Windows 7: Running Win98 / WinME in Virtual PC, can't see files on the HDD...

I need to share files on my Win7Pro PC with the virtual PC I am running (I've tried both Win98 and WinME). I have this old software that just flat doesn't work in any newer OS. The Virtual PC works, but it isn't seeing the drives on the real PC or it's files. XP Mode shows "C on Desk" and "D on Desk" but the Win98/ME vhd aren't showing anything like that.



Any help?

Hi there
I don't know about "XP" mode but in a vmware or XBOX situation you need to treat the HOST files as NETWORK Drives as far as the OS is concerned.

Enable "NAT" networking and get the IP address of the host with the IPCONFIG command.

Then in the Virtual machine from Windows explorer (on the virtual machine) mount network drive and specify it as
\\xxxx.yyyy.zzzz.NN /D where say D is the drive on the host you want to share and the first bit (xxx etc) is the IP address of the HOST.

XP's network recognition is not always good which is why the IP method will work even when you can't see the other computer from the VM (or the other way around).

Ensure that the host drives are SHAREABLE too -- you can set these in PROPERTIES of the drive -- right mouse click on the drive.


You can use a similar system to enable SHARING FROM the VM too. In this case ensure the VM drive(s) are shareable.

Cheers
jimbo

I had this problem once a long time ago. The problem is your file system. Win98 has a fat32 and Windows 7 has a NTFS file system. The OS with NTFS file system can read a FAT32 file system but not the other way around.

I was running on a duel boot system at the time but I would assume the same file restrictions apply.

Good luck
OlHenry

My guess is that the "XP mode" should have some drivers preinstalled to allow auto sharing your drives without your consent, but in a more serious virtualizatino environment you must treat the virtual and real PCs as two different things. The best choice I think is to use a regular network share on your real PC and make the virtual access it thought the virtual network, or even access the hidden administrative c$ shares.



While it's true that Win98 don't knows about NTFS, it doesn't matters here. The systems cannot see each other because they behave exactly as two separate and totally independent computers. For that to be a problem you have to port the HD from one machine to another.