Re: File sharing problem with virtual PCs

<> wrote in message
news: ...
> OK, I have figured out at least part of what is going on here. The virtual
> machine on my second PC was copied from the first PC. I was supposed to
> use the sysprep utility, but I didn't know that. I changed the IP address
> and computer name on the copied machine, but apparently that isn't enough
> to prevent networking problems when both virtual machines are running. The
> SSID and MAC Address are probably the same on both virtual machines. Is
> there a way to correct this without starting over? I'm looking for either
> a utility program which can change these, or information on how to change
> them in the registry. Thanks!


Ah. Yep, that'd definitely cause problems. The SSID should be the same as
that's the name of your wireless network (unless each VPC is connecting to a
different wireless network). You'll need to manually edit one of the .vmc
files to create a new MAC address. These files are really XML files and can
be opened in Notepad.

Here's something I copied a long time ago from an MS KB article:

----------------------------------------
Two or more guest operating systems have the same Media Access Control (MAC)
address.

Cause: If you create an image of a host operating system that includes
Virtual PC and virtual machines configuration files (.vmc files) and copy
that image to another computer, each virtual machine configuration file
included in the image contains a MAC address. The MAC address will not be
reset automatically when you place the image on a new physical computer. As
a result, the virtual machines that are copied onto the new computer will
have the same MAC addresses as the virtual machines on the computer that was
used to create the image.

Solution: Edit the .vmc file to remove the MAC address. Find the following
line:


<ethernet_card_address type="bytes">0003FFxxxxxx</ethernet_card_address>

Remove the number so the line appears as follows:


<ethernet_card_address type="bytes"></ethernet_card_address>

After you remove the number, Virtual PC will create a new MAC address the
next time you start the virtual machine.
----------------------------------------

In the future, you can avoid this problem by just copying the .vhd file(s).
Then, create a NEW virtual machine using the wizard and just specify the
..vhd files for your drives.

Good Luck.

Mike