
Windows Virtual PC (Microsoft Virtual PC) (Microsoft Windows)
VirtualBox (Microsoft Windows)
Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows)
Simple VHD Manager (Microsoft Windows)
7-zip (Microsoft Windows)
Parallels Desktop for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
VirtualBox for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
DAEMON Tools for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
Parallels Workstation for Linux (Linux/Unix)
VirtualBox for Linux (Linux/Unix)
Windows Virtual PC (Microsoft Virtual PC) (Microsoft Windows)
VirtualBox (Microsoft Windows)
Microsoft Windows (Microsoft Windows)
Simple VHD Manager (Microsoft Windows)
VirtualBox for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
VirtualBox for Linux (Linux/Unix)
Parallels Workstation (Microsoft Windows)
VirtualBox (Microsoft Windows)
StarWind V2V Converter (Microsoft Windows)
XenConvert (Microsoft Windows)
Acronis True Image (Microsoft Windows)
Parallels Desktop for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
VirtualBox for Mac (Apple macOS / Mac OS X)
Parallels Workstation for Linux (Linux/Unix)
VirtualBox for Linux (Linux/Unix)
7-zip (Microsoft Windows)
File type category:
Text file
Date updated: January 23, 2018
The vhd file extension is also related to Quartus II design software, a comprehensive environment available for system-on-a-programmable-chip (SOPC) design.
Quartus II replaces the MAX+PLUS II Software for chip design. These files were also used by MAX+PLUS. This is a text file used in design projects.
Use Quartus II to work with *.vhd files.
Quartus II design software (Multiplatform)
Quartus II design software (Multiplatform)
Quartus II design software (Multiplatform)
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