Reccomendation for "basic" virtualisation, please.

[Anonybrit]

Hello,

I am developing a web-based database in msaccess for a voluntary organisation that volunteers can run for free by downloading the free Access Runtime version off the internet.

Unfortunately, if you have the full version of access on a machine, you do not seem to be able to install the runtime version as well.

I was therefore wanting to use a virtual pc to test my application in the Access Runtime environment.

I downloaded MS Virtual PC and installed that - but I was not aware that I would have to pay for a separate licence to get Windows 7 on it.

Can anyone reccomend another way for me to be able to set up a sandbox on my current machine that does not "know" that I have the full version of Access already installed, please?

Thank you...


PS: I am aware that you can start the full version of access in "runtime mode", but that is (a) fiddly and (b) not ideal - because I would like to be able to have both running at the same time.

 

[Indianatone]

Hi Anonybrit and welcome to Seven Forums.
You have Windows 7 Ultimate which entitles you to a free download of the XP virtual machine. The XP virtual machine should be able to do everything you need it too providing the runtime does not specify Windows 7 and above in which case I'll bet a number of your home users would be out of luck.
Download Windows XP Mode
If you require a better Vitual machine you can import the XP mode into VMWare Player or Oracles Virtual Box.

 

[Anonybrit]

Thank you.

Another question: If I access the internet through my virtual computer, does that bypass the firewalls and virus protection set up on my actual PC?

 

[Indianatone]

Yes it does, you need a free anti virus and firewall solution. Think of a virtual machine as a real PC and protect it likewise.

 

[Anonybrit]

Thanks

 

[Indianatone]

You are very welcome, if anything else comes up ask and someone will help you. There are some virtual experts on here.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
It's slightly more complex but you can easily set up WAMP on a Virtual Machine running W7 or even XP.

Forget Access -- it's not very robust for ANY sort of Multi-user database -- if you have more than one user trying to do something it will either FREEZE or BREAK.

MySQL is FREE -- and why not use a WAMP server (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP).
A Linux system LAMP can also be set up but I'd go for a WAMP server if you haven't any Linux experience -- MySQL is incredibly robust and FREE and EXCELLENT for an Internet DB server.

You can have loads of users as well without "Breaking" anything either and the security is fine as well.

It might have a small learning curve but this will work flawlessly 100% and provide decent security as well.

Try starting from here -- All components are Free and simply install on your W7 Virtual machine.

WampServer, the web development platform on Windows - Apache, MySQL, PHP

Cheers
jimbo