VPC 7 has lost my PC settings

[gbs...@yahoo.com.au]

I have a problem with Virtual PC 7 that I'm hoping someone can help
with. I have been using VPC for some time now. I upgraded to VPC 7
(together with Mac Office 2004) last year and it does work. But now
I've been hit by a problem I can't figure out. I started VPC a
couple of days ago and found that there were no virtual machines in the
VM list. The VM list is the main window that appears when you start
the VPC application. I found that all the PC settings were at factory
default and so, VPC had lost all links to my VM. I have a very
functional VM running Windows XP.

Does anyone know how to restore VPC's PC settings ?

At first this seems a strange question. But, VPC will only show a VM
in the VM list if it is 'installed'. To install a VM, I have to
use a CD or a VM created by an earlier version of VPC. I expect it's
Microsoft's way of stopping people from swapping VMs (without buying
windows). Anyway, the symptom is that the dialogue for setting a VM as
a PC in the VM list shows my VM greyed out. I can't figure out how to
make VPC recognise my existing (and activated) VM !

Just to make this even more interesting, the problem is occurring only
on my ordinary login. I have a separate administrator login that I use
on rare occasions for installing or using some software (eg. Onyx).
The administrator login has no trouble at all ! When I open VPC in
that login, I get the VM list, showing my VM as per usual. It works
fine.

So, this leads me to also ask, does anyone know where the VPC PC
settings are stored ? I've looked for hidden files, inside the
Preferences folders and inside the application package with no luck.

Cheers

Garry

[gbs...@yahoo.com.au]

People,

I found a problem with the permissions inside my VM file. I opened the
file using "Show Package Contents" and found that I didn't have access
rights to the contents (even though I did have access to the package
!). So, I changed all the access rights to those contents. I then
found that the VM was properly listed in the PC list, which is a move
forward.

However, now I have another problem. What I click on Start Up I get:
"One of the specified disk images could not be opened. The disk image
may be open in another virtual machine. Please shut down other PCs
before proceeding."

I don't have any other copies of VPC running. I have also checked that
the Administrator login on my iMac does not have the VM running in a
saved state or anything - it is fully shut down.

So, I'm still at a loss !

Cheers

Garry

[Paul Power]

Who is the 'owner' of this file?

Are you logged into OSX as that account?

There probably wasn't any 'problem' with the permissions. VPC is
designed so that you cannot automatically share virtual machines
between users. If this is what you ultimately want to accomplish, undo
those changes that you made and follow the steps below:

While signed in to the Administrator Account

1. Install virtual pc on the admistrator account and create the virtual

machine(Guest operating system)
2. When this is finished quit virtual pc and make sure the guest
operating system
is in a "not running" state.
3. Navigate to the virtual pc list folder on the
mac.(harddisk->users->user you are
working with->documents->virtual pc list)
4. Locate the virtual machine you have created and drag it to the
shared
folder(hardisk->users->shared)
5. Now we need to change permissions on the file itself. Ctrl+Click on
the VM and
select Get Info
6. In the window that comes up look for ownership and permissions and
click the
arrow pointing to the right
7. This will show you what permissions you have which should be read
and write.
Below that there should be another arrow pointing the right that says
details
8. Click the arrow and at the bottom it should say others. Click the
drop down
arrow next to it change it to Read and Write.
9. In some cases you may have to change the permissions on the
basedrive file
located within the VM
10. Changing permissions on this file is the same as changing it for
the VM
itself.(To access this file ctrl+click on the VM and show package
contents.(The
file is usually named Disk1 or it may be the name of the operating
system)
11. Now we need to make an alias(shortcut) for the Vm and place in the
virtual pc
list folder.
12. To do this ctrl+click on the VM and select make alias.(The keyboard
shortcut
for it is command+L)
13. Now that the alias is created drag and drop the alias in the
virtual pc list
folder.
14. Completly log out of the admistrator account (do not use fast user
switching to
go between this account and the other accounts on the Mac)

All other users

Virtual pc will already be installed on all other users after the first

installation on the administrator account so no setup is required.
Virtual pc will be located in the applications folder
To allow all other users to use the same guest operating system as the
administrator account we need to make an alias and place it in the
virtual pc
list
1. Log into the next user account
2. Navagate to the shared folder(Harddisk->users->shared
3. The original VM will be listed there and you will have permissions
to access
it
4. Make an alias of the original, same as before(Highlight the VM,
Ctrl+Click on it
and select make alias)
5. Drag and drop the alias into the virtual pc
list(harddisk->users->user you are
working with->documents->virtual pc list

[gbs...@yahoo.com.au]

Paul,

Thank you very much for all this. I'll give it a go. In the meantime
I restored a recent backup of the VM and everything is working fine.

Cheers

Garry