vmware questions about xp vpc in vista host

[kreactor]

1) my pc has a sata hard drive, after i installed windows xp image and enable share
the hard drives does not show up....is it because i did not load sata drives in windows xp?

2) the same thing with sound, i enabled xp vpc image to use host sound (realtek)
but when i boot the xp image, there is no startup sound....do i need to load
realtek drivers in xp image also?

3) how would i make the xp vpc image 'read only'
i want to use the xp vpc image to use as internet kiosk so that
any changes (crapware, toolbars) and downloads would not be saved to the
vpc's harddrive when i reload the original image

links or answers as to how to accomplish this would be appreciated
thanks in advance!

 

[Nothinman]

1) OSes in the VM receive a very limited set of virtualized hardware, the SATA drive doesn't show up because it's not safe for 2 OSes to access it directly at the same time. If you want to access the drive then you have to share it from the host and map it just like you would from any other machine.

2) No, VPC will present some other kind of sound card again because the guest OS can't directly access the sound card on your machine. I have no idea what hardware VPC emulates though.

3) No idea, you can't make it really read-only though because Windows can't work like that. VMWare has a 'non-persistent' option for hard disks where any changes made during that session are discarded when the VM is restarted, that's probably what you want.

 

[kreactor]

1) so sharing is limited to 'drag and drop' between desktops? no easier way to have vmware xp computer to browse host's harddrive's docs?

3) yes that's what i am looking for, except even in full screen mode the vmware bar still appears...is there a way to hide that (or even change the hot keys 'ctl alt sequence' for mouse switch between host and guest )

thanks.

edit: my xyzel m-302 802.11g pci card doesn't have vista drivers/support. just xp
is it possible for vmware's windows xp pc to use it?

 

[Nothinman]

1) so sharing is limited to 'drag and drop' between desktops? no easier way to have vmware xp computer to browse host's harddrive's docs?

What's so hard about mapping a drive like you would for any other machine on the network?

3) yes that's what i am looking for, except even in full screen mode the vmware bar still appears...is there a way to hide that (or even change the hot keys 'ctl alt sequence' for mouse switch between host and guest )

IIRC the bar was hidable, but you could try remote desktop since it's a Windows guest. Oddly enough changing the hot keys combination in VMWare is in the "Hot Keys" tab in VMWare's preferences, go figure.

edit: my xyzel m-302 802.11g pci card doesn't have vista drivers/support. just xp
is it possible for vmware's windows xp pc to use it?

Not that I know of, Xen has the ability to present direct access to a PCI device to a domU but I don't think VMWare or VPC will let you do that.

 

[kreactor]

i don't know about mapping of hard drive as i tried and failed to enable file share across the network (only possible now with network magic)

i guess that makes usb harddrive storage as the way to go then...i read vmware doesn't have timeline for sata support

 

[Nothinman]

SATA support? VMWare doesn't do anything special with hard disks, the files that it uses for virtual hard disks can be on any kind of drive and the virtual drives presented to the guest are always either IDE or SCSI depending on what you choose.

 

[kreactor]

vmware images's nonpersistant option is great!
(as a sandbox environment so malware + virus doesn't come thru to the host)