Virtual PC Lesson Learned
Yesterday I wanted to use a locally installed Virtual PC Windows 2003 Server
to test an MSI file that needed to be built for the Crystal Reports Merge
Module. We don't use the "shared folder" approach to deploying applications,
rather, we let the FrontPage Server Extensions do the heavy lifting. It just
works. My original problem was that the networking was terribly slow, though,
and the process would time out.
On reflection, that's easy to understand: both the OS (a Windows XP session)
and the Virtual PC program were in a race to utilize the network interface. My
fix?
- Power down and crack the case of the PC.
- Install a second NIC (I have a small cache of parts around for just such
cases)
- Patch second NIC into hub, switch or what-have-you.
- Boot up, log in.
- Access the property sheet for the original NIC and unbind "Virtual
Machine Network Services." Apply change.
- Access the property sheet for the new NIC and verify that the "Virtual
Machine Network Services" binding is made.
- Run Virtual PC console. Update Virtual Server as needed.
While I didn't actually measure the impact of this change, it felt like my
Virtual PC session was making at least a 500% improvement in total network
utilization.