How to tell if a machine is a virtual machine in Windows

Two methods

1. Start, Run..., cmd.exe, systeminfo.exe, then search for system manufacturer, and if virtual it will be listed as follows :-

If this is a VMware virtual machine, result should be:

System Manufacturer: VMware, Inc.
System Model: VMware Virtual Platform

If this is a Hyper V or a Microsoft Virtual PC machine the result should be like this:

System Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
System Model: Virtual Machine

2. Start, Run..., msinfo32.exe - basically a graphical user interface showing much the same information as you get from method 1.