File sharing problem with virtual PCs

[n***@nonospam.org]

I have two physical PCs, both running Windows XP Pro SP3, in a workgroup
on my home network. Each of these physical PCs has MS Virtual PC running
on it, MS Virtual PC 2004 on one and MS Virtual PC 2007 on the other.
Under each virtual PC, I have installed a virtual machine which is also
running Windows XP Pro SP3. All four of these have simple file sharing
enabled.

When I open a Windows Explorer window on either of the virtual machines
and look at My Network Places, I see my workgroup. Under the workgroup I
see all four machines, the two physical computers and the two virtual
machines. However, if I try to look at folders that are shared on the
other virtual machine, I get a "not accessible" message.

Is there something inherent in this setup that prevents me from sharing
files between virtual machine which are hosted on separate physical PCs?
Is there a problem with having Virtual PC 2004 on one computer and
Virtual PC 2007 on the other? If not, how do I go about troubleshooting
this problem? Thanks!

John

[n***@nonospam.org]

OK, I have figured out at least part of what is going on here. The
virtual machine on my second PC was copied from the first PC. I was
supposed to use the sysprep utility, but I didn't know that. I changed
the IP address and computer name on the copied machine, but apparently
that isn't enough to prevent networking problems when both virtual
machines are running. The SSID and MAC Address are probably the same on
both virtual machines. Is there a way to correct this without starting
over? I'm looking for either a utility program which can change these,
or information on how to change them in the registry. Thanks!

John

Post by n***@nonospam.org
I have two physical PCs, both running Windows XP Pro SP3, in a workgroup
on my home network. Each of these physical PCs has MS Virtual PC running
on it, MS Virtual PC 2004 on one and MS Virtual PC 2007 on the other.
Under each virtual PC, I have installed a virtual machine which is also
running Windows XP Pro SP3. All four of these have simple file sharing
enabled.
When I open a Windows Explorer window on either of the virtual machines
and look at My Network Places, I see my workgroup. Under the workgroup I
see all four machines, the two physical computers and the two virtual
machines. However, if I try to look at folders that are shared on the
other virtual machine, I get a "not accessible" message.
Is there something inherent in this setup that prevents me from sharing
files between virtual machine which are hosted on separate physical PCs?
Is there a problem with having Virtual PC 2004 on one computer and
Virtual PC 2007 on the other? If not, how do I go about troubleshooting
this problem? Thanks!
John

[MikeD]

OK, I have figured out at least part of what is going on here. The virtual
machine on my second PC was copied from the first PC. I was supposed to
use the sysprep utility, but I didn't know that. I changed the IP address
and computer name on the copied machine, but apparently that isn't enough
to prevent networking problems when both virtual machines are running. The
SSID and MAC Address are probably the same on both virtual machines. Is
there a way to correct this without starting over? I'm looking for either
a utility program which can change these, or information on how to change
them in the registry. Thanks!

Ah. Yep, that'd definitely cause problems. The SSID should be the same as
that's the name of your wireless network (unless each VPC is connecting to a
different wireless network). You'll need to manually edit one of the .vmc
files to create a new MAC address. These files are really XML files and can
be opened in Notepad.

Here's something I copied a long time ago from an MS KB article:

----------------------------------------
Two or more guest operating systems have the same Media Access Control (MAC)
address.

Cause: If you create an image of a host operating system that includes
Virtual PC and virtual machines configuration files (.vmc files) and copy
that image to another computer, each virtual machine configuration file
included in the image contains a MAC address. The MAC address will not be
reset automatically when you place the image on a new physical computer. As
a result, the virtual machines that are copied onto the new computer will
have the same MAC addresses as the virtual machines on the computer that was
used to create the image.

Solution: Edit the .vmc file to remove the MAC address. Find the following
line:


<ethernet_card_address type="bytes">0003FFxxxxxx</ethernet_card_address>

Remove the number so the line appears as follows:


<ethernet_card_address type="bytes"></ethernet_card_address>

After you remove the number, Virtual PC will create a new MAC address the
next time you start the virtual machine.
----------------------------------------

In the future, you can avoid this problem by just copying the .vhd file(s).
Then, create a NEW virtual machine using the wizard and just specify the
.vhd files for your drives.

Good Luck.

Mike

[MikeD]

Post by n***@nonospam.org
I have two physical PCs, both running Windows XP Pro SP3, in a workgroup
on my home network. Each of these physical PCs has MS Virtual PC running
on it, MS Virtual PC 2004 on one and MS Virtual PC 2007 on the other.
Under each virtual PC, I have installed a virtual machine which is also
running Windows XP Pro SP3. All four of these have simple file sharing
enabled.
When I open a Windows Explorer window on either of the virtual machines
and look at My Network Places, I see my workgroup. Under the workgroup I
see all four machines, the two physical computers and the two virtual
machines. However, if I try to look at folders that are shared on the
other virtual machine, I get a "not accessible" message.
Is there something inherent in this setup that prevents me from sharing
files between virtual machine which are hosted on separate physical PCs?
Is there a problem with having Virtual PC 2004 on one computer and Virtual
PC 2007 on the other? If not, how do I go about troubleshooting this
problem? Thanks!

Is there a reason you're not running VPC2007 on both physical computers?
It's not like you have to go out and buy it, after all. I don't think that
has to do with your issue. I was just curious.

For all intents and purposes, the 2 virtual machines are just 2 more
computers on your home network. If you've set up your network and sharing
permissions properly, you should be able to access shared folders on either
VPC from the other VPC. Have you made sure that File and Printer Sharing is
enabled?

I'm not familiar enough with VPC2004 to know if it might be limited on
"network features", but I suppose it's possible.

FWIW, I tried something similar to what you're describing, but a few
differences that shouldn't really matter. Both physical PCs were Win7
Ultimate, each running VPC2007 SP1 (I don't like the Windows Virtual PC that
is "with" Win7, so I still use VPC2007). One VPC was WinXP SP2 and the other
VPC was Vista Business. I had no problem accessing shared folders on either
VPC from the other VPC, once I got everything set up properly. So, yes, you
can do it. I don't know if the problem you're having might be that you're
running VPC2004 on one of your physical PCs. It might be, but I kind of
doubt it since you're able to see the other VPC in Network Places. My guess
is that you just don't have something set up right.

The other thing that it "might" be: when you logon to Windows in either of
your VPCs, do you provide a password? IOW, no blank logon passwords are
permitted since that's considered not secure. I've run into that before.
But, I think Windows told me that it couldn't access shared files for that
reason. Could be wrong about that.

Mike