Virtual Machine Technologies
Topics related to Virutal PC, Virtual Server, VMWare, etc.
Well, I've been very quiet due to tons of work (this is a good thing).
But, I've got things I want to say, so we finally setup a blogging engine over at MCW Tech. You'll find my new blog there. I'll still blog about SQL Server related items (and much more since it's on our site). I want to say a big thank you to Donny and Doug for providing this little bit of space.
My new blog is at [0]. Also, I finally convicned Ken Getz to start a blog [1]. He's always got something to say. :-D
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[0] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/brianr/
[1] http://www.mcwtech.com/CS/blogs/keng/
I have a large collection of Virtual PC and Virtual Server images that I use for testing betas such as SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and more. One issue that can come up is ensuring that an old image is running the latest version of the additions.
To make it easy for myself going forward, I built this cheat sheet:
|
Product |
Version (File Name) |
Additions Version |
|
Virtual PC 2004 |
5.3.0.582 (Virtual PC.exe) |
13.040 |
|
Virtual Server 2005 |
1.1.465.0 (vssrvc.exe) |
13.206 |
|
Virtual PC 2004 SP1 |
5.3.582.27 |
13.306 |
The Additions are contained in an ISO file that gets boot strapped when you choose to install the Additions. Here are the file details:
|
Product |
Additions File |
Size |
Date/Time Stamp |
|
Virtual PC 2004 |
VMAdditions013040.iso |
25,536 KB |
10/22/2003 4:00 AM |
|
Virtual Server 2005 |
VMAdditions.iso |
26,316 KB |
7/14/2004 10:43 AM |
|
Virtual PC 2004 SP1 |
VMAdditions.iso |
26,354 KB |
8/3/2004 3:56 PM |
To check the version of your additions, do the following:
- In Virtual PC, select Action | Properties from the main window.
Note: Virtual PC 2004 reports the Additions version as 13.40.
However the ISO file lists the version as 13.040 which makes more sense considering the Virtual Server and Virtual PC SP1 version numbers.
- In Virtual Server, access the Administration Web Site. Once the VM is running, the status will be visible on the main page.
Given the choice, you should run the latest version of the Additions. You can use a newer set of the Additions on an older version of the product. That said, you don’t’ want to run an image under Virtual Server if you’re running the 13.040 version of the Additions.
Finally, I have noticed one odd behavior when running a newer version of the Additions on an older version of Virtual PC 2004. I have a Windows 2003 image with the 13.306 Additions installed. If I run it under Virtual PC 2004, the video resolution is not persisted between full shutdowns. Not fatal, just annoying. Your mileage may vary.
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Ted Neward posts that he's having trouble with Virtual PC 2004 SP1.
My guess is Ted is running it on his IBM ThinkPad T42p. My suggestion? Turn off the SpeedStep feature of the processor in the BIOS. (You can also just try setting your power management settings to Always On). You can verify that your processor is running full speed by downloading Intel's Processor Identification Utility here [0].
There seems to be some issues with laptops and SpeedStep and the SP version of Virtual PC. I also seen reports of problems on Virtual Server with laptops.
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[0] http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/piu/
Who should read this:
Anyone with Virtual PC 2004 (without SP1) installed.
Issue:
If you install Virtual Server 2005 or Virtual PC 2004 SP1 onto a machine that has existing guest machines with saved state, you will not be able to restart the virtual machine guest with the saved state.
Solution
BEFORE installing completely shutdown all of your guest machines and either merge the saved state into your VHDs or discard the saved state.
Is this documented?
Yes, in the readme file.
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Mike Gunderloy beat me to this [0], but SP1 is now available for download [1] now.
You'll really want to get this version if you're trying to run Windows XP SP2 as a guest.
Other reasons are the pre-compactor to help you shrink dynamic disks and a plethora of bug fixes.
However, contrary to some public speculation, the service pack DOES NOT include USB support for guests.
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[0] http://www.larkware.com/Articles/TheDailyGrind480.html
[1] http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=b07c9ef0-265a-4237-ae3b-25bc8937d40f&displaylang=en
Well, after a bit of delay, Virtual Server 2005 is available as a “Special Offer” to MSDN Subscribers.
From [0]:
For a limited time, all active MSDN Universal and MSDN Enterprise subscribers can download Virtual Server 2005 Standard and Enterprise Editions from MSDN Subscriber Downloads, located in the Special Offers folder.
Now, I'm not quite sure how long the limited time is or why it's a special offer, but I'd say, get it while it's hot. No sure if it will show up in the monthly mailers.
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[0] http://msdn.microsoft.com/subscriptions/
OK, it's October 1st, did you get order your copy of Virtual Server yet? Supposedly today is the first day of General Availability. What that really means, I’m not quite sure since I get most of my software from my two MSDN subscriptions. I'm sure many of you too are waiting to see when/if it's available on MSDN while others who have used the beta might be looking for copies to buy for production use.
In either case, I wanted to post a few differences between the two products. The biggest difference is purpose.
Virtual PC is designed primarily for running desktop operating systems & applications in interactive mode. Can Virtual PC run server operating systems? Yes. Will Microsoft support you? No.
Virtual Server is designed to run server operating systems & server applications in daemon mode.
Other differences:
- Virtual PC supports sound. Virtual Server does not.
- Virtual Server provides support for SCSI disks (guest drives). Virtual PC does not.
- Virtual Server exposes a COM api (with .NET PIAs) for extensibility. Virutal PC does not.
- Virtual PC supports shared folders with the host. Virtual Server does not.
- Virtual Server supports running guest without an interative session (a daemon). Virtual PC does not.
Well that's a start for now.
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eWeek [0] let the cat out of the bag a bit early it seems.
Virtual Server 2005 is Virtual PC 2004's big brother designed to run server operating systems and applications.
Pricing doesn't seem too bad. $499 for the standard edition. However, the machine you run it on in production does require a valid Windows 2003 Server license.
Note, you can run Virtual Server 2005 on Windows XP Pro if you're doing development work.
I'll post some more entires over the next couple days about why one vs. the other.
[0] http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1644226,00.asp
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