My primary OS is Windows Vista. I installed kqemu for Windows using "Kqemu-1.3.0pre11 installer" in QEMU on Windows but when I try to start it as specified ("net start kqemu") I get an access is denied error. The QEMU on Windows page does say "I have not tested on Windows Vista host.", so probably no one here can help, but if anyone knows how to overcome this problem then I am interested.

The qemu articles and such suggest use of kqemu with qemu so I want to do that if possible. Apparently qemu and kqemu are still developing and it is likely too soon to use kqemu under Vista.

I don't know if it will help to contact the developers of kqemu; I assume they are aware of the problem but I might send them a message to be sure.

"Access is denied" is a vista error. You need to run a command prompt as administrator (right click and choose run as administrator) then type
net start kqemu

If that doesnt work, then you will need to install a linux distribution that contains kqemu, and there are plenty of fine distros out there.

Yes, of course. I know that.

No, I don't need to do that; I was using an Administrator account. I meant to include that in my original message but I just forgot to.

Can you name one? The qemu and kqemu web sites don't mention anything about that. I tentatively intend to use Debian. Based on what kqemu does and what I have read, I will be surprised if any linux distribution contains kqemu. Are you sure you know what kqemu is?

I am asking for help from someone experienced with this problem.

I have learned a couple of things.

First, for Vista, it is necessary to use "Run as Administrator" to do many Administrator things even when the account is an Administrator account; this is not logical and is not consistent with previous versions of Windows.

Second, KQEMU did get installed and is working. When I use an "elevated" command prompt to issue "net start kqemu", I get the message that KQEMU is already started. Also now when I use QEMU, I do not get the message saying that KQEMU is not found yet I do not use "-no-kqemu".

Okay, I am sorry. I probably did not understand. You are correct that it is necessary to "run a command prompt as administrator". I did not know that using an Administrator account was not enough.

Due to Vista being illogical and inconsistent, when saying "run a command prompt as administrator" it might help to also make it clear that using an Administrator account is not always enough.

take a look at the above link for proper installation of qemu...also you may install the product by right clicking on the .exe file and choosing "run as administrator" to install.
I believe the problem you are experiencing is because Kqemu is not installed in the proper place. when installed by double clicking, it installed to c:/program files......it need to go to the c:/program files/Qemu folder. to test this is correct try running the command prompt "with admin rights" and run...net start qemu...instead on kqemu.
if this brings up data. then you must UNINSTALL kqemu and install it in the proper place.

What problem? I think you did not read what I said adequately; there is no problem. Note that I said "KQEMU did get installed and is working".