March, 2006

As I have been running builds of Windows Vista inside of virtual machines for a while now - I thought I would pass along some guidance I have for getting the best performance possible. Below are a couple of steps I advise taking: The more memory...

There is a fair amount of confusion about the state of using Windows network load balancing (NLB) when it comes to Microsoft virtual machines. Today I am (hopefully) going to set the record straight. When using NLB with Microsoft virtual machines you...

I was surprised to find out the other day that while I have posted many sample VBScripts - I have never discussed how to configure one of these scripts to operate on a remote server running Virtual Server. This is really quite simple to do. Each script...

Every now and then some one will contact me for help, saying "I have a virtual machine that was working just fine - and now it refuses to log into the domain to which it is joined". Assuming that networking is working fine (and sometimes this is caused...

Virtual Server allows you to configure virtual machines to startup automatically when the host system boots. However in order to enable this feature you need to configure a user account to run the virtual machine under first (as when the host system boots...

With Virtual PC 2004 SP1 we made a change to the way we access the LPT (or parallel) port. The reason for this is that we found a bug in Virtual PC 2004 which meant that we were not being guaranteed exclusive access to the LPT port for the virtual machine...

Normally when people ask me for a specific VBScript, I just do a web search and point them to the most promising looking result. The other day I was asked for a script to convert a dynamic virtual hard disk to a fixed size virtual hard disk - and was...

On a running virtual machine (under Virtual PC) you can see the optimization level being used by selecting 'Properties' off of the 'Action' menu - and then going to the 'Advanced' tab. There are three possible optimization levels: None: You should...

Rise of the Triad was one of many 3D shooting games to come out soon after DOOM. It has a number of nice features - including massive maps and a good range of weaponry. Having said that - this game never really grabbed my attention too much - don't know...

I stumbled across the Calmira project a long time ago - and just found out that they are working on a new release. This is a bit of an odd project - but interesting none the less. The basic premise is to bring the Windows XP user experience to a Windows...

One of the problems that we faced when working on Virtual PC was whether to create virtual machines which had NumLock on by default, or off by default. This may sound like a small issue - but people tend to have near religious preferences for the state...

Prince of Persia 2 - while similar to Prince of Persia the original - has some significant differences. In the original Prince of Persia you had been thrown in prison - and as a result spent much of your time skulking around. In Prince of Persia 2 you...

Along the status bar at the bottom of the Virtual PC window are a number of useful status indicators - also known as 'blinky lights' (at least that is what they are called by most people on the development team). A couple of interesting things to know...

Ahh yes. The infamous 'Carmageddon' - met by protests and legal challenges around the world. This game places you in an urban car race, where you get awarded extra points for stunts, etc... The real problem was that the game also rewards points for running...

Now this is one of the first games I can remember playing (for the record - the first is 'Jumpman'). Temple of Apshai is a good old school graphical adventure game - that plays like a simplified version of Rogue. You get to configure your characters attributes...

Rescue Rover is a simple little game - where you play the role of a boy who seems doomed to have his pet dog ('Rover') stolen by evil robots, over and over and over. Indeed each level begins with the poor puppy being taken away - and then you need to...

So as I was browsing through my usual set of DOS games / old shareware sites the other day - I came across a link to 'RoboMaze II: The Lobby'. As I sat there staring at the screen I though 'I know that game... but I can't remember anything about it'....

Man it has been a long time since I played this game. Block Out by California Dreams is one of the original versions of 3D Tetris - and it is still quite an addictive game. Running in a combination of CGA and EGA graphics you are required to maneuver...

Prince of Persia is one of those classic original games. In Prince of Persia you find yourself (the Prince) unjustly thrown into prison - with only one hour to try and save the Princess. The interesting thing about this game is that while you have unlimited...

ZZT is one of the first games to be released by Epic MegaGames (back in 1991) and while it is only text based it is darned addictive. ZZT places you in a very large world - with the requirement that you locate a number of special keys to allow you to...

Ah... The one, the original Paratrooper. There are many times when you fall in love with a game - only to find out that it is a clone of a more revered. Thankfully - in the case of Paratrooper - this was the first version of this style of game that I...

Whenever Virtual Server has a task to complete (like merging a hard disk) that may take a while - it creates a task object. You have probably seen these used in some of my scripts when I want to wait for a task to complete before moving onto the next...

John Howard, who has been blogging for just about as long as I have now, and has been working as an IT Pro Evangelist for Microsoft UK has recently announced that he will be moving over to our team to work as a technical program manager . So - welcome...