Date & Time Bug?

[John Smith]

Hello,

(1)
First how can I have the guest machine start with a fixed date and time?

(2)
I make sure that I have time synchronisation in VMTools unchecked.

I set the date and time of the guest machine back to the 80s and the
time different from host machine. When I pause the machine, then play it
the time and date gets resynchronised with the host machine. Why does it
do that, I don't want the date to change at all. :(

FYI: Guest machine is Windows XP.

Thanks
Mark

[Luuk]

John Smith schreef:

does your WinXP machine have internet access?
than its probably Windows getting time update from internet.
(check 3rd tab of properties for date & time)

--
Luuk

[John Smith]

Thanks for the reply. :)

No, it doesn't have internet access. It doesn't even have a network card
installed.

Also time update only works if the date is correct, and only sets time
and not the date.

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

John Smith schrieb:

> Also time update only works if the date is correct, and only sets time
> and not the date.

I suspect a Windows feature, that doesn't let you go back past the date
of the last changed file (e.g. the registry).

You may have better luck when you set the date as desired, *before*
installing Windows.

DoDi

[John Smith]

Thanks for the suggestion DoDi, but it isn't the case.

It doesn't make sense why windows would develop such a feature. Also it sets it according to current
date and time! How in the world would Windows know the current date & time if it is running on a
virtual machine, that has no network access? It is without a doubt set by VMWare issue.

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

John Smith schrieb:

> It doesn't make sense why windows would develop such a feature. Also it
> sets it according to current date and time! How in the world would
> Windows know the current date & time if it is running on a virtual
> machine, that has no network access?

From the virtual BIOS. What time does the BIOS present, when you enter
setup on power-on of the VM?

DoDi

[John Smith]

I assume it would be the based on my system the virtual machine is run from which is what I would
expect. But it is irrelevant to the issue at hand. On the current virtual machine I have a batch
file that loads on windows start up, and it sets the system time and date to a fixed date.

When one pauses (suspends) the machine one expects it to take a snapshot of current memory, which
would include the time and date. It isn't the case. It seems to reset it to the current system date
and time when you resume the VM. When it is resumes, it does not reboot or go to the bios it goes
straight into the system with all the applications the were running before hand loaded as though
nothing has happened. The only issue is date time issue.

Bug me thinks :?

If there is a script that can store date and time when the machine is suspended and sets it back
when you resume, that would be a great temporary fix. Also when the machine is booted.

Anyhow, how do you access the BIOS of the VM machine?

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

John Smith schrieb:

> When one pauses (suspends) the machine one expects it to take a snapshot
> of current memory, which would include the time and date. It isn't the
> case. It seems to reset it to the current system date and time when you
> resume the VM. When it is resumes, it does not reboot or go to the bios
> it goes straight into the system with all the applications the were
> running before hand loaded as though nothing has happened. The only
> issue is date time issue.

The behaviour of my VMs seems to depend on the guest OS. Some Linux and
Win98 guests seem to resume from the date/time of the suspend (or even
shutdown), newer systems tend to start or resume from the current date/time.

BTW, the VMWare tools include an option for time synchronization.

> Anyhow, how do you access the BIOS of the VM machine?

As usual <g>, hitting DEL or ESC when the guest is booting. You'll have
to set the focus to the VM window before...

DoDi

[John Smith]

> The behaviour of my VMs seems to depend on the guest OS. Some Linux and
> Win98 guests seem to resume from the date/time of the suspend (or even
> shutdown), newer systems tend to start or resume from the current
> date/time.
>
> BTW, the VMWare tools include an option for time synchronization.
>
>> Anyhow, how do you access the BIOS of the VM machine?
>
> As usual <g>, hitting DEL or ESC when the guest is booting. You'll have
> to set the focus to the VM window before...
>
> DoDi

Thanks DoDi.

Weird is all I have to say. All we have is XP VMs and soon we'll be using Vista VMs.