Virtual PC 2007

[witch_wyzwurd]

1. I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit English 3pk OS on Host Computer

2. I have IE7 installed using Broadband cable connection on Host Computer

3. I have Coffee Cup HTML Editor saved in Program Files of Host Computer

4. I want to test my web pages in IE6 on Host Computer

5. I downloaded Virtual PC 2007 (32-bit) from Microsoft Web Site

6. I downloaded the IE6-XPSP3 file for IE6 on XP OS

7. I installed the Virtual PC and XP files according to suggested settings

8. So now I have a Guest Computer with XP installed on my Host Computer

9. I set myself up as an Administrator on Guest Computer with XP

10. I tried every way possible to grab Virtual Machine Additions (Grabbing ISO image by right clicking CD icon, clicking 'Action' then 'Additions', going through virtual CD drive and running 'setup.exe'), but the only thing that happens is that a box appears with all these commands, I push the OK button, it goes away, but the Install Wizard never appears. I would try to manually run setup.exe by using 'setup.exe -s -v"/qn"' but the manual says to "type that phrase in." But never says where to type it in at. Comparable to giving a person who's not a surgeon a knife and just telling them to perform surgery by "cutting." Sure, I'll just start typing the command and hope my keyboard knows where to put it. I tried CommandPrompt (which gave me an unrecognized command error) and Run box (which just disappeared after pushing enter, and then nothing ever happened). By the way, I did move the Additions ISO file to where the IE6 file is, just as the instructions said to do.

---Any help with (10) will be appreciated. Any technical jargon will be processed then returned with question marks.

11. I have broadband cable connection on Host Computer

12. How do I set up the Guest Computer's (which is on the Host Computer, so only one computer without a home server) IE6 to use Broadband Connection? I don't understand COM1 Ports and things like that.

13. My main objective is to be able to use Coffee Cup's drop-down menu where I can select a browser to view my web pages in, so I can test cross-compatability.

14. The drop-down menu allows me to store different browsers in it by saving their exe files to a choice (like Browser Option 1, Browser Option 2, etc.).

15. I don't understand how I find IE6, which is on the Guest Computer, with the Browser Find option which is a part of Coffee Cup that is a program on my Host Computer. Is this a problem because I can't get Virtual Machine Additions to install? Or do I have to load a separate copy of Coffee Cup onto my Guest Computer to be able to get it to work with IE6?

Please don't tell me to read the manual... I have, and it's very loose. I've also Googled and read many web sites that never seem to fully explain my problems. I'm coming here as a near-to-last resort to find an answer.

[Idontwantspam]

1. I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit English 3pk OS on Host Computer

I am pretty sure that Virtual PC doesn't work on home OSes. It only works on Windows XP Professional, the Windows Server series, and Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise. It works glitchilly on Windows 7. The EULA prohibits use on home OSes though.

[Idontwantspam]

Having read in a bit more detail, and evidently being wrong, here's some more info:

10: The VPC additions are already installed on the VM MS provides with IE6

11/12: Click on the settings button for that VM. GO to "Networking". Choose 1 for the number of adapters, and select whatever adapter your broadband is. It'll probably be called something like "Broadcom 10/100 ethernet network controller" or whatever. Press OK. Your VM should now work on the network.

15: You can't, since it's on a different OS than where coffeecup is installed. You'll have to install coffeecup in the VM.

[Glenn9999]

I am pretty sure that Virtual PC doesn't work on home OSes. It only works on Windows XP Professional, the Windows Server series, and Windows Vista Ultimate, Business and Enterprise. It works glitchilly on Windows 7. The EULA prohibits use on home OSes though.

The only thing that keeps one from using Virtual PC on home OSes is the EULA (I've seen it working on a copy of XP Home - Vista might be different of course).

Edited January 21, 2009 by Glenn9999

[witch_wyzwurd]

EULA = ?

Through a bit of screwing around I manged to get it working. Never got Additions to load, but I downloaded Coffee Cup onto my Gues Computer and I got Shared files to work.

Any ideas on Additions not loading will be helpful.

Also, everywhere I read said that even though Home is not listed as a requirement, it runs fine. There's a message when Installing Virtual PC that pops up saying something about Unbalanced OS, but after pushing OK, it installs. So everything is working right, except can't get Additions to install. Any idea where to type the setup.exe command at?

[spacesurfer]

If EULA is a problem and you can't get guest additions to work, use virtual box. it's free but a lot more complicated than virtual pc.

it supports host interface networking - which means it uses the host's networking to connect to internet. no adjusting required. you just have to choose which network card is connected - that's it.

[Tripredacus]

I remember also having problems getting VM Additions to install. I think that you just autorun the CD (or ISO) after you've installed Windows. It should work like that.

[Idontwantspam]

If shared folders are working, then VM additions already ARE installed. Again, the IE6 VHD that MS provides has VM additions installed when you download it.

[witch_wyzwurd]

Well, that answers that! Thanks Idontwantspam. I wish I could've found that explained somewhere before I sat frustrated for 2 days straight. I was wondering why Shared Folders wasworking, but Additions' Install wasn't auto-running. Woohoo! Anyways, I got everything else working too.