Virtual PC 7.0.2 - Windows Updates...

Are you using shared networking or a virtual switch?

Is the Mac running a firewall?

I have a Powerbook G4 with Virtual PC 7.0.2 and XP Professional. I have a home network using a Netgear DSL router/firewall with Airport wireless and Ethernet connections available.
I had the same problem with Windows Updates/Microsoft Updates always failing with the same error message whether using the ethernet or Airport connections. I contacted the MS Update support who were no help at all - they said it was a Virtual PC problem. Virtual PC people said get the latest update to Virtual PC (made no difference).
I also have a Windows XP PC which has no problem getting Windows Updates over the same network!!

However, the problems did not appear on my Mac when I reconnected over an office network - using an ethernet connection via a Linksys router to a 1MB DSL line the Virtual PC XP connected to and downloaded all the Updates with no problems.

Unfortunately, I still haven't a clue why it fails on my home network, but if you can swap your router/reconfigure your internet access you may find that Update will work...

Best of luck

Hello Keith,

I apologise if I am hijacking this thread, but I have just recently been trying to get to the bottom of an issue through both Apple and Microsoft Support with Virtual PC 7.0.2 on my 17" Powerbook G4 where I only recently discovered that in the "System" info in Windows XP in Virtual PC, it states that the processor being emulated is a 298mhz 686. I have been part of a beta testing group for a new building energy analysis program that will become a mandatory assessment tool in 2006 - but it has been only developed for Windows. The problem is that the calculation time to determine the different options, which on windows takes a matter of seconds, is taking many minutes in Virtual PC. I realise that the processor emulation will be slower, but did not expect it to be S O S L O W. My reason for trying to get an understanding of how the processor speed emulation is set came about from trying the program on my six year old iMac which still had a copy of Virtual PC 5 and Windows XP running under OS 9.2.2. To my surprise it ran almost twice as fast, and when I checked out what processor speed it said it was emulating, it said a 398mhz 686, and that is on a 500mhz G3 processor. To then realise that the latest VPC 7 on my 1.5Ghz G4 was only crawling at 298Mhz, got me fuming. Keith (and any other VPC7 users), I would be very interested in what your setup gave as a processor speed, and whether there was any variation depending on the system it was loaded on. Any other light that can be thrown on this situation would be gratefully appreciated. I have been told by Windows users that XP has fairly cludgy code and Windows 2000 would run much faster. This may give an improvement, but I assume would not alter the basic VPC 686 processor emulation. If I there is some way to get VPC to emulate a faster 686, say even 1Ghx on the 1.5 Ghx G4, that would be a great improvement.

Thanks in anticipation,

Ian

Thanks Norman for providing that info. As you are running VPC7 on a G5, what is the processor speed? I am wondering if there is some correlation between the actual processor speed and the emulated 686 processor that might be consistent across the current and recent models, or whether there are other variables. My current experience is that my powerbook only gets a 686 emulated at 20% of the G4 processor, while my iMac gets a 686 emulated at 80% of the G3 but in practice seems to run close to twcw as fast as the G4 in VPC. If anyone else using VPC V5,6, or 7 can provide their figures, I would be most interested.

Thanks, Ian

I have a similar problem as nsilco. Only the situation is a little different. I have a G4, OS 10.4.2, and VPC 7.0.2. , and Windows 2000 Professional. I am using shared networking. I have always been able to get the windows updates over my dial-up connection. Just recently I added a broadband DSL connection. When I use VPC, I have no problems with accessing the internet via that connection, except when I want to do a windows update. When I try that, I get the same error message as nsilco did. I tried turning the mac firewall off, but that didn't help. Can anyone help me?

Bob Gregg

nsilco - thanks for your reply. In an earlier post, you were asked if you were using shared networking or a virtual switch - I can't seem to find your response. If it is virtual switch (I'm using shared networking), I assume I need to do the Windows software install that came with the DSL setup. Is that correct?

Bob

I am currently having problems with the start up of Virtual PC 7.0 (XP Professional) on my PowerBook G4 (10.3.9).
I am getting the Microsoft screen which then briefly opens up a blue screen with 'unmountable boot volume'. I am not sure why I am getting this message. When I left my computer before the weekend everything was running fine. I am not sure if this has anything to do with a recent download of hp software which just recently gave me the ability to print from Windows wirelessly on my hp photosmart printer. Right now there are too many variables to try and solve the problem. I did copy a troubleshooting details log from virtual pc which should help wit anyone who can offer support. Help is greatly appreciated!

Problem solved. I can now do Windows updates with VPC. All I did was change from shared networking to virtual switch, and restart VPC. No other settings had to be changed.

Bob

] Problem solved. I can now do Windows updates with VPC. All I did was change from shared networking to virtual switch, and restart VPC. No other settings had to be changed.

The issue was probably down to an DNS issue.

With shared networking the host Mac acts as a router (which is ideal with a single internet connection), but on a network means your Virtual PC is going through two routers which can be a cause of DNS issue.

By switching to virtual switch, your Virtual PC is reliant on the network router (and not the host Mac) thereby avoiding the DNS issues.

Hi Norman,

Thanks for your info.

Could you check out your XP Pro System Properties/General window and advise what your processor emulation details are? I am very interested in getting an idea of just what emulation VPC7 is achieving on different processors and machines to see if there is any obvious pattern such as emulating a cartain % of the G3/4/5 chip? Any other VPC users feel free to post your info as well so we get a broader picture of what is actually happening in the ?686 processor emulation.