Maximum PC

When running Windows XP Mode from Win7 Pro, can it infect the host system (the Win7 OS); can viruses jump from the VM to the host system?

Additionally, is there a way that I can block the VM from seeing other computers connected to my router (including the host PC), but still allow it Internet access?

Basically I'm testing software... some of which may be questionable. and as of right now, I've got two options: a VM or another computer. Only problem is that I don't actually have an extra copies of Windows around, so if I go the route of another computer, it's going to cost at least a few hundred dollars. Speed is not an issue, which is why I'm looking into the Windows XP Mode, that and it's free and works for Win7 Pro and Ultimate users.

You're asking a few different questions here. Since you're all using the same network, it could infect your host that way and unless you mount the HD from within the VM, I'd have a hard time believing it'll propagate through there, unless it actually takes advantage of some flaw in VPC.



You could put it on another subnet.



I'd probably just load 7 without a key and work with that for the next 30 days.

Yes, but I need to use XP for some of the tasks I need to get done (mainly for compatibility and also because I need to run Firefox versions 2 and 3, as well as IE6 and IE7 (for web testing).

The more I think about it, can you create multiple copies of an XP Mode VM (with varying configurations, for example)?

These would probably work for you...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/d ... d0a413c8ef

Thanks. This will really help (and save time re-installing the OS each time by hand). But does anyone know how you can have/run multiple XP Mode VMs. I thought that once you loaded the Windows XP Mode system, it loaded only one VM and that you could only have one VM in existance?