Windows Vista using XP with Virtual PC 2007

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I have down loaded Vitual PC 2007 installed it on my Windows Vista Home Basic
laptop. When I try and to setup Virtual for XP Virtual runs a Argon PX boot
agent file and then stops at "reboot and select proper Boot device" on the
command screen. The program seems to be looking for a ISO file.
When do I use my XP CD to load up ?
 
Hi John

You may need to change the boot order in the BIOS. Sounds like the VM is
currently trying to boot from the PXE card (ie a network boot) before it
tries the CD-ROM driver.

While the VM starts up, hold down the Delete key. It will take you to the
blue and white BIOS config screen (an AMI BIOS, just like a real PC). Then
go to Boot, Boot Disk Priority. Make sure that CD-ROM is higher in the list
than PXE. Hit ESC to exit or F10 to Save and Exit, if you make any changes.

If the CDROM is ahead of PXE in the boot order, but the machine still looks
for a PXE server at boot time, then your VM is not detecting the CDROM when
it boots up. Make sure:
- you have the physical XP CD-ROM disk in the drive, as you boot;
- under "Settings" the VM is configured to attach its CD/DVD Drive to the
Physical drive in the host machine (not to an ISO file).

Once you have the VM configured correctly, it should boot up from your XP
CD-ROM, just like a real PC would.

Hope it helps,
Andrew
 
Hi That now works fine thank you. Last question now, how do I see data files
either from Vista C: drive or the virtual C: drive to copy to or from the
vitual drive.
 
john said:
Hi That now works fine thank you. Last question now, how do I see data
files
either from Vista C: drive or the virtual C: drive to copy to or from the
vitual dr
Click to expand...

It's easy; you, um, read the very helpful Virtual PC Help file :-) But in
summary, there are 2 basic approaches:

- Shared Folders. To get the best performance and use from your new VM, you
need to install a set of drivers and services called the "Virtual Machine
additions" into the guest OS (in your case, XP). Once of the facilities
available after you install the Additions is Shared Folders. This makes a
folder you select on the host machine appear as a network drive in the
guest. So for example, C:\Users\John\Documents on your Vista host machine,
could show up as drive S: in your XP guest machine. To move files back and
forth you just copy them to C:\Users\John\Documents and/or S:. While the VM
is running, go to the Settings panel in the VPC Console, highlight "Shared
Folders" in the list of Setings, and then browse to the host folder you want
to share.

- or use ordinary networking. Your VM is a full, complete machine, with it
own network interface, IP Address, machine name, etc. You you can just map a
drive between host and VM, the same as you would for any other two machines
on your network (or use ftp, if you're that way inclined). This is what I
usually do; but it's much of a muchness.

In earlier versions of Virtual PC, you were able to drag-n-drop files from
your Host machine onto the desktop of the guest OS. This was certainly a
very convenient, easy to use facility. However it was inherently insecure,
so it was dropped (maybe back in Virtual PC 2004; certainly in Virtual PC
2007). Either of the above methods are pretty straightforward to use,
anyway.

Cheers
Andrew
 
Andrew
Thank you for your responce. Could you please expand on where the "Vitual
Machine Additions" are?

Regards

John
 
john said:
Thank you for your responce. Could you please expand on where the "Vitual
Machine Additions" are?
Click to expand...

Sure. While your new XP VM is running, go to the Help menu and choose
Virtual PC Help. Then click on the Search tab, and seach for the word
"additions". The first hit returned will be the topic "Installing Virtual
Machine Additions". Read that section as far down as the Link to "Install
Virtual Machine Additions for a Windows Operating System". After you follow
this link, you'll find step-by-step instructions on how to ...

No wait! I was thinking of the wrong thing - you want to know how to install
the Virtual Machine Additions. Obviously the Help won't, um, help you there.
Okay. While your new XP VM is running, go to the Action menu, and choose
"Install or update Virtual Machine Additions". Then follow the bouncing
ball - a dialogue box wil appear in the guest OS (XP) and you click Next,
OK, etc. At the end, you'll need to reboot the guest (but not the host).

Cheers
Andrew
 
Hi Andrew,
Can I view a memory stick in a USB drive through the VM screen? If so how do
I go about it?
 
john said:
Can I view a memory stick in a USB drive through the VM screen? If so how
do
I go about it?
Click to expand...

The machine which forms the VM emulates most "standard" PC devices, such as
keyboard, mouse, video card, serial port, etc. One device which is not
currently emulated (unfortunately) is a USB controller. So, the VM cannot
see any USB devices at all. It's a frequently requested feature and will
probably be added to a future version. But no USB today, in a VM.

You can copy the files from the USB drive to your shared folder on the host
machine, and then use them within the VM that way. Just copy them back to
the USB when you're returning to work, or whatever. You might even be able
to configure your shared folder to map to the USB key on the host (eg make
the host directory "H:\" or the like) - but, it will still look like a
network drive from inside the VM, it won't look like a USB key (won't matter
if you just want to read/write files).

Hope that makes sense.
Andrew
 
Andrew
All sorted I hope and thanks for all your help
Sorted activation by not having wireless connection but cabled.

Regards

John
 
john said:
All sorted I hope and thanks for all your help
Sorted activation by not having wireless connection but cabled.
Click to expand...

Outstanding! And, thanks for the update.

Good luck with using Virtual PC ... it's an extremely useful tool, once you
get the hang of it.

Cheers
Andrew
 
I am loading XP on the VPC and the host is vista home premium. I had the same
problem as John as VPC was not registering the xp cd. So as Andrew advised, I
set the CDROM as the 1st boot drive via Bios. I have changed the settings
also.

HOWEVER ITS STILL NOT REGISTERING THE BOOT CD?

what can I do? I am desperate and I need it so badly . Please help

Roy
 
Roy said:
I am loading XP on the VPC and the host is vista home premium. I had the
same
problem as John as VPC was not registering the xp cd. So as Andrew
advised, I
set the CDROM as the 1st boot drive via Bios. I have changed the settings
also.

HOWEVER ITS STILL NOT REGISTERING THE BOOT CD?

what can I do? I am desperate and I need it so badly . Please help
Click to expand...


Ignore the BIOS, that affects the physical machine, not the Virtual one.

Did you assign the physical CD in the configuration of the VPC image? You
can leave not assigned, assign to physical drive or assign to an ISO image.
Then you can go into the VIRTUAL BIOS and change it's boot order, or hit
(F12 I think) while the VPC is booting and get a device boot menu for a 1
time change.
 
I have tried that but nothing is happening..still the boot msg is coming up..
what to do? please help
 
Back
Top