Page 1
Virtual PC
for Windows
Version 4.0
User Guide
™
June 2001
Page 2
Copyright
Connectix makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, including, but not limited
to, implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
Connectix shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental consequential damages
in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material.
This document contains proprietary information that is protected by copyright. All rights are
reserved. No part of this document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another
language without the prior written consent of Connectix.
The information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2001 Connectix Corporation
2955 Campus Drive
San Mateo, CA 94403
All Rights Reserved
Connectix, the Connectix logo, Connectix Virtual PC, Connectix OS Packs, and RAM Doubler are
trademarks of Connectix Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, MS-DOS, Outlook and Front Page
are registered trademarks and NetShow is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Red Hat Linux is
a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Intel,
Pentium and MMX are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. PowerPC, PC-DOS, IBM and
OS/2 are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation. PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe
Systems, Inc. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd. StuffIt Expander
and Shrinkwrap are trademarks of Aladdin Systems, Inc. Zip and Jaz are registered trademarks of
Iomega Corporation. S3 and Trio are registered trademarks of S3 Incorporated. QuarkXPress is a
trademark of Quark, Inc. Game Wizard is a trademark of Micro Conversions, Inc. Epson and
Epson Stylus are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. ImageMate is a trademark of
SanDisk Corporation. QuickCam is a trademark of Logitech, Inc. Imation and SuperDisk are
registered trademarks of Imation Corp. Agfa is a trademark of Bayer Corporation. CanoScan is a
trademark of Canon Computer Systems Inc.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Page 3
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Introduction / 1
About this User Guide / 1
If you need additional help / 2
Online Help / 2
Read Me file / 2
Connectix Web site / 2
Connectix Support / 3
Other products and license information / 3
Touring Virtual PC / 5
What is Virtual PC? / 5
About the host PC / 6
Components of a virtual machine / 6
More about disk images / 6
Undoable disk images / 7
Running multiple virtual machines / 7
The Virtual PC window / 8
VPC Additions and virtual machine integration / 8
Printing with Virtual PC / 9
Networking with Virtual PC / 9
Help / 10
Creating a virtual machine / 10
Chapter 3
Setting Up Virtual PC / 11
Chapter topics / 11
Installation requirements / 12
Installing Virtual PC for Windows / 14
Registering Virtual PC / 15
Creating a virtual machine with an OS Pack / 15
Creating a virtual machine with a copy of an OS / 20
Creating a disk image / 20
Installing an OS / 24
Installing VPC Additions / 26
Contents
• • • •
i
Page 4
Installing an application on a virtual machine / 29
Modifying the settings for a virtual machine / 30
Creating a virtual machine with standard settings / 31
Duplicating settings of an existing virtual machine / 32
Chapter 4
Using a Virtual Machine / 33
Chapter contents / 33
Starting up Virtual PC / 34
Using the host key / 34
Starting up a virtual machine / 35
Using CTRL+ALT+DELETE / 35
Changing the virtual machine display / 36
About video resolution / 36
Minimizing a virtual machine window / 36
Pausing, resuming, and restarting a virtual machine / 37
Running multiple virtual machines / 37
Using the VPC Toolbar / 38
Status and lights / 38
Host PC and virtual machine integration / 39
Pointer integration / 39
Drag and drop / 39
Copy and paste / 40
Sharing folders / 40
Sharing CDs / 40
Sharing other removable volumes / 41
Capturing a floppy image or floppy disk / 41
Floppy disk images / 41
Real floppy disks / 41
Releasing a disk or disk image / 41
Printing from a virtual machine / 42
Using a joystick / 42
Using sound / 42
Optimizing performance / 42
Host PC processor speed / 42
Host PC processor usage / 43
RAM allocation / 43
Backing up a virtual machine / 43
Shutting down a virtual machine / 43
• • • •
Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Chapter 5
Networking with Virtual PC / 45
About the Networking setting / 45
Shared Networking option / 45
Modem access / 47
LAN, DSL, or cable access / 47
Virtual Switch option / 47
File sharing / 48
Switching the host PC network interface card / 49
Chapter 6
Changing Settings and Preferences / 51
Chapter topics / 51
Changing settings for a virtual machine / 52
PC Name setting / 52
Memory setting / 53
More RAM improves performance / 53
Real RAM required / 53
Hard Disk 1 setting / 54
About the Undoable option / 55
Hard Disk 2 and Hard Disk 3 settings / 55
CD-ROM setting / 56
Floppy setting / 57
Shared Folders setting / 58
Mouse setting / 59
COM1 and COM2 settings / 60
LPT1 (Printing) setting / 61
Networking setting / 62
Deleting settings for a virtual machine / 63
About global preferences / 64
PC Performance preference / 64
Sound preference / 65
Virtual Switch preference / 66
Keyboard preference / 67
Mouse preference / 68
Contents
• • • •
iii
Page 6
Chapter 7
Using Virtual Disk Wizard / 69
Creating a hard disk image / 69
More about hard disk image types / 70
Disk image file splitting / 72
Creating a floppy disk image / 73
Examining or modifying a disk image / 74
Fixed-size disk images / 74
Dynamically expanding disk images / 75
Differencing disk images / 75
Disk images linked to a host volume / 75
Disk images linked to a host physical drive / 76
Chapter 8
Using PC-DOS / 77
Introduction to PC-DOS / 77
The command prompt / 78
Typing a command / 78
The PC-DOS directory structure / 79
Viewing the directory (dir) list of files / 79
Viewing one screen at a time / 79
Viewing the contents of a directory in wide format / 80
Using wildcard commands / 80
Changing drives / 80
Changing directories / 81
Creating a directory and subdirectories / 82
Deleting a directory / 83
Printing under PC-DOS / 84
Copying files / 85
Copying a single file / 85
Copying multiple files / 86
File naming / 86
Renaming files / 87
Deleting files / 87
Deleting a single file / 87
Deleting a group of files / 88
Deleting a directory / 88
Getting PC-DOS Help / 89
• • • •
Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Appendix A
Technical Specifications / 91
Processor / 91
Motherboard / 91
BIOS / 91
Memory / 91
IDE controller / 92
Hard drive images / 92
CD-ROM / 93
Video / 93
Keyboard controller / 93
Keyboard / 93
Mouse / 93
Floppy / 93
Serial ports / 94
Parallel port / 94
Sound / 94
Ethernet / 94
Appendix B
Appendix C
Command Line Parameters / 95
Volume License Guidelines / 97
Preparing for large-scale deployment of Virtual PC / 97
Building a disk image for deployment / 97
Building a drive image “from scratch” / 98
Starting with a disk image from Connectix / 99
Deployment / 99
Networking / 100
Legal Issues / 100
Managing Multiple COAs / 100
Contents
• • • •
v
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• • • •
Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Introduction
Welcome to Virtual PC for Windows—a
sophisticated software emulation program that
lets you run multiple virtual machines each
with a different operating system on a single
host PC.
This introduction provides a road map to the
chapters in this guide and information about
getting additional assistance.
About this User Guide
Here is a brief description of each chapter and appendix in this guide.
Please read Chapter 2, “Touring Virtual PC,” before you install the
program.
Chapter 1
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
Chapter 1
—this chapter
Chapter 2
—reviewing the major features of Virtual PC
Chapter 3
—installing Virtual PC and creating a virtual machine
Chapter 4
—using the key features of a virtual machine
Chapter 5
—choosing networking options for Virtual PC
Chapter 6
—changing settings for a virtual machine or global preferences for
Virtual PC
Chapter 7
—creating various types of disk images with Virtual Disk Wizard
Introduction
Touring Virtual PC
Setting Up Virtual PC
Using a Virtual Machine
Networking with Virtual PC
Changing Settings and Preferences
Using Virtual Disk Wizard
Introduction
• • • •
1
Page 10
Chapter 8 Using PC-DOS
—using the PC-DOS operating system
Appendix A Technical Specifications
—technical specifications for Virtual PC
Appendix B Command Line Parameters
—using Virtual PC command line parameters
Appendix C Volume License Information
—information about volume licensing
If you need additional help
If you need additional help, please consider these options:
Online Help
Use the online Help feature in Virtual PC. (In the Virtual PC window,
on the Help menu, click Virtual PC Help .)
Read Me file
Check the Read Me file in the Connectix folder on your PC or on the
Virtual PC CD. It provides late-breaking information on known
problems and solutions.
Connectix Web site
Check the Connectix Web site at http://www.connectix.com for the
latest information or updates for Virtual PC for Windows.
• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Connectix Support
Before you contact Connectix Support, please have the following
information available:
!
Your Virtual PC for Windows serial number
!
Software version number—In the Virtual PC window, on the
Help
menu, click
!
Basic information about your host PC such as the processor type
About Virtual PC
and the RAM memory installed
!
The version of Windows running on your host PC
!
The operating systems running on your virtual machines
!
Your notes on the events that led to a problem
Connectix support information is available online at
http://www.connectix.com/support.
Other products and license information
For more information about other Connectix products or about
volume license agreements for Virtual PC, please contact Connectix
Sales:
!
E-mail: [email protected]
!
Fax: 650-571-0850
!
Phone: 800-950-5880 (US and Canada)
or 650-571-5100 (international)
.
• • • •
Introduction
3
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• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Touring Virtual PC
This chapter provides a tour of Virtual PC for
Windows. Look it over to get an understanding
of key features before you install the program.
What is Virtual PC?
Virtual PC lets you create one or more virtual machines or guest PCs
on a host PC. A virtual machine runs its own operating system.
2-1
Chapter 2
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
• • • •
Touring Virtual PC 5
Page 14
About the host PC
The host PC, where you install Virtual PC and create one or more virtual machines, must be running Windows Me, Windows 2000, or
Windows NT 4.0. (For details of other host PC requirements, see
page 12.)
Components of a virtual machine
A basic virtual machine (or guest PC) consists of three components:
!
Settings that determine the operating relationship with the host
PC, such as the amount of RAM allocated for the virtual
machine, or the assignments for the COM1 and COM2 ports.
!
disk image file that represents the boot drive (Hard Disk 1) of
the virtual machine. By default, this disk image is a dynamically
expanding file that grows in size as you install applications or
store data on it. (Optionally, you can designate other disk images
as Hard Disk 2 or Hard Disk 3 for a virtual machine.)
!
An operating system installed on the boot disk image file. This
OS can be almost any x86 compatible operating system,
including Windows 95 or Windows 98. (An operating system
running on a virtual machine is also called a guest OS .)
A
More about disk images
Virtual PC supports several types of disk images, including:
!
Dynamically expanding — the size of the disk image file expands
as you add information to it. For example, if you create a 1 GB
dynamically expanding disk image, the initial file is only about 3
MB in size.
!
Fixed-size
—the size of the disk image file is fixed at a size
representing the entire virtual hard drive. For example, if you
create a fixed-size hard disk image that represents a 1 GB hard
drive, the image file is 1 GB in size.
!
Differencing
—information you add is written to a differencing
image file only, not to its associated disk image.
You can create, examine, or modify disk images using the Virtual
Disk Wizard. (See page 69.)
• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Undoable disk images
You can designate any disk image as
changes you make during a session with a virtual machine are saved
to a separate, temporary file. At the time you shut down the virtual
machine, you then have the option of discarding these changes or
committing them to the disk image.
Running multiple virtual machines
You can create and simultaneously run several virtual machines on
the same host PC. Since each virtual machine has its own OS, you can
in effect run several different operating systems at the same time on a
single PC.
2-2
undoable
. This means that any
Note that each guest PC requires its own allocation of RAM on the
host PC.
• • • •
Touring Virtual PC
7
Page 16
The Virtual PC window
When you start up Virtual PC, the Virtual PC window appears. This
is the “dashboard” for Virtual PC. From this window, you can start up
a virtual machine, create a new virtual machine, change the settings
for a virtual machine, or delete the settings for a virtual machine.
2-3
As you run a guest PC, its thumbnail picture in the Virtual PC window updates dynamically.
VPC Additions and virtual machine integration
A set of software components called “VPC Additions” can be installed
on a guest OS. VPC Additions enable host PC and virtual machine
integration. (VPC Additions are already installed in disk images provided in Connectix OS Packs.)
This integration takes several forms:
!
You can drag and drop files and folders from the host PC desktop
to a virtual machine, and vice versa.
!
You can copy and paste between applications running in the two
environments.
• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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!
You can share a folder or a volume between the host PC and a
virtual machine. (You can even share the same folder with
multiple guest PCs running at the same time.)
In addition, the clock of the virtual machine is synchronized with the
clock of the host PC. (This is especially important when saving or
restarting a virtual machine.)
Printing with Virtual PC
Applications running on a virtual machine can print in two ways:
!
over a network
!
through a parallel port on the host PC
For information about printing, see page 42.
Networking with Virtual PC
By default, a virtual machine is set for Shared Networking. This means
the virtual machine can share a single network connection transparently with the host PC. If the host PC can access the World Wide Web,
then the virtual machine can also access the Web.
Two other networking options are available:
!
None—the equivalent of removing the emulated networking
card from the virtual machine
!
Virtual Switch—an advanced option only available when the
host PC is running Windows 2000. One feature of Virtual Switch
allows you to send network packets exclusively between virtual
machines. You can actually set up a “virtual network” on the host
PC and test network protocols without using your real network.
(See page 45 for more details.)
NOTE Virtual PC emulates a Digital Equipment Corporation™
(DEC) 21041-based PCI Ethernet card.
Touring Virtual PC 9
• • • •
Page 18
Help
Virtual PC includes Help available on the screen. In the Virtual PC
window, on the Help menu, click Virtual PC Help.
2-4
Creating a virtual machine
After you install Virtual PC on the host PC, you create one or more
virtual machines. (Virtual PC for Windows ships with one virtual
machine running PC-DOS already created.)
You can set up a virtual machine using a prepared boot disk image
from a Connectix OS Pack. (See page 15.) This disk image already has
an operating system and VPC Additions installed. Alternatively, you
can set up a guest PC by creating a disk image and then installing
your own copy of an OS on it. (See page 20.)
• • • •
10 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Setting Up Virtual PC
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
This chapter provides step-by-step instructions
for setting up Virtual PC for Windows.
Chapter topics
The topics in this chapter include:
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Chapter 3
Installation requirements - page 12
Installing Virtual PC - page 14
Registering Virtual PC - page 15
Creating a virtual machine with a Connectix OS Pack - page 15
Creating a virtual machine with your own copy of an OS page 20
Installing an application on a virtual machine - page 29
Modifying the settings for a virtual machine - page 30
Creating a virtual machine with standard settings - page 31
Duplicating the settings of an existing virtual machine - page 32
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 11
Page 20
Installation requirements
Before you install Virtual PC for Windows on a host PC, note these
requirements:
!
Host PC processor
— Athlon, Duron, Celeron, K6-III, Pentium II, Pentium III, or
Pentium 4
— 266 MHz minimum, 500 MHz recommended
— Level 2 cache required
!
Host PC OS
— Windows Me
— Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2 recommended)
— Windows NT 4 with service pack 6
!
Host PC Disk space
Use the following table to determine the required disk space on
the host PC. The total required disk space is the sum of the disk
space required for each virtual machine you create on the host
PC.
Virtual Machine OS Host PC Disk Space
DOS 50 MB
Windows 3.1 100 MB
Windows 95 500 MB
Windows 98 500 MB
Windows Me 2 GB
Windows 2000 Professional 2 GB
Windows 2000 Server 2 GB
Windows 2000 Advanced Server 2 GB
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation 1 GB
Windows NT 4.0 Server 1 GB
Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise 1 GB
Linux 2 GB
• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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!
Host PC RAM
Use the table below to determine the minimum physical RAM
required for the host PC. First determine the minimum required
RAM for the OS on the host PC (Windows 2000, Windows NT,
or Windows Me). Then add the RAM requirement for the virtual
machine or machines you intend to run. Additional memory
beyond this minimum amounts usually improves performance.
Note that if you are going to run multiple virtual machines
simultaneously , you need to add up the RAM requirements for all
the virtual machines running.
For example, on a host PC running Windows 2000 Pro with a
single guest PC running Windows 95 you need a minimum of
128 MB plus 32 MB (or 160 MB) of host PC RAM. On the same
host PC, simultaneously running a second virtual machine with
Windows Me installed would require 128 MB plus 32 MB plus 96
MB (or 256 MB) of host PC RAM. If you only intend to run one
of these virtual machines at a time on this host PC, you would
need a minimum of 128 MB plus 96 MB (or 224 MB) of RAM.
Also note that Virtual PC for Windows ships with a single virtual
machine running PC-DOS already set up.
Host PC or Virtual Machine OS Minimum Host PC RAM
DOS 32 MB
Windows 3.1 32 MB
Windows 95 32 MB
Windows 98 64 MB
Windows Me 96 MB
Windows 2000 Professional 128 MB
Windows 2000 Server 128 MB
Windows 2000 Advanced Server 192 MB
Windows NT 4.0 Workstation 64 MB
Windows NT 4.0 Server 64 MB
Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise 64 MB
Linux 64 MB
Setting Up Virtual PC
• • • •
13
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Installing Virtual PC for Windows
To install Virtual PC for Windows, follow these steps:
1
Log in to the host PC as an administrator or as a user with
administrative privileges.
If you purchased Virtual PC for Windows online, decompress the
2
file “Virtual PC for Windows.zip.” Then open the extracted
folder and double-click the file “Install Virtual PC for
Windows.exe.”
If you purchased a Virtual PC for Windows with an installation
CD, insert this CD in the CD-ROM drive of the host PC.
This launches the Virtual PC installation program.
3-1
Click the option to
3
This launches the InstallShield Wizard.
4
Click
Next
.
Read the license agreement and click
5
Use the default location for the installation, or change the
6
location, and click
7
Select a language for Virtual PC for Windows and click
8
Select a Program Folder and click Next.
9 Leave the option to restart selected and click Finish.
Virtual PC for Windows is installed on the host PC.
• • • •
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Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
Install/Uninstall Virtual PC 4.0
Accept
.
Next
.
.
Next
.
Page 23
Registering Virtual PC
If you purchased Virtual PC for Windows with an installation CD,
please follow the directions provided to register your product at the
Connectix Web site. You must register to receive support.
If you purchased Virtual PC for Windows online, you have already
completed the registration process.
Creating a virtual machine with an OS Pack
With Virtual PC installed on the host PC, you can now create a virtual machine using a Connectix OS Pack. (Virtual PC for Windows
ships with one virtual machine running PC-DOS already created.)
NOTE To set up a virtual machine with your own copy of an OS, see
page 20.
A Connectix OS Pack includes a virtual machine boot disk image
with a fully functional OS and VPC Additions installed. To set up a
virtual machine using a Connectix OS Pack, follow these steps:
1 Follow the instructions provided in the OS Pack and install the
Connectix disk image on the host PC.
NOTE The following steps parallel the instructions in the OS Pack
for “Creating a New PC (Windows).”
3-2
2 Start up Virtual PC on your host PC. Click the Start button on
the host PC desktop and point to Programs. Then point to the
Connectix Virtual PC submenu and click Virtual PC.
The Virtual PC window appears.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 15
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3-3
3-4
3 Click New PC.
The PC Setup Wizard appears.
4 Click Next.
5 Type a name for the virtual machine and click Next.
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16 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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3-5
3-6
6 Choose the Guide me option and click Next.
7 Use the drop-down menu to choose the operating system
installed on the Connectix disk image. Then click Next.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 17
Page 26
3-7
3-8
8 Click No to keep the recommended memory setting and click
Next. (You can always change the memory setting later.)
9 Click the option Select an existing hard disk image and click
Next.
• • • •
18 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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3-9
3-10
10 Click Browse, navigate to the Connectix disk image installed on
the host PC, and click Open. To make the disk image undoable,
click the option Enable undo support. (See page 55 for more
information about this option.) Then click Next.
11 Check the information in Setup Summary and click Finish.
The new virtual machine now appears in the Virtual PC window. To
install an application on the new virtual machine, see page 29.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 19
Page 28
Creating a virtual machine with a copy of an OS
With Virtual PC installed on the host PC, you can now create a a virtual machine using your own copy of an OS. (Virtual PC for Windows ships with one virtual machine running PC-DOS already
created.)
NOTE To create a virtual machine using a Connectix OS Pack, see
page 15.
To create a virtual machine running with your own copy of an OS,
you
!
first create a disk image
!
install an OS on this image
!
then install VPC Additions (if available for the OS you are using)
Creating a disk image
To create the disk image for the virtual machine, follow these steps:
1 Start up Virtual PC on your host PC. Click the Start button and
point to Programs. Then point to the Connectix Virtual PC
submenu and click Virtual PC.
The Virtual PC window appears.
3-11
• • • •
20 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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3-12
3-13
2 Click New PC.
The PC Setup Wizard appears.
3 Click Next.
4 Type a name for the virtual machine and click Next.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 21
Page 30
3-14
3-15
5 Choose the Guide me option and click Next.
6 Use the drop-down menu to choose the operating system you
plan to install on the disk image. Then click Next.
• • • •
22 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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3-16
3-17
7 Click No to keep the recommended memory setting and click
Next. (You can always change the memory setting later.)
8 Click the option Create a new hard disk image and click Next.
9 Click Browse and navigate to the location for the drive image.
Type a name for the drive image and click Save. Then click Next.
10 Check the Setup Summary and click Finish.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 23
Page 32
Installing an OS
Virtual PC for Windows supports a variety of Pentium-based operating systems installed on virtual machines. Operating systems you can
install on the boot disk image for a virtual machine include:
!
MS-DOS 6.22 Upgrade—You must prepare the drive image with
PC-DOS 7.
!
Windows 3.1
!
Windows 3.11 for Workgroups
!
Windows 95
!
Windows 98
!
Windows Me
!
Windows NT 4.0
!
Windows 2000 Professional
!
Windows 2000 Server, Advanced Server
!
Many distributions of Linux
NOTE Do not install Linux using the low-level format option.
This forces a dynamically expanding disk image to grow to
maximum size.
!
Many distributions of BSD UNIX
!
IBM OS/2 version 4.0
Installation tips for a variety of operating systems are available at the
Connectix Web site.
NOTE Connectix does not provide technical support for operating
systems not purchased as Connectix OS Packs. Please contact the OS
manufacturer for support.
To install an operating system on a disk image for a virtual machine:
1 Start up the virtual machine. Select it in the Virtual PC window
and click Start Up.
Since no OS is yet installed on the disk image, you receive an
error message “Invalid System disk.”
2 Make sure the virtual machine is the frontmost window on your
desktop.
• • • •
24 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
Page 33
With a bootable CD
If you can install the OS from a bootable CD, follow these steps.
NOTE A CD disk-caching utility (such as Smart Drive) installed
on the host PC can significantly accelerate the process of installing
an OS on a disk image.
1 Insert the bootable CD in the CD-ROM drive. It is automatically
captured by the virtual machine.
2 Press any key to continue.
The OS setup program on the CD then takes you through the
process of installing the OS on the drive image for the virtual
machine.
3 Now follow the instructions for installing VPC Additions on
page 26.
With a non-bootable CD and a bootable floppy
If you install the OS from a non-bootable CD and a bootable floppy
disk, follow these steps.
1 Insert the non-bootable OS installation CD.
The CD is automatically captured by the virtual machine.
2 Insert the bootable floppy disk required to install the OS in the
floppy drive of the host PC. (It is automatically captured by the
virtual machine.)
If you have a bootable floppy disk image, drag the image onto the
Floppy icon on the VPC Toolbar to capture it.
Floppy
3 Press any key to continue.
The OS setup program on the floppy then takes you through the
process of installing the OS on the drive image for the virtual
machine.
4 Now follow the instructions for installing VPC Additions on
page 26.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 25
Page 34
3-18
Installing VPC Additions
VPC Additions enable integration between a virtual machine and the
host PC. (See page 39 for more information.) VPC Additions are
available for most Windows operating systems installed on a virtual
machine. (VPC Additions are already installed on disk images provided in Connectix OS Packs.) Check the Connectix Web site for new
releases of Virtual PC Additions.
To install VPC Additions:
If you purchased Virtual PC for Windows with an installation CD
1 Make sure the virtual machine where you want to install VPC
Additions is the frontmost window on the host PC desktop.
2 Insert the Virtual PC installation CD into the CD-ROM drive of
the host PC.
The Virtual PC installation program appears on the virtual
machine.
3 Click Virtual PC Additions.
4 Continue with the section “Finishing VPC Additions
installation” on page 28.
• • • •
26 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
Page 35
If you purchased Virtual PC for Windows online
1 Open the Additions folder in the folder you extracted from the
download.
2 Drag the file "VPC Additions.iso" to the CD icon on the VPC
Toolbar of the virtual machine where you want to install VPC
Additions.
3-19
3-20
CD
This captures the CD image on the virtual machine and launches
the installation program for VPC Additions.
3 Click Virtual PC Additions.
4 Continue with the section “Finishing VPC Additions
installation” on page 28.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 27
Page 36
3-21
Finishing VPC Additions installation
1 Read the explanatory text shown and click Continue.
2 Follow the instructions provided by the VPC Additions Installer
Wizard. At the end, choose the option to not immediately restart
the virtual machine.
3 Release the CD disk or disk image from the virtual machine by
right-clicking the CD icon on the VPC Toolbar.
4 Restart the OS installed on the virtual machine.
You may now want to install an application on the new virtual
machine. See the next section.
• • • •
28 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Installing an application on a virtual machine
To install an application on a virtual machine:
1 Start up Virtual PC on your host PC. Click the Start button and
point to Programs. Then point to the Connectix Virtual PC
submenu and click Virtual PC.
This launches Virtual PC and opens the Virtual PC window.
2 Select the virtual machine in the Virtual PC window and then
click Start Up.
The virtual machine appears in a window on the desktop of the
host PC.
3 Insert the CD for the application in the CD-ROM drive of the
host PC.
The CD is automatically captured by the virtual machine.
4 From the virtual machine, navigate to the installation file on the
CD (if necessary) and launch it.
5 Follow the onscreen directions for installation of the application.
6 When installation is complete, release the CD from the virtual
machine using the VPC Toolbar (see page 38.)
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 29
Page 38
Modifying the settings for a virtual machine
Each virtual machine has a number of settings you can modify. These
include:
!
PC Name—the name of the virtual machine
!
Memory—the amount of host PC RAM allocated to the virtual
machine
!
Hard Disk 1—the disk image assigned to the boot drive of the
virtual machine
!
CD-ROM—options for booting from a CD or using a secondary
IDE controller
!
Floppy—options for booting from a floppy or automatically
detecting a floppy inserted in the host PC
!
Shared Folders—folders on the host PC designated for sharing
with the virtual machine
!
Mouse—option for turning pointer integration on or off
!
COM1 and COM2—options for using serial communication
from the virtual machine (such as an external modem connected
to the host PC)
!
LPT1—options for using the parallel port on the host PC for
tasks such as printing from the virtual machine
!
Networking—options for networking the virtual machine
For details about these settings and their options, see Chapter 6 on
page 51.
• • • •
30 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Creating a virtual machine with standard settings
You can use the PC Setup Wizard to create a new virtual machine
with standard settings.
1 Start up Virtual PC on your host PC. Click the Start button and
point to Programs. Then point to the Connectix Virtual PC
submenu and click Virtual PC.
The Virtual PC window appears.
2 Click New PC in the Virtual PC window.
The PC Setup Wizard appears.
3 Click Next.
4 Type a name for the virtual machine and click Next.
5 Click the option Create a default PC, and then click Next.
6 Leave the option selected to open settings for the new virtual
machine when the wizard is finished. (You cannot start up a
virtual machine until you assign a boot disk image to Hard
Disk 1.) Click Next.
7 Click Finish.
• • • •
Setting Up Virtual PC 31
Page 40
Duplicating settings of an existing virtual machine
You can use the PC Setup Wizard to create a new virtual machine that
duplicates the settings of an existing virtual machine.
1 Start up Virtual PC on your host PC. Click the Start button and
point to Programs. Then point to the Connectix Virtual PC
submenu and click Virtual PC.
The Virtual PC window appears.
2 Click New PC in the Virtual PC window.
The PC Setup Wizard appears.
3 Click Next.
4 Type a name for the virtual machine and click Next.
5 Click the option Duplicate an existing PC and click Next.
6 Choose the guest PC you wish to duplicate from the drop-down
menu. Leave the option selected to open settings for the new
guest PC. (You cannot start up a virtual machine until you assign
a boot disk image to Hard Disk 1.) Click Next.
7 Click Finish.
• • • •
32 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Using a Virtual Machine
This chapter provides information about using
a virtual machine on the host PC.
Chapter contents
The topics in this chapter include:
!
Starting up Virtual PC for Windows - page 34
!
Using the host key - page 34
!
Starting up a virtual machine - page 35
!
Using CTRL+ALT+DELETE - page 35
!
Changing the virtual machine display - page 34
!
Pausing, resuming, and restarting a virtual machine - page 37
!
Running multiple virtual machines - page 37
!
Using the VPC Toolbar - page 38
!
Host PC and virtual machine integration- page 39
!
Capturing a floppy image or disk- page 41
!
Printing from a virtual machine - page 42
!
Using a joystick - page 42
!
Using sound - page 42
!
Optimizing performance - page 42
!
Backing up a virtual machine - page 43
!
Shutting down a virtual machine - page 43
Chapter 4
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
For information about settings for a virtual machine or global preferences for Virtual PC for Windows, see Chapter 6 on page 51.
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine 33
Page 42
Starting up Virtual PC
To start up Virtual PC on your host PC, click the Start button and
point to Programs . Then point to the Connectix Virtual PC
submenu and click Virtual PC.
This launches Virtual PC and opens the Virtual PC window.
4-1
NOTE
With Virtual PC running, you can display the Virtual PC
window by pressing the host key and the L key.
Using the host key
The host key is a designated key used to control certain behaviors of
Virtual PC for Windows. For example, holding down the host key
and pressing the P key, pauses or resumes a virtual machine.
By default, the host key is defined as the right ALT key. You can
change this using the Keyboard preference. (See page 67.)
NOTE
The Keyboard preference also provides an options that lets you
set the behavior of the NUM LOCK key at startup. For laptops with
numeric keyboards that overlap the main keyboard, you should clear
this option.
• • • •
34
Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Starting up a virtual machine
To start up a virtual machine:
!
Select a virtual machine in the Virtual PC window and then click
Start Up
!
Alternatively, double-click the thumbnail for the virtual machine
.
in the Virtual PC window.
4-2
NOTE
the Virtual PC window and choosing
You can also start up a virtual machine by right-clicking on it in
Start Up
from the shortcut menu.
Virtual PC opens a virtual machine window on your host PC desktop
and starts up the PC operating system installed on it. The name you
chose for the virtual machine appears in the window’s title.
Using CTRL+ALT+DELETE
Pressing CTRL+ALT+DELETE sends this key combination to the OS
running on the host PC.
Pressing the host key and DELETE sends the equivalent of the
CTRL+ALT+DELETE combination to the OS running on a virtual
machine. (In some cases this combination is required—for example,
to log in to Windows NT.)
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine
35
Page 44
Changing the virtual machine display
A virtual machine can run inside a window on your desktop (Windowed mode), or it can fill the entire screen (Full Screen mode).
To switch from Windowed mode to Full Screen mode:
!
On the PC menu in the virtual machine window, click
Full Screen.
!
Alternatively, hold down the host key (by default, the right ALT
key) and press ENTER.
To switch from Full Screen mode to Windowed mode:
!
Hold down the host key (by default, the right ALT key) and press
ENTER.
About video resolution
In Full Screen mode, a virtual machine surrounded by a black border
indicates that the video display of the virtual machine OS is not filling
the screen. In this case, the virtual machine OS requested a video resolution that is not available on the video card in your host PC or the
monitor. The virtual machine then attempts to find the “best fit”
—the next highest resolution that contains the virtual machine video
resolution.
Enable
Because the emulated video card on a virtual machine uses standard
resolutions, an exact match is usually available on the host video card.
Minimizing a virtual machine window
Click the Minimize button at the top of the virtual machine window
to minimize the virtual machine window to the taskbar. A minimized
virtual machine continues to run unless you have paused the
machine before minimizing.
• • • •
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Pausing, resuming, and restarting a virtual machine
You can pause a virtual machine so that it is no longer running. On
the PC menu in the virtual machine window, click Pause. Click
Resume to resume processing.
NOTE You can press the host key and the P key to pause or resume a
virtual machine.
You can restart a virtual machine. On the PC menu in the virtual
machine window, click Reset. This is the equivalent of pressing the
restart button on the front of a PC. Alternatively, you can restart from
the operating system running on the virtual machine.
NOTE You can press the host key and the R key to restart a virtual
machine.
Running multiple virtual machines
Virtual PC can run multiple virtual machines at the same time. You
can switch between virtual machines by:
!
using the Virtual PC window
!
clicking on the associated taskbar buttons
!
pressing the host key and the RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW
key
If you are running more than one virtual machine, selecting Pause
PCs when in background in Preferences increases the performance
of the front-most virtual machine. (See page 64.)
NOTE When you are running multiple virtual machines and the
background virtual machines are not paused, the virtual machine in
front is allocated about 70 percent of the available processing time.
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine 37
Page 46
Using the VPC Toolbar
The VPC Toolbar appears in the lower left corner of the window for a
virtual machine. It provides shortcuts to several settings for a virtual
machine as well as functions for capturing or releasing media.
4-3
Hard Disk Floppy
CD Shared Folders
Networking
The VPC Toolbar has five icons. Each icon has a shortcut menu you
can access by right-clicking on the icon:
!
Hard Disk—access Hard Disk settings, or launch Virtual Disk
Wizard
!
CD—access the CD-ROM setting, capture, release, or eject a
physical CD or CD .iso image
!
Floppy—access the Floppy setting, capture, release, or eject a
floppy disk or floppy disk image
!
Shared Folders—access the Shared Folders setting, designate a
folder on the host PC for sharing
!
Networking—access the Networking setting
Status and lights
An icon in the VPC Toolbar may appear as active or shaded. An active
appearance indicates that a particular feature is enabled or that a
removable media item (CD or floppy) is in place.
An icon may display a green light indicating a device is reading or
receiving information, or an orange light indicating a device is writing or sending information.
• • • •
38 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Host PC and virtual machine integration
Virtual PC provides several capabilities that integrate the host PC and
a virtual machine. Most require the installation of the set of software
components called “VPC Additions.” (See page 26.) The capabilities
include:
!
Pointer integration (VPC Additions required)
!
Drag and drop of files and folders (VPC Additions required)
!
Copy and paste (VPC Additions required)
!
Sharing folders (VPC Additions required)
!
Sharing CDs
!
Sharing volumes (VPC Additions required)
!
Clock synchronization from the host PC to the virtual machine
(VPC Additions required)
VPC Additions are available for most Windows operating systems
installed on a virtual machine. (VPC Additions are already installed
on disk images provided in Connectix OS Packs.) Check the Connectix Web site for new releases of Virtual PC Additions.
Pointer integration
You can move the pointer freely between the host PC desktop and the
window displaying the virtual machine. By default, you must click in
the virtual machine window to capture the pointer to the virtual
machine. (You can change this behavior using the Mouse preference.
See page 68.)
If VPC Additions are not installed or if pointer integration for a virtual machine is not enabled (see page 59), the pointer may be
“trapped” in the virtual machine window. Hold down the host key to
untrap the pointer and move it back to the host PC desktop.
Drag and drop
You can drag and drop files or folders from the host PC to the virtual
machine or vice versa. This copies the data from one machine to the
other.
The source or destination for a drag operation can be almost any
location: the desktop, a particular folder, a volume displayed in the
My Computer window, and so on.
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine 39
Page 48
NOTE Virtual PC does not support drag-and-drop operations directly
from one virtual machine to another. You can, however, move files and
folders from one virtual machine to the host PC, and then move them
again from the host PC to another guest PC.
Copy and paste
You can copy and paste text and graphics between an application
running on a virtual machine and an application running on the host
PC, or vice versa. You can also copy and paste between virtual
machines.
Text is copied unformatted. (Formatting, including bold, italic, or
paragraph styles, is not transferred.) Graphics are transferred as bitmaps.
Sharing folders
You can designate a folder or volume for sharing between the host PC
and a virtual machine (see page 58). For example, if you download
shareware files from the World Wide Web to your host PC, you can
share the host PC folder the files are in and then access the files from
the virtual machine.
You can share the same host PC folder with multiple virtual machines
running at the same time.
Sharing CDs
A physical CD inserted in a host PC CD-ROM drive is automatically
captured on the virtual machine—the frontmost machine if you are
running several—and mounted on the host PC. (This prevents the
host PC from auto-playing the CD.) You can also capture the CD
simultaneously to other virtual machines using the CD shortcut
menu on the VPC Toolbar.
Note that:
!
You can capture or release a CD or a .iso image from a virtual
machine using the CD shortcut menu on the VPC Toolbar.
!
You can set an option to boot the virtual machine from a CD.
(See page 56.)
!
You can eject a CD using the CD shortcut menu on the VPC
Toolbar.
• • • •
40 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Sharing other removable volumes
The virtual machine and host PC can share a removable volume such
as a Zip disk (or media in other types of drives). To share a volume,
drag it to the Folder icon on the VPC Toolbar.
You can share the same volume with multiple virtual machines running at the same time.
Capturing a floppy image or floppy disk
Virtual PC supports capture of both floppy disk images and real
floppy disks by a virtual machine.
Floppy disk images
You can capture a floppy disk image using the shortcut menu for the
Floppy icon on the VPC Toolbar. (You can also drag a valid floppy
image directly to the icon to capture it.)
Be sure the disk image you use is uncompressed. Compressed images
cannot be captured.
For more information on using Virtual Disk Wizard to create a floppy
disk image, see page 69. You can also use floppy images created with
other programs. (Valid floppy images are exactly 720 K or 1.44 MB in
size.)
Real floppy disks
You can automatically capture a real floppy on a virtual machine by
enabling the setting Automatically detect floppy in Floppy settings.
(See page 57.)
You can capture a floppy disk inserted in a floppy drive of the host PC
at any time using the shortcut menu for the Floppy icon on the VPC
Toolbar.
Releasing a disk or disk image
You can release a floppy disk or floppy disk image from a virtual
machine using the Floppy shortcut menu on the VPC Toolbar.
NOTE Capturing a floppy disk or image to a virtual machine fails if
the host PC is running Windows 2000 and if the host PC has opened the
floppy drive inside Windows Explorer.
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine 41
Page 50
Printing from a virtual machine
You can print from an application running on a virtual machine in
two ways:
!
Using the (default) Shared Networking option or the advanced
Virtual Switch option (see page 62), you can print from an
application running on a virtual machine to a network printer.
!
Using the LPT1 setting (see page 61), you can associate the
emulated LPT1 port on the virtual machine with a parallel port
on the host PC, and then print from an application running on
the virtual machine to a printer connected to the parallel port on
the host PC.
Using a joystick
Virtual PC emulates basic XY axis controls and the first two buttons
for a joystick connected to a virtual machine.
Using sound
Virtual PC provides 16-bit, 44-kHz sound input through Sound
Blaster 16 emulation. This means that you can use a microphone to
record sound directly into PC sound applications running on a virtual machine.
If several virtual machines are running and playing sound, you can
use the Sound preference to mute sound from virtual machines in the
background (see page 65).
Optimizing performance
Virtual PC relies on hardware for performance. In general, the faster
the overall performance of the host PC system, the faster Virtual PC
runs.
Host PC processor speed
The speed of the host PC processor is the most important element for
overall Virtual PC performance. To improve performance and as circumstances warrant, upgrade the current processor in the host PC.
• • • •
42 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Host PC processor usage
Processor usage on the host PC—as reported in the Task Manager—is very high when a virtual machine is running the Windows
98 or earlier operating system. With later operating systems, Virtual
PC can detect if a guest OS is executing its idle loop and give back
most of the time to the host PC.
When the frontmost window on the host PC is not a virtual machine,
Virtual PC scales back its processor usage. (You can override this
behavior with the fastbackground command line parameter. See page
95.)
RAM allocation
Generally, the more RAM assigned to a virtual machine, the better it
performs. More RAM decreases the need for the OS running on the
virtual machine to use the hard disk for virtual memory.
Backing up a virtual machine
As you install applications and create data on a virtual machine, you
should periodically back up the disk image (or images) for the
machine. In case you need to recreate the virtual machine, using the
backup disk image can make restoration relatively painless and quick.
Since this disk image file can expand to a significant size, you may
require large-capacity backup media to take this step.
Alternatively, you can back up only data you create within the virtual
machine.
Shutting down a virtual machine
When you are finished using a virtual machine, click the close box in
the upper right corner of the virtual machine window. (Alternatively,
you can choose Shut Down from the PC menu.)
Virtual PC presents a dialog box with a number of options that you
can select from a drop-down menu. Only items that apply to the current situation appear in the menu:
Save PC State—Saves the state of the virtual machine to disk, allowing you to resume execution at the current place the next time you
start up.
• • • •
Using a Virtual Machine 43
Page 52
NOTE To quit Virtual PC and save all running virtual machines in
their current state, hold down the CTRL key while choosing Exit from
the File menu in the Virtual PC window.
Turn Off PC—This is the equivalent of pressing the power button on
a real PC. The virtual machine is turned off immediately, and no
information is saved. As with a real PC, it is recommended that you
normally shut down the guest OS properly. Use this option as a last
resort. Any unsaved data will be lost and you can potentially corrupt
the contents of the virtual machine drive image.
Shut Down Windows [95/98/NT/Me/2000] — If VPC Additions are
running on the virtual machine, you can shut down the OS. This is
equivalent to shutting down the machine from the Start menu in
Windows. It cleanly shuts down the machine and then closes the virtual machine window. Note that it may take several seconds for the
shutdown process to complete. If the virtual machine OS has crashed,
the shutdown process may not complete correctly, forcing you to use
an alternative shutdown option.
Save State and Commit Changes—This option is available only if
one or more hard drives have been marked undoable in the settings
dialog box. It saves the state of the virtual machine and commits any
information written to the hard drive(s) since the machine was last
started up.
Turn Off and Commit Changes / Turn Off and Undo Changes—
These options are available only if you have marked one or more hard
disk images as undoable. The option turns off the virtual machine,
and commits or discards any information written to the hard drive(s)
since the virtual machine last started up.
Shut Down Windows [95/98/NT/Me/2000] and Commit Changes—
This option is available only if you have marked one or more hard
disk images as undoable. The option cleanly shuts down the virtual
machine OS and commits any information written to the hard
drive(s) since the virtual machine last started up.
• • • •
44 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
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Networking with Virtual PC
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
This chapter provides information about
networking with Virtual PC for Windows.
About the Networking setting
The Networking setting for a virtual machine is briefly described on
page 62. There are three options for the setting:
!
None
!
Shared Networking (the default option)
!
Virtual Switch
The Shared Networking and Virtual Switch options are described in
detail in this chapter
Chapter 5
Shared Networking option
The Shared Networking option is the default option for the Networking setting for a virtual machine.
Shared Networking uses a sophisticated internal network address
port translation service built into Virtual PC that enables one or
more virtual machines to share the IP address of the host PC. With
this option, you should configure the virtual machine OS to use
Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP). Virtual PC assigns the virtual machine a temporary, non-routable IP address and performs any
necessary packet translations.
• • • •
Networking with Virtual PC 45
Page 54
The Shared Networking option works well for standard network
activities such as browsing the Web, reading e-mail, accessing FTP
sites, or accessing shared printers and files. It is not suitable for more
advanced scenarios, such as running HTTP or FTP servers on the virtual machine. For these advanced scenarios, use the Virtual Switch
option.
NOTE
If you are running Windows NT or Windows 2000 on a host PC
and have not logged in as an administrator, Shared Networking does not
support commands such as PING that use the Internet Control Message
Protocol (ICMP).
With the Shared Networking option, note these points:
!
The OS running on a virtual machine must be set to use DHCP.
On Windows, you enable DHCP by selecting Obtain an IP
address automatically .
!
When you use the Internet Connection Wizard to set up
networking for a Windows OS on a virtual machine, always
specify “Connect through LAN,” even if your host PC is using a
dial-up connection.
!
The virtual machine emulates a DEC 21041 Ethernet controller.
(In some cases, the DEC 21041 may show up on your system as
Intel 21041. This is normal behavior.)
!
Some networking software—chat programs, for example— may
not function correctly without a unique IP address.
!
You can access the network either with a dial-up connection or
over a LAN. Virtual PC uses the currently selected TCP/IP
connection on the host PC for all Shared Networking traffic.
!
You can access printers and files on other computers, but you
can’t share files on a virtual machine. This is a server function
that requires the Virtual Switch option.
• • • •
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Modem access
If you are running a virtual machine with Shared Networking and
accessing the Internet over a modem, you can connect to your Internet service provider from your host PC. With the connection still
open, you can then access the Internet from the virtual machine.
LAN, DSL, or cable access
If you are running a virtual machine with Shared Networking and
accessing the Internet over a LAN, using DSL, or using a cable
modem, you have an IP address already assigned to your host
PC—either a static IP address, or one that is dynamically assigned by
a DHCP server. With this shared IP address, you can access the
Internet from a virtual machine.
Virtual Switch option
The Virtual Switch option addresses advanced networking needs,
such as running guest server software with predefined port numbers,
remote login (rlogin), network performance analysis (netperf), or
remote shells (rsh). It offers the highest degree of compatibility and
control. The Virtual Switch option is only available when the host PC
is running Windows 2000 and when you have logged in to the host
PC as an administrator. (Virtual Switch also requires the Virtual PC
Network Services Driver, which is installed by default if the host PC
OS is Windows 2000.)
With Virtual Switch, there are two routing options:
!
Local only
—packets are only routed between virtual machines.
The host PC never sees the packets, and they never go out over
the wire. This setting is useful for testing network protocols.
Networking with Virtual PC
• • • •
47
Page 56
!
Local and external
—packets are routed between virtual
machines and also allowed to go out over the wire. In this case, a
virtual machine becomes a first-class network citizen and acts
like any other PC on the local network.
NOTE
When you create a virtual machine, Networking is set by
default to Shared Networking.
File sharing
If a virtual machine has a Window OS installed and is set for the
Virtual Switch option with the Local and external routing option, you
can do peer-to-peer file sharing over a Microsoft Network.
Connect to the network and then follow these steps:
In the virtual machine OS, click the
1
Settings
2
Click
3
Double-click the Network icon.
4 Click the Identification tab.
5 Type a Computer name, your Workgroup or Domain name,
.
Control Panel
.
Start
button and point to
and a computer description (optional).
6 Click OK.
7 Click Ye s to restart.
You can now access other computers on the network through
Network Neighborhood or Network Places.
• • • •
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Switching the host PC network interface card
If the host PC is running Windows 2000 and if it has more than one
network interface card installed, you can use the Virtual Switch preference to designate a host PC network interface card for use by virtual
machines. (See page 66.) Any external Virtual Switch traffic is routed
to this network interface card
• • • •
Networking with Virtual PC 49
Page 58
• • • •
50 Virtual PC 4.0 for Windows User Guide
Page 59
Changing Settings and Preferences
This chapter explains the settings for a virtual
machine and the global preferences for Virtual
PC for Windows.
Chapter topics
The topics in this chapter include:
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Chapter 6
•
•
Changing settings for a virtual machine - page 52
PC Name setting- page 52
Memory setting - page 53
Hard Disk 1 setting- page 54
Hard Disk 2 and 3 settings - page 55
CD-ROM setting- page 56
Floppy setting - page 57
Shared Folders setting - page 58
Mouse setting - page 59
COM1 and COM2 settings - page 60
LPT1 (Printing) setting - page 61
Networking setting- page 62
Deleting settings for a virtual machine - page 63
About global preferences - page 64
PC Performance preference - page 64
Sound preference - page 65
Virtual Switch preference - page 66
Keyboard preference - page 67
Mouse preference - page 68
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
• • • •
Changing Settings and Preferences 51
Page 60
Changing settings for a virtual machine
You should generally only make changes to the settings for a virtual
machine when it is not running. To make changes to the settings of a
virtual machine:
1
Click the thumbnail of the virtual machine in the Virtual PC
window.
Click Settings .
2
The PC Settings window appears. The following pages describe
each setting.
•
IMPORTANT
•
•
machine is currently running or is saved to disk. Some settings that
•
•
•
are editable while the virtual machine is running require a restart
•
•
before they take effect, for example, changing a hard disk image or
•
•
•
turning off networking. In these cases, the OK button changes to
•
•
•
Restart .
PC Name setting
Use this setting to name the virtual machine. Typically, the name
indicates the operating system running on the virtual machine. It
must be fewer than 32 characters in length. It cannot begin with a
period or contain a colon, or contain the *, ?, :, <. >, /, |, or \
characters.
6-1
Some virtual machine settings may be disabled if the
NOTE
All the virtual machines in the Virtual PC window must have
unique names.
• • • •
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Memory setting
Use this setting to allocate RAM for a virtual machine.
6-2
Use the slider control to make changes. The system warns you if you
set too little memory. The maximum value allowed is based on the
total physical RAM in your host PC.
NOTE
You need to make a separate allocation of physical RAM
memory on the host PC for each virtual machine. See page 12.
More RAM improves performance
Performance of the OS running on a virtual machine may improve
when more RAM is allocated to the virtual machine. More RAM
means that the virtual machine OS can reduce usage of virtual memory, spending less time storing information to the hard drive.
Real RAM required
Virtual machines running under Virtual PC require real physical
RAM. Your ability to run virtual machines with large memory settings, or multiple virtual machines simultaneously will be limited by
the amount of RAM installed in your host PC.
• • • •
Changing Settings and Preferences
53
Page 62
Hard Disk 1 setting
Use this setting to designate a disk image file as Hard Disk 1— the
boot or C drive for a virtual machine. Hard Drive 1 contains all the
files needed to run a guest OS.
6-3
The available options are:
None —click this option if no disk image is assigned to Hard
Disk 1. If Hard Disk 1 is not specified, you can only start up the virtual machine from a bootable floppy or bootable CD.
Hard disk image file —click this option to specify a disk image as
Hard Disk 1 (the boot disk). Click Browse to navigate to and select an
image. (You can also drag the disk image to the path name field.) To
make the image undoable, select Undoable. If you wish, click Undo
Folder and select a location for the temporary file. (See the section
“About the undoable option” below for more details.)
For information about creating a disk image, see page 69.
NOTE
Virtual PC for Windows is compatible with disk images created
with other versions of Virtual PC 4.0 or later. For example, you can use a
disk image created with the Macintosh version of Virtual PC 4.0.
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About the Undoable option
When you designate a disk image as undoable, information written to
the disk image by the guest OS is not immediately written to the disk
image file itself. Rather, changes are written to a temporary file and
accumulated throughout the session.
When you shut down the virtual machine, you can choose to commit
or undo the changes. If you choose commit, the changes from the
temporary disk image are merged back into the original disk image. If
you choose undo, the temporary file is discarded, leaving the initial
hard disk image unmodified.
This feature is useful when you want to maintain the original state of
a hard disk image. It is also useful if you are running software that
may contain a virus or a disk-related bug that could corrupt the disk
image.
The temporary undo file can grow large if you make significant
changes to the drive image during the course of the session, for example, if you install a large program on the virtual machine. Choose a
location for the undo file that has adequate space. (By default, the
location is the same directory on your host PC as the drive image you
have specified.)
Hard Disk 2 and Hard Disk 3 settings
Use the settings for Hard Disk 2 and Hard Disk 3 to control secondary and tertiary drive images for a virtual machine. (Hard Drive 2 and
Hard Drive 3 function as drive D and drive E, respectively, on the virtual machine.) You may want to specify a Hard Disk 2 or a Hard
Disk 3 for additional storage space.
•
IMPORTANT
•
•
between Hard Disks. For example, if you do not set Hard Disk 1 as
•
•
•
undoable and then set Hard Disk 2 as undoable, this may result in
•
•
problems if you install an application on Hard Disk 2 and shut down
•
•
•
without committing changes (see page 43.)
NOTE
Be careful to use the Undoable option consistently
Most operating systems do not allow read-only drive images to
be assigned as secondary drives (Hard Disk 2 or Hard Disk 3).
Changing Settings and Preferences
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CD-ROM setting
Use this setting to control the behavior of CDs. (Virtual PC automatically recognizes your host PC CD-ROM drive and reads CDs
inserted in it.)
6-4
The available options are:
Allow booting from CD —select this option if you need to boot from
a CD to install an operating system on the virtual machine. (See page
20.)
Attach drive to secondary IDE controller —clear this option only if
the operating system on the virtual machine requires that the
CD-ROM drive is attached to the primary controller. On most PCs,
the CD-ROM is connected to the secondary IDE controller and you
should leave this option selected.
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Floppy setting
Use this setting to control the behavior of the emulated floppy drive
in the virtual machine.
6-5
The available options are:
Allow booting from floppy —select this option to allow the virtual
machine to attempt to boot from a floppy inserted in the floppy drive
or a floppy disk image mounted on the virtual machine.
Automatically detect floppy —select this option to allow the virtual
machine to search for a real floppy disk in the host PC at the time that
the virtual machine OS accesses the emulated floppy drive. (If no
floppy disk is inserted on the host PC, you may hear a distinctive
sound from the host PC.) With this feature disabled, you can still capture real floppy disks from the host PC to the virtual machine using
the shortcut menu for the Floppy icon on the VPC Toolbar.
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Shared Folders setting
Use this setting to designate a folder on the host PC that is shared
with the virtual machine.
6-6
To set up a folder as a Shared Folder:
Click Share Folder .
1
2
Navigate to the folder you want to share.
3
Click the option Share every time if you want to share the folder
every time you start up the virtual machine.
NOTE
Click this option if you using an application installer in a
shared folder that may reboot the virtual machine.
4
Click Share .
The host PC folder now appears on the virtual machine as a
drive with a drive letter assigned.
NOTE
Since Windows labels shared folders as drives, you cannot
share more folders than can be labeled from the range of available
letters, usually from F to Z.
•
IMPORTANT
•
•
the VPC Toolbar to share it. (You can use this technique to share
•
•
•
entire volumes such as drives, CDs, Zip disks, and so on.)
•
You can also drag a host PC folder to the Folder icon on
You can share the same host PC folder with multiple virtual machines
running at the same time.
To unshare a folder, select it in the list of shared folders and then click
Unshare Folder .
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Mouse setting
Use this setting to control integration of the mouse pointer between
the host PC and the virtual machine.
6-7
The available option is:
Use host pointer integration —select this option to allow the pointer
to move freely between the host PC desktop and the window displaying the virtual machine.
This option is not active if VPC Additions are not installed (see
page 26.)
NOTE
You may need to clear this option for some programs (mostly
games) that are incompatible with host pointer integration.
Changing Settings and Preferences
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COM1 and COM2 settings
Use these settings to support various serial communication options.
The COM1 port on a PC is typically used for a modem. The COM2
port is typically used for a serial device or modem. If you have an
external modem connected to your host PC, select the appropriate
host PC serial port to make it accessible by your virtual machine.
6-8
The options are:
None —click this option to not use the COM port.
Host serial port —click this option to redirect the COM port to the
selected COM port on the host PC.
Wait for modem command to open port —select this option to not
open the COM port on the host PC until Virtual PC sees a modem
command sent to the COM port. (You should clear this option for
most non-modem serial devices.)
Text file —click this option to direct the output from the port to a text
file. Click the Browse button to select a location for the file.
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LPT1 (Printing) setting
Use this setting to select a host PC parallel port that the virtual
machine can use for its emulated LPT1 port. This feature is typically
used to print from a virtual machine.
6-9
The options are:
None —click this option if you do not want to use a parallel device
connected to a parallel port on the host PC.
Host parallel port —click this option to redirect the emulated LPT1
port on the virtual machine to a parallel port on the host PC. Open
the drop-down menu and select a host PC parallel port.
• • • •
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Networking setting
Use this setting to control networking options for a virtual machine.
6-10
The options are:
None —click this option to “remove” the emulated network interface
card from the virtual machine.
Shared networking (NAT) —click this option to share the IP address
of your host PC, including Ethernet, PPP, and SLIP. (This option
works well for simple network activities such as browsing the Web,
sharing printers and files, and so on.)
Virtual switch —click this option for advanced networking needs,
such as running guest server software with predefined port numbers.
(This option is only available when the host PC is running Windows
2000 and when you have logged in to the host PC as an administrator
or as a user with administrative privileges.)
For more details about these options, see page 45.
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Deleting settings for a virtual machine
To delete the settings for a virtual machine and remove the virtual
machine from the Virtual PC window, select it in the Virtual PC window and then click Delete . Deleting the settings for a virtual machine
does not delete the drive image for the machine.
NOTE
The Delete key on your keyboard will not delete your virtual
machine. You must use the Delete button on the Virtual PC window.
Changing Settings and Preferences
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About global preferences
Virtual PC Preferences allows you to change five global preferences:
PC Performance, Sound, Virtual Switch, Keyboard, and Mouse.
PC Performance preference
To change the PC Performance preference:
1
On the File menu in the Virtual PC window, click Preferences .
2
In the Global Setting list, click PC Performance .
6-11
Select or clear the following settings.
3
Pause PCs when in background —increases the performance of
the front-most virtual machine when you are running more than
one virtual machine at a time.
Restore PCs at launch— when you start up Virtual PC, restarts
any virtual machines that were running the last time you quit
Virtual PC. (Holding down the CTRL key when launching
Virtual PC overrides this setting.)
Click OK .
4
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Sound preference
To change the Sound preference:
1
On the File menu in the Virtual PC window, click Preferences .
2
In the Global Setting list, click Sound .
6-12
Select or clear the option Mute sound in background.
3
Enabling this option mutes conflicting sounds from multiple
virtual machines running at the same time.
4
Click OK .
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Virtual Switch preference
The Virtual Switch preference is only available when the host PC is
running Windows 2000. It lets you choose among the available network interface cards installed in your host PC. All external virtual
switch network traffic is routed to the selected network interface card.
To change the Virtual Switch preference:
On the File menu in the Virtual PC window, click Preferences .
1
In the Global Setting list, click Virtual Switch .
2
6-13
3
In the Network adapter menu, select the network interface card.
4
Click OK .
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Keyboard preference
The Keyboard preference lets you determine the host key setting and
the NUM LOCK key setting.
The host key is used in certain key sequences. For example, pressing
the host key in combination with the ENTER key switches between
Full Screen display mode and Windowed mode.
By default, the host key is set to the right ALT key.
To change the Keyboard preference:
6-14
On the
1
In the Global Setting list, click
2
3
To change the host key, make sure the current host key definition
File
menu in the Virtual PC window, click
Keyboard
.
Preferences
is highlighted. Then press the new host key.
Select or clear the option
4
Start PCs with Num Lock enabled
This option determines if the NUM LOCK key is on or off at the
time you start up a virtual machine. For laptops whose numeric
keypads overlap the main keyboard, you should leave this option
off.
Click OK.
5
.
.
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Mouse preference
The Mouse preference lets you set the behavior of the mouse pointer
when you move it into a virtual machine window. By default, you
must click in a virtual machine window to have the virtual machine
capture the pointer.
To change the Mouse preference:
On the
1
2 In the Global Setting list, click Mouse.
6-15
File
menu in the Virtual PC window, click Preferences.
3 Select or clear the option Click in window to capture pointer.
With the option cleared, the virtual machine automatically
captures the pointer.
4 Click OK.
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Using Virtual Disk Wizard
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
This chapter provides information about using
Virtual Disk Wizard, an integrated utility that
allows you to create, modify, and examine
disk images.
Creating a hard disk image
Virtual PC stores data on virtual hard disks that take the form of disk
image files stored on your host machine (or on a networked file
server).
To create a hard disk image:
1 In the Virtual PC window, on the File menu, click Virtual Disk
Wizard.
Chapter 7
2 Click Next.
3 Click the option Create new floppy or hard disk image, and
then click Next.
4 Click the option Create hard disk image, and then click Next.
5 Click Browse and select a name and location for the disk image.
Click Save.
6 Click Next.
The panel for choosing a disk image type appears.
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7
Choose the type of disk image you want to create and click Next .
See the section “More about hard disk image types” below.
7-1
NOTE
The last two linked disk image types should only be used by
advanced users logged in to the host PC as an administrator. (See
page 72.)
Follow the Virtual Disk Wizard on-screen instructions to
8
complete the creation of the disk image.
More about hard disk image types
Here are the details about the hard disk image types available in Virtual Disk Wizard.
Dynamically expanding disk image —A dynamically expanding disk
image is the most commonly used type of disk image in Virtual PC.
By default, the PC Setup Wizard creates disk images of this type.
Dynamically expanding disk images are similar to fixed-size disk
images, except that areas of the disk that haven’t yet been written to
are not included in the hard disk file. For example, if you create a
1-GB dynamically expanding disk image, the initial file will only be
about 3 MB in size. As you write more information to the disk image,
it grows to accommodate the new data. Along with this convenience,
however, there is the danger that Virtual PC may be unable to expand
the drive due to host hard drive size constraints. Virtual PC attempts
to monitor the available space on the hard drive of your host PC and
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warn you if the dynamically expanding drive starts to approach the
limits of available space left on the host volume.
Fixed-size disk image —The simplest type of hard drive image is a
fixed-size disk image that represents the entire virtual hard drive in a
single disk image file. All of the space is pre-allocated, so these files
are typically quite large. For example, if you create a fixed-size hard
disk image that represents a 1-GB hard drive, the resulting file would
be 1 GB in size. Although conceptually simple, fixed-size hard disk
images are not generally recommended because of their large
resource requirements. They do offer a slight performance advantage
over other types of hard disk images, but this difference is small.
Differencing disk image
—A differencing disk image is used in conjunction with one of the other types of disk images. The disk image
associated with it is known as its
parent
disk image. The differencing
file itself is similar to a dynamically expanding disk image file in that
it starts small and grows to accommodate new data. However, data is
only added to the differencing drive image when drive data is modified. In other words, contents of a differencing drive represents only
the changes from the original disk image. There are several scenarios
when this is useful:
!
Several Virtual PC users want to share the same base disk image
located on a network file server. In this case, each user creates a
differencing disk image on his or her local hard drive. Any
modifications made to the parent disk image are written to the
local differencing disk image, leaving the parent disk image in a
“pristine” state.
!
You want to configure a single guest OS in multiple ways. You
can duplicate the original hard disk image, but this requires
substantially more hard drive storage space. Instead, you can
create two differencing disk images, both with the same parent.
NOTE
Regardless of the scenario, Connectix strongly recommends that
you write-protect or lock the parent disk image. If a parent disk image is
modified, all differencing disk images related to it become invalid, and
any data written to them is effectively lost.
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•
IMPORTANT
•
•
be used by advanced users logged into the host PC as an
•
•
•
administrator. In this mode, Virtual PC is accessing data from the
•
•
host PC hard drive at a very low level. If the virtual machine OS
•
•
•
crashes or contains bugs, the host volume might be corrupted.
•
Disk image linked to host volume
In general, the two linked disk image types should only
—You can link a disk image to a
volume on the host PC. In this case, the disk image is a small placeholder that simply refers to a partition on the host system. If the associated volume is mounted by the host PC OS, Virtual PC can only
read from it. If the volume is not mounted by the host PC OS, you
can choose to allow writing to the volume.
With this type of disk image, Virtual PC creates a virtual boot partition and partition map containing one entry. The virtual boot partition is saved to the disk image file, so changes to the sector are
persistent. All other read/write requests are forwarded directly to the
host volume.
Disk image linked to a host physical drive
—This type of disk image
is similar to an image linked to a host PC volume except that it represents an entire host PC hard drive, potentially with multiple volumes.
With this type of disk image, Virtual PC uses the real boot partition
and partition map from the host PC drive. All read/write requests are
forwarded directly to the host drive.
Disk image file splitting
Because of limitations inherent in some host operating system and
volume formats, it is sometimes necessary to split dynamically
expanding disk image files. In particular, FAT16 and FAT32 volume
formats only support files up to 2 GB and 4 GB in size, respectively.
For example, if you use an 8-GB dynamically expanding drive image
formatted for FAT32, Virtual PC splits the drive image into four 2-GB
files. Dynamically expanding images and differencing images are split
at the point where they cross the file size limit imposed by the underlying volume format. If the disk image is located on a volume that
doesn’t impose these limitations (such as NTFS), the disk image is left
intact.
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If you want to copy an existing disk image from one location to
another, be careful to include not only the primary file, but any split
files associated with it. Also, keep in mind that if a disk image on an
NTFS volume grows beyond 2 GB, you cannot copy it to a FAT volume.
Creating a floppy disk image
To create a floppy disk image:
In the Virtual PC window, on the File menu, click Virtual Disk
1
Wizard .
2
Click Next .
3
Click the option Create new floppy or hard disk image , and
then click Next .
Click the option Create floppy disk image , and then click Next .
4
5
Click Browse and select a name and location for the floppy disk
image. Click Save .
Select the floppy disk type (low or high density).
6
Click Next .
7
Click Finish .
8
•
IMPORTANT
•
•
floppy disk. Many popular Windows utilities are able to create such
•
•
•
images. However, make sure to disable any compression features.
•
•
Virtual PC only works with floppy image files that are exactly 720 KB
•
•
•
or 1.44 MB in size.
•
Virtual PC can mount any flat-file representation of a
Using Virtual Disk Wizard
• • • •
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Examining or modifying a disk image
To examine or modify a disk image for a virtual machine:
Shut down the operating system on the virtual machine whose
1
drive image you want to examine or modify. (If the machine has
a saved state, you cannot modify the drive image.)
In the Virtual PC window, on the File menu, click Virtual Disk
2
Wizard .
3
Click Next .
4
Click the option Examine or modify existing disk image , and
then click Next .
5
Click Browse and navigate to the location of the disk image.
Select the image and click Open .
6
Click Next .
Examine the disk image and click Cancel .
7
Or choose an option to modify the image and click Next. (The
options available to modify a disk image depend on the type of
image. See the relevant information below.) Follow the
on-screen Wizard directions. Click Finish to make the
modification.
Fixed-size disk images
Expand the disk image —increase the size of the disk image, increas-
ing the primary partition and modifying the file system contents for
consistency with the new partition size. The size to which you can
expand a disk image is limited by the file system cluster size. For
FAT16 drives, you can normally increase a disk image size up to the
next power of two. For FAT32 disk images, this limitation doesn’t
exist.
Convert to dynamically expanding disk image —convert the
fixed-size disk image to a dynamically expanding disk image. Any
zeroed data in the fixed-size disk image is discarded, resulting in a
smaller disk image file.
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Dynamically expanding disk images
Expand the disk image —increase the maximum (fully expanded)
size of the disk image. The same limit exists as for fixed-size disk
expansion.
Convert to a fixed-size disk image —convert the dynamically
expanding disk image to a fixed-size disk image.
Compact the disk image —attempt to “shrink” the dynamically
expanding disk image by removing portions that have been “zeroed”
with a disk utility program.
NOTE
When you delete files from a disk image, the data associated
with these files is usually not removed. You must run a disk utility
program to “zero” the deleted data before using the option Compact the
disk image .
Differencing disk images
Merge the differencing drive with its parent —write data from the
differencing disk image back into its parent image. This requires that
the parent disk image is writable.
Merge the differencing drive and its parent to a new file —combine
data from the differencing disk image and its parent image into a
new, dynamically expanding hard or fixed-size disk image.
Disk images linked to a host volume
Convert the host volume to a fixed-sized drive image —write the
volume contents to a newly created, fixed-size disk image. Note that
you cannot create the new disk image on the associated host volume.
Convert the host volume to a dynamic drive image —write the vol-
ume contents to a newly created, dynamically expanding disk image.
Note that you cannot create the new disk image on the associated
host volume.
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Disk images linked to a host physical drive
Convert the host physical drive to a fixed-sized drive —write the
host drive contents to a newly created, fixed-size disk image. Note
that you cannot create the new disk image on the associated host
drive.
C onvert the host physical drive to a dynamic drive image —write
the host drive contents to a newly created, dynamically expanding
disk image. Note that you cannot create the new drive image on the
associated host drive.
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Using PC-DOS
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
•
•
This chapter provides an introduction to
PC-DOS. For complete information about
PC-DOS commands, please refer to the PDF file
for the IBM PC-DOS manual located in the
Connectix folder.
Introduction to PC-DOS
PC-DOS is a command-line interface. This means that all actions are
executed by entering the commands at the PC-DOS command line or
C:\ prompt—from creating a folder, to moving or copying a file, to
running an application program or game.
The mouse pointer does not work in the PC-DOS command line
environment. To recover the pointer. hold down the host key (by
default, the right ALT key).
Chapter 8
The following topics are included in this chapter:
!
The command prompt
!
The PC-DOS directory structure
!
Printing under PC-DOS
!
Copying files
!
File naming
!
Renaming files
!
Deleting files
!
Getting PC-DOS Help
Using PC-DOS
• • • •
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The command prompt
When you first start up PC-DOS, installation information appears on
screen. When the information stops scrolling past, you see the following on a black background in white letters:
C:\>_
This is called the command prompt. You are being prompted to enter
a command that PC-DOS can execute.
The flashing underscore next to the command prompt is called the
cursor . The cursor shows you where you can begin typing in the command at the prompt.
Typing a command
Try this :
1
Type the following command at the command prompt (you can
use uppercase or lowercase letters):
ver
Press ENTER.
2
The
command displays the version number of PC-DOS.
ver
There are hundreds of commands in PC-DOS. But you need to know
just a few in order to perform essential tasks such as accessing files,
copying and deleting files, and working with directories.
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The PC-DOS directory structure
The
C:\
prompt represents your current location, which is the top or
root level of drive C. Drive C is a virtual machine drive image.
Viewing the directory (dir) list of files
A directory list displays all the files and subdirectories in a directory.
To see the directory list for drive C, do this:
Type this command and press ENTER:
1
dir
A directory list similar to the following appears:
Volume in drive C is PC DISK
Volume Serial Number is 3AF1-41A7
Directory of C:\
CONFIG SYS 135 07-15-97 10:03a
COMMAND COM 52,956 11-17-94 1:00p
CNTX <DIR> 07-23-98 6:33p
DOS <DIR> 07-23-98 6:33p
AUTOEXEC BAT 173 07-03-97 11:55a
5 file(s) 53,264 bytes
132,734,976 bytes free
Viewing one screen at a time
Type the following at the command prompt:
1
dir /p
One screen of information displays and pauses.
When the
dir
command includes /p, then PC-DOS pauses after
displaying each screen of information.
2 Press any key to continue. Repeat until the command prompt
appears again.
/p is called a switch. It modifies the way PC-DOS carries out a com-
mand. Generally, a switch consists of a forward slash (/) followed by
one or more letters or numbers.
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Viewing the contents of a directory in wide format
1 Type the following at the command prompt:
dir /w
The directory list displays with the filenames listed in wide
format. Only filenames are listed. No information about file size
or date and time of creation appears.
If the directory contains more files than will fit on one screen, you
can combine the /p and /w switches as follows:
dir /w /p
Using wildcard commands
A wildcard command allows you to include all the files you specify to
be affected by the command. You can include multiple wildcards in a
command. For example, the following command lists all the files
from the current directory:
dir *.*
All the files in the current directory are displayed.
Changing drives
PC-DOS allows you to access other drives. Drive A is your floppy disk
drive. Drives C and D represent your internal hard drives, and drive E
represents your CD-ROM drive. There may be other drives, and each
one is assigned a letter. Each drive can contain files you can access and
view.
1 To change to drive A, enter:
a:
The command prompt changes to:
A:\
If there is no floppy disk image mounted in drive A, this message
should appear:
Not ready reading drive A Abort, Retry, Fail?
Mount a floppy disk image into drive A and then type:
2
r
for Retry.
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3 To view a list of the files on the floppy disk in drive A, type the
following at the command prompt:
dir
4 Now change back to drive C.
C:
The drive letter that appears in the command prompt indicates which
drive is the current drive. Unless you specify otherwise, any commands you type are carried out of the current drive and in the current directory.
For example, you can view the file on a disk in drive A without
switching to drive A.
1 Type the following at the command prompt:
dir A:
A list of the files on the floppy disk in drive A appears, even
though your command prompt indicates that drive C is current.
The A: you typed after the dir command is called a parameter.
Parameters specify what a command should act on.
Changing directories
All the listed names that have <DIR> beside them are directories. You
can see a list of the files in another directory by changing to that
directory, and then using the dir command again.
1 To change directories, use the cd (change directory) command.
For example, type:
cd dos
The command prompt now appears like this:
C:\DOS>
You are now “in” the directory called dos.
2 To see a list of the files in the dos directory, just type:
dir
Use the /p switch if you want to pause the display.
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3 To switch back to the root directory, type:
cd \
Note that the slash you type in this command is a backslash (\),
not a forward slash (/). This command always returns you to the
root directory of a drive.
Creating a directory and subdirectories
You create a directory with the md (make directory) command.
1 To create a new directory named dogs, type the following:
md dogs
2 To change to the new dogs directory, type:
cd dogs
The command prompt changes to:
C:\dogs>
Now, in the dogs directory, create a subdirectory named hounds:
1 Ty pe :
md hounds
To confirm that you successfully created the hounds
2
subdirectory, type:
dir
Three entries appear in the dogs directory list.
!
the hounds subdirectory just created
!
a single period (.)
!
a double period (..)
The last two entries appear in every PC-DOS directory.
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Deleting a directory
To delete a directory (or subdirectory), use the rd (remove directory)
command.
To delete the hounds subdirectory:
1 Check that the command prompt looks like this:
C:\dogs>
2 Enter:
rd hounds
3 To confirm that you successfully deleted the hounds
subdirectory, enter:
dir
The hounds subdirectory should no longer appear in the
directory list under the dogs directory.
NOTE You cannot delete a directory if you are in it. Before you can
delete a directory, you must type cd at the command prompt. If the
directory contains a file, the command, rd will not remove it. To remove
a directory containing files, use the deltree command.
• • • •
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Printing under PC-DOS
PC-DOS has built-in support for inkjet printers. To print a document:
1 Set the printer you want to use as the default printer in the host
PC OS.
2 Locate the directory that contains the file you want to print.
For example, say you want to print the file autoexec.bat
located in the C directory.
3 At the command prompt, type:
print autoexec.bat
Be sure to type the entire file name, including the three-character
extension.
PC-DOS asks for the name of the printer’s port:
Name of list device [PRN]:
Type the name of the printer port. In this example, specify LPT1
4
(the port Virtual PC uses). Type:
LPT1
Once you have selected the LPT1 port, the print queue is
available without specifying the LPT1 port again for the
remainder of the current PC-DOS session.
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Copying files
To copy a file, use the copy command and include two parameters:
!
!
Separate the source and destination with a space, like this:
Copying a single file
To copy the ehelp.hlp file from the dos directory to the dogs directory, do this:
1 Return to the root directory. Type:
2 Change to the dos directory. Type:
3 Ty pe :
the location and name of the file to copy, or the source
the destination where the file copy is to go
copy source destination
cd \
cd dos
copy c:\dos\ehelp.hlp c:\dogs
The following message appears:
1 file(s) copied
The command copies the file from its source to its destination.
To summarize:
!
By specifying c:\dos\ehelp.hlp as the source, PC-DOS finds
the source file ehelp.hlp in the dos directory on drive C.
!
By specifying C:\dogs as the destination, PC-DOS places a copy
of ehelp.hlp in the dogs directory.
Using PC-DOS 85
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Copying multiple files
Use wildcards to copy a group of files from the dos directory (your
current location) to the dogs directory. The asterisk (*) wildcard
matches any character in the position where it appears and all the
other positions that follow it.
For example, to list all files ending with the extension .inf and then
copy them from the dos directory to the dogs directory, do this:
1 Enter:
dir *.inf
Note that there is a space before the asterisk (*), but not after it.
This command lists all files and subdirectories in the current
directory that end with the extension .inf. The asterisk matches
the first character of the filename and all other characters that
follow it, up to the period (.) that separates the name from the
.inf extension.
2 Now copy files with an .inf extension to the dogs directory.
Ty pe :
copy *.inf c:\dogs
File naming
PC-DOS file naming uses the “8.3” rule. A file name may have a maximum of 8 alphanumeric characters followed by a dot, followed by an
extension with a maximum of 3 letters. For example:
filename.doc
The extension of three letters at the end of the file name represents
the application program that created the file. For example, the extensions:
.doc .ppt .cvs
represent files written in Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and
Deneba Canvas, respectively.
If you have not renamed your files in PC-DOS format, they may
appear in PC-DOS in truncated form with a tilde (~) representing
the missing letters.
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Renaming files
Use the ren (rename) command to rename a file. It includes two
parameters:
!
!
Separate the two names with a space using this format:
1 To rename the file cmd.inf that you copied into the dogs
2 To rename the cmd.inf file to poodle.inf,type:
Deleting files
Deleting a single file
the file (oldname) you want to change
the new name (newname) for the file
ren oldname newname
directory, first change directories by typing:
cd\dogs
The command prompt changes to:
C:\dogs>
ren cmd.inf poodle.inf
To delete a single file, for example, the poodle.inf file:
1 First verify that the command prompt is as follows:
C: \dogs>
Then type:
2
del poodle.inf
To confirm that the file is deleted, type:
3
dir
The poodle.inf file is no longer in the dogs directory.
Using PC-DOS 87
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Deleting a group of files
To list and then delete all the files in the dogs directory that end with
the extension .inf, do this:
1 First type:
dir *.inf
A list of all the files that end with the extension .inf appears.
Usually before you delete a group of files, you want to check to
make sure you’re not going to delete a file you want to keep.
2 Now type:
del *.inf
3 To confirm that all the files with the extension .inf have been
deleted, type:
dir
The dogs directory should contain no files. Now you can delete it.
Deleting a directory
To delete the dogs directory, do this:
1 Return to the root directory. Type:
cd \
Verify that the dogs directory is in the list. Type:
2
dir
Now remove the dogs directory by typing:
3
rd dogs
To verify that the dogs directory is removed, type:
4
dir
The dogs directory no longer appears in the directory list.
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Getting PC-DOS Help
There are two types of online help for PC-DOS commands:
!
PC-DOS Command Reference— complete online reference for
PC-DOS commands
!
PC-DOS Error Messages—messages that display command
errors and offer some tips on how to resolve a problem
To start PC-DOS Help and choose a topic, type the following at the
command prompt:
view cmdref
To start PC-DOS Error Messages and choose a topic, type the following at the command prompt:
view doserror
• • • •
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Appendix A
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Technical Specifications
This appendix lists the technical specifications
for Virtual PC for Windows
Processor
!
The emulated environment “sees” the same processor model as
the processor in your host PC. For example, if your host machine
contains a Pentium III, the OS on a virtual machine reports
running on a Pentium III as well. All functionality of your host
processor is supported within the virtual machine, including
MMX, SSE, SSE-2, 3DNow, and so on.
Motherboard
!
Virtual PC emulates the Intel Triton chipset, including all
auxiliary chips needed for a PC:
— 8259 PIC (programmable interrupt controller)
— 8254 PIT (peripheral interval timer)
— 8237 DMA (direct memory access) controller
— CMOS (persistent RAM)
— RTC (real-time clock)
• •
•
•
•
•
BIOS
!
BIOS is the Microid Research Systems BIOS (MR BIOS)
!
Support for CD-ROM booting following El Torito CD-ROM
booting specification
Memory
!
Maximum 512 MB RAM per virtual machine
Technical Specifications 91
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IDE controller
!
Uses standard dual IDE/ATAPI controllers configured according
to two options listed here: Standard Configuration and Alternate
Configuration.
Standard configuration
Controller Drive
Primary Controller Drive 1: Drive 1
Primary Controller Drive 2: Drive 2
Secondary Controller Drive 1: CD-ROM
Secondary Controller Drive 2: Drive 3
Alternate configuration
Controller Drive
Primary Controller Drive 1: Drive 1
Primary Controller Drive 2: CD-ROM
Secondary Controller Drive 1: Drive 2
Secondary Controller Drive 2: Drive 3
Hard drive images
!
Uses hard drive container images
!
Supports five types of hard disk images:
— Dynamically expanding images
— Fixed-size images
— Differencing images
— Images linked to host volumes
— Images linked to host drives
!
Compatible with hard disk images created with other versions of
Virtual PC 4.0 or later
!
Supports simultaneous use of three drive images, each up to
approximately 127 GB in size
• • • •
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