Windows 7 XP in Win7

[Terry James]

Hi All, Just got my new PC with Win7 Pro
Sorry can't give you full spec but haven't had time to work it all out yet.
I got Win7 Pro so I could run XP software.
It was a nightmare downloading the Virtual XP from microsoft. It says print instructions before re-booting. No way would they print.
So I eventually downloaded but after rebooting I can't see any difference to the programmes available and can't run XP!
Anyone done this successfully? If so please tell me how

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Quite a lengthy read, but try this

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8247-windows-xp-mode-install-setup.html

 

[Terry James]

Thanks, will give it a try.

 

[Terry James]

Thanks Silverhazesurfer, I would never have succeeded without the detailed 'step by step' instructions.
Just one thing, when I started up XP mode in Win7 it warned me that no anti-virus was active. The PC came with the latest purchased edition of Norton running in Win7.
Any Ideas?
Regards Terry

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

The virtual machine does not get covered by a virus scanner. A virtual machine is how the security guys test viral infections and propagation. If you get a virus in the virtual machine, the host system should not get infected. I imagine that this would change if you were to share folders from host to virtual. Creating a direct link such as that to the virtual machine could open a channel by which many viruses use to infect other machines.

Check out this document on securing virtual machines. http://www.infosecwriters.com/text_resources/pdf/BFowler_VIrtual_Environment.pdf
I am not certain of your level of knowledge, so some of the verbage may be a little advanced. However, the general idea can be conveyed if you understand the basics.

If you are just using it for games, it should be fine. If you plan to connect to the Internet, grab Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free, made by Microsoft, works reasonably well and is not very intrusive when attempting to work with the machine.

 

[Terry James]

Many thanks Silverhazesurfer
Regards Terry

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

No problem. That's what we're here for.

 

[Terry James]

Having sucessfully installed Windows XP virtual machine on my Win7 pro, I cant use it much as I don't know how to get it to see my Cannon MG5250 printer which is connected by wirless to my old Dell & new Win 7 PC via a BT Voyager 2500V ADSL. The printer works both from the old Dell & new Win7 PC but when I switch to Virtual XP it is not there.
Have put the Cannon installation disk in the new PC whilst in XP mode and nothing happens. I have tried the 'Add Printer Wizard' in XP but am proberably doinig it wrong as it keeps telling me 'can't find printer'.
Help! Terry

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

You have to look at the VM as a stand alone system. If you did not install drivers, the hardware will not be available. If you can get to the internet via the VM, I would download the latest driver for your printer. This is probably the best way to get the software installed.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Surfer
Got a little further.
Found that the Cannon CD does not outorun but I got it to run by looking at the disk in Explorer and clicking the right file.
Went all the way through the 'set up' routine but failed when the software tried to find the printer on my network.
As you said the VM is stand alone so maybe the necessary network configeration does not exist?
The built in Internet Explorer works so the machine is obviously comunicating with the internet over the ADSL?
Any more help would be greatly appriciated.
Terry.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

The first question is, is the Win 7 machine connected to a router or directly to the ADSL modem? If it goes to a router, then it should be "simple" to do. If not, then it may be more complicated to get this working.

Check out this forum posting. http://www.sevenforums.com/virtualization/167366-networking-2-adaptors.html

It talks about the requirement for two network adapters within the Win 7 box. One to be assigned to Win 7 networking and the other to be assigned to the XP VM. Again, for this to work properly, you would need to have a router between you and the ADSL connection.

This appears to be the easiest way to do what you want but you have to download and install a different VM program.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/10911/run-xp-mode-on-windows-7-machines-without-hardware-virtualization/

The above link seems to talk about VMWare software and how to configure network interfaces without the requirement of the adapter.

The key here is the router. If you get a public address from the ISP via direct connection to the ADSL modem, then you are at the mercy of the ISP. You would need to get them to assign you another public IP for the VM. This may not be the most economical way to go. I am not certain how it would behave if there is no physical connection to an additional NIC placed in for the purpose of the VM. I can imagine that it would act as if there were no cable and then tell you that the cable is disconnected. Reason being that you could attempt to do internet connection sharing from the Win 7 machine to the XP VM and then access the Internet. ICS requires that you are physically connected to the other machine via switch or router so that it can share the connection. Again, if there is no physical connection, I am not certain how this would behave as I do not have a test environment to play with.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Surfer, thanks for your detailed response.
Before I delve into that, thought it would be better to answer your question " is the Win 7 machine connected to a router or directly to the ADSL modem?"
Please see attached scetch of the hookup pdf PC CONs.
Terry

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

Oh....OK. I get it now.

It appears that your modem is a modem/router/wireless connection point. That makes it easier.

You will have to install a NIC in the Win 7 machine with the XP VM on it. This will give you an interface on which to send your data. You will need to install the drivers in both 7 and XP VM. Once you do that, bring up the network adapter properties and follow the instructions.

From there, configure the connection in the XP VM and it should act as if it were a real box and allow you to get to your printer.

A slightly different way you may wish to explore is connecting via USB and sharing the printer. This way, you wouldn't need all of the network configuration for it. You would, however, need to leave the Win 7 machine on in any event requiring you to print. Pros and cons of both scenarios.

 

[Terry James]

Many thanks, will be away for a few days but will update you when I get back.
Terry.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

roger that.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Surfer,
Got it working.
All I needed to do was run the 'Network Setup Wizard' in the XP VM.
Many thanks Terry.

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

there ya go. glad you got your desired result.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Surfer, i'm back
Thought I had cracked it but the last job was to network the old Dell with the Win7 mc.
Ran the 'network setup wizard fron the Dell. The Dell PC name appeared in the Win7 explorer ok.
When I click on the 'Shered Docs' in Win7 Explorer I get the following window pop up
"//D8KPPGOJ/ (the Dell PC's name) SharedDocs is not accessible. You might not have permissions to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions.

Not enough server storage is available to process this command."

I am logged on to both PC's as administrator.
I have never tried to network mc's before so have probebly got it wrong!
Can I view the old Dell from Win7 & transfer programmes?
Regards Terry

 

[Silverhazesurfer]

You could try to set both admin passwords as the same.

Can you go the other direction? XP to 7 shared?

I would definitely guess that your permissions are a bit out of whack. Try creating a new folder and sharing that. You could drag n drop the folder to the shared folders location and that should share it, but I like to do it the old fashioned way of right click and share. This will allow you to set permissions and user access. Share the folder and click the permissions button. Place the user, in this case your administrator account, in the access list. You will have to do this on both machines for which folders are shared, and probably for each shared folder. You could try to use a top level folder and control sharing that way (ex. shared folders) but, again, I like to do it the old fashioned way of each folder I want to share.

What it comes down to is the fact that Windows is attempting to use your Windows credentials to get into a share. The share does not have this computer's admin account listed as one that may access the share. Place the admin account in the access control list and you should be ok.

 

[Terry James]

Hi Surfer, thanks for that.
However I have got myself into a right mess.
Before I got your reply I was setting my Win7 auto backup and noticed a Windows easy transfer facility. So I tried it.
I only wanted one thing from the old Dell but made a mess of it and the dam thing transfered hundreds of files (severalGB) including a load of junk I did not want. For all my data files it transfered the old 'out of date' files that I transfered some time ago by external drive and duplicated them.
So I have been trying to delete them all as there dose not seem to be a facility for 'undoing' the transfer.
When I got to a folder 'Windows' I couldent remember seeing that on my Win7 explorer before so tried to delete it. It wouldent let me so Iooked at the contents. 99% of the files in the Windows folder where old (before I installed the new PC) so I assumed they had been transfered unnessicerily from the old Dell.
I deleted what I could but kept getting warnings that things might not work properly etc.
Half way through I became more nervious about what I was doing so stopped.
Everthing on the new PC seems to be working although the virtual XP Mc coughed & spluttered a bit at first.
Any idea how to exctract myself from the mess I have created and get back to a 'clean' Win7
As ever your help is highly appriciated.