A little computer help please.

[two fingers]

I'll be as short as I can and please ask if you need more details.

I have a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Sony Vaio PCG-71911L laptop. A lot of the simulator programs we run at school are older and only work with 32 bit OS. I am trying to set up a VM. At school we have lots of copies of Windows 2000 Professional laying around so I set up a VM and got everything going. Windows 2000 loaded up beautifully. VM starts up perfectly.

However, here's the road block. If I am correct, I need to install the drivers for everything on my machine in the VM, right? Well, there are no drivers available in 32 bit for my machine (according to the guy on the support chat line at Sony).

Also, once the VM "captures" the cursor, I can't get it back out. I found online that Control+Alt+left arrow gets it done, but it doesn't. That actually rotates the VM 90 degrees to the left.

Any wisdom you can share would be appreciated. I would really hate to go out and buy a used laptop in 32 bit just for school when everything else I do is on this machine.

[Rockin Mike]

Control+Alt should free the mouse pointer.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by Rockin Mike

Control+Alt should free the mouse pointer.

Tried it. No dice. But thanks!

Edit to add: Tried both alt buttons as well. I have read online that they actually perform different functions on some machines.

[Atoz]

Did you try Alt + F4? I think that closes the VM, if you're really desperate.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by Atoz

Did you try Alt + F4? I think that closes the VM, if you're really desperate.

No, but thanks. That would be much easier than shutting it down every time it gets stuck.

[Atoz]

Sorry, man.... that's all I got.

[/\/\3phist0]

Go here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/vir.../download.aspx

follow directions install. This is a Free fully licensed version of windows XP provided by microsoft.

NO do NOT install drivers for the VM Not needed as the virtual environment NEVER talks to the actual hardware-- it has Virtual Devices and drivers for these act as "proxies" to the "REAL" os (AKA host)


with the above download all is handled by windows update within the "host" and the VM both.

I do IT for a living and use this configuration for users in my company everyday ---

Originally Posted by two fingers

I'll be as short as I can and please ask if you need more details.

I have a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Sony Vaio PCG-71911L laptop. A lot of the simulator programs we run at school are older and only work with 32 bit OS. I am trying to set up a VM. At school we have lots of copies of Windows 2000 Professional laying around so I set up a VM and got everything going. Windows 2000 loaded up beautifully. VM starts up perfectly.

However, here's the road block. If I am correct, I need to install the drivers for everything on my machine in the VM, right? Well, there are no drivers available in 32 bit for my machine (according to the guy on the support chat line at Sony).

Also, once the VM "captures" the cursor, I can't get it back out. I found online that Control+Alt+left arrow gets it done, but it doesn't. That actually rotates the VM 90 degrees to the left.

Any wisdom you can share would be appreciated. I would really hate to go out and buy a used laptop in 32 bit just for school when everything else I do is on this machine.

[two fingers]

Thanks much for chiming in! There's just one problem with your suggestion. I went there first actually. Running "in XP mode" is not compatible with Windows 7 Home Premium. It only works with Windows 7 Pro, Ultimate, and Enterprise. (How's that for a kick in the head?) Of course, I just trusted the Microsoft web site so I never tried it. Maybe they are trying to sell me an upgrade? Do you think it would actually work anyway?

That's good to know about the drivers though. Any thoughts on getting Windows 2000 to run happy in VM? Or should I just "upgrade" my Windows 7 to one of the compatible versions and run in XP mode? And is that XP mode still 64 bit? That's the problem I'm running into with those older simulators. They won't play nice with 64 bits.

A guy locally has a copy of Ultimate for sale for only $50. Maybe I should go that route. I could back up everything on an external HD I have.

I have a feeling that running in XP mode would solve everything.

Thanks again!

[/\/\3phist0]

what software are you running for the VM? Vbox, VMWare?

yeah sorry @ the home premium that detail escaped my gaze

[two fingers]

No worries. Unless you have Home Premium, the subject probably never came up. And for business machines, I wouldn't think you would have a Home edition of an OS.

I just used the Microsoft VPC software without XP mode. It's an option on that same page. Right in the middle of the page it says..........

"Don't need XP mode and want VPC only? Download Windows Virtual PC without Windows XP mode."

So that's what I did. And everything loaded up fine. Windows 2000 Professional (as a VPC) is on the very machine I'm typing on. But it's mad at me and doesn't want to play with me. The cursor gets stuck. I can't move anything from one to the other. It doesn't recognize my hardware. It's there, but won't do anything (or not much anyway). I can do a text document. I can run command prompt. But that's about it.

So, do you think using one of those other VM programs would be better than the Microsoft VPC? If so, I'm all over it.

[/\/\3phist0]

VBox can use the Virtual Hard disk (the actual VM from XPMode)
a little detailed (answered at end of thread) but not TOO bad...
http://vdhout.nl/20110518/

[/\/\3phist0]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...(v=ws.10).aspx

Also note this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824561

You can use a variety of keyboard shortcuts that apply specifically to Windows Virtual PC to perform specific tasks. For example, you can increase the size of the virtual machine desktop by using full-screen mode. Press the Windows logo key+UP ARROW. The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts.

Press this key To do this
CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW
Release the mouse from the virtual machine window (required when the integration features are not installed or are disabled, and on certain keyboard shortcuts noted below). You can also use this shortcut to release the keyboard and move to the focus to the toolbar.
CTRL+ALT+END
Send the CTRL+ALT+DEL command to a virtual machine
Windows logo key+UP ARROW
Switch from window mode to full-screen mode
CTRL+ALT+PAUSE/BREAK
Switch from full-screen mode to window mode
ALT+F4
Close a virtual machine
ALT+P (see note)
Pause a virtual machine
ALT+U
Resume a virtual machine from a paused state
CTRL+ALT+PLUS SIGN
Capture a print screen of the virtual machine display output
CTRL+ALT+MINUS SIGN
Capture a print screen of the window in the virtual machine that has focus
ALT+B (see note)
Open the USB menu of the virtual machine window
TAB+RIGHT or LEFT ARROW (see note)
Move between the Help menu and other menus on the toolbar of the virtual machine window
Note
Before you use the keyboard shortcut, press CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW to move the focus to the virtual machine window.

[Einherjar]

Probably way more complicated than you want to do... But have you tried Linux?

[two fingers]

Hmmmmmm...... There are several disclaimers on that page ("use at your own risk" kind of things). I'm wondering if it might be time to just upgrade to Ultimate, run in Microsoft XP mode and call it a day. If you were me, would you go the VBox route, or upgrade OS to Ultimate and run in XP mode?

Thanks for the help!

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by Einherjar

Probably way more complicated than you want to do... But have you tried Linux?

I haven't. But my brother (a computer nerd since before it was cool) and my A+ class teacher are both big fans. My brother has 7 machines and all of them are Linux all the way. He can't stand Windows. That may be worth a shot as well. I've been told that if you don't want to get into any of the nuts and bolts end of Linux, then it doesn't really "act" any differently than a regular OS (depending on which one of the gagillion versions you get anyway).

[/\/\3phist0]

Originally Posted by two fingers

I haven't. But my brother (a computer nerd since before it was cool) and my A+ class teacher are both big fans. My brother has 7 machines and all of them are Linux all the way. He can't stand Windows. That may be worth a shot as well. I've been told that if you don't want to get into any of the nuts and bolts end of Linux, then it doesn't really "act" any differently than a regular OS (depending on which one of the gagillion versions you get anyway).

this: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/deskt...dows-installer

[two fingers]

The keyboard shortcuts don't play nice either. As I said in the OP, control+alt+left arrow actually turns the VM 90 degrees to the left (all sideways), rather than releasing the cursor. For some reason, VPC isn't getting along with my machine. It looks fine, but doesn't act that way.

[two fingers]

Originally Posted by /\/\3phist0

this: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/deskt...dows-installer

Yep. Ubuntu is the Linux of choice for my teacher. I'll run this whole thing by him (again) on Thursday and see what he thinks.

Thanks guys!