Virtual PC 7.0.3 and Leopard - REVISTED

[PowerPCMacMan]

Hello everyone,

Well, as the title suggests I just installed VPC 7.0.3 on my PB G4 1.67 and I am very impressed by how Windows 2000 just works on this thing, albeit only for web browsing and not serious work.

Question, I heard that under Leopard 10.5.8 or Leopard in general that VPC 7.0.3 does not work very well. When I go and shut down Windows from within the emulator, it shuts down but then the SBBOD(spinning beach ball of death) appears and I have to load up Activity Monitor and force quit VPC 7.0.3.

What could be causing VPC 7.0.3 to lock up when I shut down Windows from within? Bear in mind, for a PowerPC G4 such as mine, Windows 2000 runs really nice and somewhat fast, though I do admit that Windows is best run on an Intel Mac or PC, but this isn't too bad for little stuff.

Thanks,

Hope everyone voted today!

PPCMM

[jbarley]

Originally Posted by PowerPCMacMan

Hello everyone,

Well, as the title suggests I just installed VPC 7.0.3 on my PB G4 1.67 and I am very impressed by how Windows 2000 just works on this thing, albeit only for web browsing and not serious work.

And why would you want to browse the web from within a windows virtual machine and put your computer at risk of a Windows virus attack, when browsing from native OS X on your G4 is so much more pleasant?
I can understand needing to use windows for some specific application not available to you in OS X, but connecting to the web would be out of the question IMO.

[skateny]

Originally Posted by PowerPCMacMan

Hello everyone,

Well, as the title suggests I just installed VPC 7.0.3 on my PB G4 1.67 and I am very impressed by how Windows 2000 just works on this thing, albeit only for web browsing and not serious work.

Question, I heard that under Leopard 10.5.8 or Leopard in general that VPC 7.0.3 does not work very well. When I go and shut down Windows from within the emulator, it shuts down but then the SBBOD(spinning beach ball of death) appears and I have to load up Activity Monitor and force quit VPC 7.0.3.

What could be causing VPC 7.0.3 to lock up when I shut down Windows from within? Bear in mind, for a PowerPC G4 such as mine, Windows 2000 runs really nice and somewhat fast, though I do admit that Windows is best run on an Intel Mac or PC, but this isn't too bad for little stuff.

Thanks,

Hope everyone voted today!

PPCMM

The last time I ran Virtual PC, there was no OS X. I used only because I thought it was cool to run Windows on my Mac with the ability to allocate virtual memory. Didn't last very long. Wouldn't use it again.

[thorns]

I use Win 2000 with VPC 7.0.3 as well. I didn't encounter any shutdown errors, so I'm not quite sure what could cause it OP's case.

[eyoungren]

Originally Posted by jbarley

And why would you want to browse the web from within a windows virtual machine and put your computer at risk of a Windows virus attack, when browsing from native OS X on your G4 is so much more pleasant?.

Well, the VPC is self contained in a disk image and it can serve as a test bed.

I once had a downloaded app wipe my PC's hard drive after installing it. I was forced to reinstall Windows and lost all of my (unimportant) data.

The same app simply forced-quit the running instance of Windows on VPC. Nothing else happened.

Any virus attack will occur on the Windows VPC.

[Zeke D]

No problems running VPC7 on DP2.0 PM G5 with 4GB RAM on leopard. It only gets used for some sort of minecraft windows only thing though.

[Wildy]

Originally Posted by eyoungren

Well, the VPC is self contained in a disk image and it can serve as a test bed.

I once had a downloaded app wipe my PC's hard drive after installing it. I was forced to reinstall Windows and lost all of my (unimportant) data.

The same app simply forced-quit the running instance of Windows on VPC. Nothing else happened.

Any virus attack will occur on the Windows VPC.

Be careful with this - it's possible to exploit vulnerabilities in the virtualization / emulation software and run arbitrary code on host OS. Depending on your network setup, it's also possible for malicious code to spread by traversing the network - including your host OS.

Most of that applies to a Windows guest on an x86 Windows host. I don't think there would be many viruses built to take advantage of vulnerabilities in VirtualPC, and infect a PowerPC OSX host - but you can never be too safe!

[eyoungren]

You're right of course. I would take more precaution if PCs and VPC were more used on my home network. As it is, I have two real PCs. One hasn't been turned on in months and the other was used a few weeks ago. VPC I only use when I need to test something and am too lazy to get up and go do the work on one of the two PCs.

All the other machines on the network are either handsets or Macs. While this may have some influence on Intel Macs, there's only one Intel Mac that comes on to our network (when my mom comes over) and that's maybe twice a year.

[Wildy]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a smart ass - I was just saying be aware!

Does VPC have any log files associated with it? You might be able to glean something from that - perhaps someone on here might know?

[orestes1984]

The only thing I can figure out a use for VPC these days on an already slow PPC Mac is to run iTunes 10.7. Back in the day, I replaced the OS 9 Finder with Virtual PC in order to get every bit of performance out of it.

[PowerPCMacMan]

[well, this PowerBook g4 is pretty quick to me, I am surprised that windows xp runs moderately well on it, though my hope is to get iPhone 5 and use iTunes 10.7 to sync it with my PowerBook.

QUOTE=orestes1984;16248141]The only thing I can figure out a use for VPC these days on an already slow PPC Mac is to run iTunes 10.7. Back in the day, I replaced the OS 9 Finder with Virtual PC in order to get every bit of performance out of it.[/QUOTE]

[eyoungren]

Originally Posted by Wildy

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be a smart ass - I was just saying be aware!

No offense taken. You were right.

[orestes1984]

Originally Posted by PowerPCMacMan

[well, this PowerBook g4 is pretty quick to me, I am surprised that windows xp runs moderately well on it, though my hope is to get iPhone 5 and use iTunes 10.7 to sync it with my PowerBook.

QUOTE=orestes1984;16248141]The only thing I can figure out a use for VPC these days on an already slow PPC Mac is to run iTunes 10.7. Back in the day, I replaced the OS 9 Finder with Virtual PC in order to get every bit of performance out of it.

I remember Windows 2K even ran moderately well enough to be usable on old PPC hardware predating the G3 because I did it Windows XP should run OK on a reasonably fast G4, or G5 and should let you run iTunes for syncing purposes.