Be careful out there. Remember the old advice for XP to NOT sign in as a user with administrative rights (or worse still, the Administrator) if you're going to browse the web. I'd create a standard user account for that. We get a bit lazy in 10, with UAC to protect us and admin users running most processes as a standard user anyway.
Oh, and make a Checkpoint now, before the inevitable(?) happens
Default Switch is an internal switch. Your main NIC, usually wired Ethernet adapter then shares its connection with it.
The idea of Default Switch is to protect host by putting the VM behind isolated NAT. Networking between all virtual machines using Default Switch is OK, but they cannot connect to host. For that, VM must use an external switch.
The above is extremely simplified explanation, but it's about how Default Switch works.
Kari
Thanks, I didn't know that when I first started using Hyper-V but I soon found out by trial and error. At first I thought I was doing something wrong.
I want my VMs and real PCs to be able to see each other, so I generally use an external switch. I can see how an isolated network can be useful for testing 'potentially suspect' software though. My interest is testing interoperability on a network with a mix of different OS, so the external switch suits me.
OK - I discovered just assigning the default virtual switch to the XP VM legacy network adapter works.
The only problem now is that after I have been using the VM and reboo the host PC, the host PC does not appear in its Network window or on other PCs but it does appear if you enter the full path into Explorer e.g. \\My_Computer. All works fine after I do a Network Reset. It seems the act of using the VM screws up the network configuration for some reason.
@Kari:
I've just created a W7 VM following this guide. For some reason, the VM doesn't seem to recognise my mouse (Logitech Performance MX with USB receiver). Mouse works perfectly in W10 host. The VM reports "Keyboard input captured" but "Mouse input not captured".
Checking in Hyper-V manager, I don't seem to have a "Add Mouse" option in Hardware settings of the VM....am I missing something?
There is no such option, mouse should work "out-of-box". Weird issue, I've never had any mouse issues with W7 virtual machines, having the same mouse than you.
First thing to check: in VM settings, select Integration services on left pane, check that all services are selected. Guest services is the most important in this case, taking care of input devices.
Kari
EDIT:
Really weird! I've not had W7 VM in ages. I just imported one from my "VM Vault" on NAS, to take above screenshot. Mouse works without issues on it, yet I get the same "Mouse input not captured".
Last edited by Kari; 25 Sep 2019 at 20:14.
Good to know!
A recommendation: as W7 virtual machines cannot use enhanced mode and getting widescreen resolutions, I always change the workgroup to be the same than on host, make their network private, and allow remoting. This way, I just need to start VM, wait a bit, then use RDP to connect to it.
No need to open VM Connection.
Kari
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