Virtual PC and Virus'

I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine additiona
have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected ith several
virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the VPC. Should I be
concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a virus on a virtual pc
infect the host OS?

Hi,

It can, same as any machine on a local network. If you disabled the vpc's
network card before it spread, then the infection is likely isolated to just
that vhd.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

<msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:edFrOHM$...
>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected ith
>several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the VPC.
>Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a virus on
>a virtual pc infect the host OS?
>

weather you run windows native or in a vm, it is still windows and has all
the same security flaws and you need good anti-virus and anti-spy software
installed even under the VM
"Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
news:uKJ4UJM$...
> Hi,
>
> It can, same as any machine on a local network. If you disabled the vpc's
> network card before it spread, then the infection is likely isolated to
> just that vhd.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> <msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:edFrOHM$...
>>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
>>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected
>>ith several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the
>>VPC. Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a
>>virus on a virtual pc infect the host OS?
>>
>

So what do you do when running guests with obsolete OSs (like Win 3.1 or
W95) for which there are no up-to-date security programs?


"Anthony" <> wrote in message
news:72043F07-9A25-4B4E-B678-...
> weather you run windows native or in a vm, it is still windows and has all
> the same security flaws and you need good anti-virus and anti-spy software
> installed even under the VM
> "Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
> news:uKJ4UJM$...
>> Hi,
>>
>> It can, same as any machine on a local network. If you disabled the vpc's
>> network card before it spread, then the infection is likely isolated to
>> just that vhd.
>>
>> --
>> Best of Luck,
>>
>> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
>> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
>> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
>> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>>
>> <msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:edFrOHM$...
>>>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
>>>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected
>>>ith several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the
>>>VPC. Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a
>>>virus on a virtual pc infect the host OS?
>>>
>>
>

On Sep 22, 2:50 am, "Jerry" <duncan_jer...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> So what do you do when running guests with obsolete OSs (like Win 3.1 or
> W95) for which there are no up-to-date security programs?
>
> "Anthony" <anth...@reginacomputers.com> wrote in message
>
> news:72043F07-9A25-4B4E-B678-...
>
> > weather you run windows native or in a vm, it is still windows and has all
> > the same security flaws and you need good anti-virus and anti-spy software
> > installed even under the VM
> > "Rick Rogers" <r...@mvps.org> wrote in message
> >news:uKJ4UJM$...
> >> Hi,
>
> >> It can, same as any machine on a local network. If you disabled the vpc's
> >> network card before it spread, then the infection is likely isolated to
> >> just that vhd.
>
> >> --
> >> Best of Luck,
>
> >> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> >>http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> >> Windows help -www.rickrogers.org
> >> My thoughtshttp://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> >> <msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >>news:edFrOHM$...
> >>>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
> >>>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected
> >>>ith several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the
> >>>VPC. Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a
> >>>virus on a virtual pc infect the host OS?

You'd be suprised. There are still AV programs out there for DOS.
Anyways you don't need an AV for your DOS guest since you can just
mount the VHD as another drive in Windows and scan it with your host
AV program.

Jerry wrote:
> So what do you do when running guests with obsolete OSs (like Win 3.1 or
> W95) for which there are no up-to-date security programs?

Don't give the obsolete OS an Internet connection and don't share files
from it locally.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

A virtual machine is just as vulnerable as the host machine and it is
therefore important that both the host and guest machines have their own
anti virus software installed.

I'm currently running three operating systems - Vista as host and XP and
Server 2008 (beta) as guest and each operating system has its own copy of
anti virus software.

If you see my article
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/creatin...ith_vmware.htm you
will note that I make a point of informing the reader that anti virus
software and firewall are an important addition to any virtual machine.
While the article relates to VMware workstation (which in my opinion is far
better than Virtual PC 2007) the main points of the article relate equally
to both virtual machine applications.


--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
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<msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:edFrOHM$...
>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected ith
>several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the VPC.
>Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a virus on
>a virtual pc infect the host OS?
>

<msnews.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:edFrOHM$...
>I am running an XP guest OS in a 2007 Virtual PC. Virtual Machine
>additiona have been installed. The Virtual PC recently became infected ith
>several virus'. I immediatly disabled the network card within the VPC.
>Should I be concerned that my main OS may become infected? CAn a virus on
>a virtual pc infect the host OS?
>


Yes, you should be concerned, because, yes, a virus in a VM -can- infect the
host, depending on how the guest's networking is configured. (I think...
late night, a few beers... c'est la vie.)

Lang

"Lang Murphy" <> wrote in message
news:4A58AAB9-A674-477A-9B80-...

> Yes, you should be concerned, because, yes, a virus in a VM -can- infect
> the host, depending on how the guest's networking is configured. (I
> think... late night, a few beers... c'est la vie.)

Of course it can, just like a virus on a real machine can transfer itselft
across the network onto another real machine...


--
Mark Rae
ASP.NET MVP
http://www.markrae.net

What about the firewall? If I use Shared Networking (NAT) as my setting in
the VM, is my host system firewall all I need? Or else, do I need one in the
VM as well?


"Mark Rae [MVP]" <> wrote in message
news:O4TLRdc$...
> "Lang Murphy" <> wrote in message
> news:4A58AAB9-A674-477A-9B80-...
>
>> Yes, you should be concerned, because, yes, a virus in a VM -can- infect
>> the host, depending on how the guest's networking is configured. (I
>> think... late night, a few beers... c'est la vie.)
>
> Of course it can, just like a virus on a real machine can transfer itselft
> across the network onto another real machine...
>
>
> --
> Mark Rae
> ASP.NET MVP
> http://www.markrae.net