Vista - XP SP3 updated 3 virtual machines

I had 3 virtual machines, XP SP2, XP SP2 with Dot Net and a copy of XP SP2
with Dot Net called XP SP3 with Dot Net. I started XP SP3 with Dot Net and
applied XP SP3. All 3 machines now have XP SP3. I'm a developer and need the
various versions for trouble shooting. Why did this happen?
Bill

It's really hard to tell given just that information. How are the
disks set up for each VM, are you using differencing disks and is the
parent read only, or does one of the VM's use the parent directly? (it
shouldn't!!)

Could Windows update have updated the other VM's?

--
Bob Comer


On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:43:02 -0700, Bill
<Bill@xxxxxx> wrote:

You say that installing one VM with SP3 has mysteriously updated the other 2
VMs to SP3? I cannot imagine how such a thing is possible... Each VM is a
stand alone machine.

--
Sincerely,

Daniel Petri
MVP, Senior IT consultant, trainer
www.petri.co.il
-----------------------------------

"Bill" <Bill@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3171703A-52D2-4C85-AE55-4250D4CB886B@xxxxxx

What I did originally was to configure a VM with Windows XP Pro SP2. Then I
copied that folder and renamed it to XP Pro SP2 with Dot Net and added a new
existing VM and installed Dot Net 2.0. I did this for the 3rd machine only
named SP3 and installed SP3. The 3rd machine lost Dot Net 2.0 and all 3
machines became SP3.
I'm hoping that it hasn't hit my host machine.
Bill

"Robert Comer" wrote:

"Bill" <Bill@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3171703A-52D2-4C85-AE55-4250D4CB886B@xxxxxx
However it may have happened, you can uninstall SP3 from whichever vms you
need to. If any of the vms were running in the background then they might
have been automatically updated by WU if the settings for WU permit that,
but upgrading to SP3 is a fairly noticeable process. Be sure to reinstall
the virtual machine additions in the vms you leave upgraded to SP3 if you
are using VPC SP1.

OK, here is what I did today. I ran XP SP2 and did a system restore to a
previous date and it removed SP3 from that PC AND ALL THE OTHER ONES!
Here is the structure of my VM folder:
Folder PATH listing
Volume serial number is 00630061 6CB0:E9A5
C:.
|
+---Windows2000
| Windows2000 Hard Disk.vhd
| Windows2000.vmc
|
+---XP Pro SP2
| EmptyHard Disk.vhd
| XP Pro SP2 Hard Disk.vhd
| XP Pro SP2.vmc
|
+---XP Pro SP2 with Dot Net
| EmptyHard Disk.vhd
| XP Pro SP2 wit Dot Net.vmc
| XP Pro SP2 with Dot Net Hard Disk.vhd
|
\---XP Pro SP3 with Dot Net
EmptyHard Disk.vhd
XP Pro SP3 wit Dot Net.vmc
XP Pro SP3 with Dot Net Hard Disk.vhd



"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

I think I found the problem. You can copy the folders and rename them and add
them to the VPC Console. But then you have to go in and change the hard disk
settings and create a different drive. I didn't do this.

"Bill" wrote:

It really sounds like you're using the same VHD for all the VMs, check
the name and path in the configuration of each VM to make sure it's
using the vhd's you think it is.

As for your host, make sure Windows update is set to not run if you
want to make sure SP3 doesn't get installed.

--
Bob Comer



On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:06:05 -0700, Bill
<Bill@xxxxxx> wrote:

Cool, glad you found it.

--
Bob Comer

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:12:03 -0700, Bill
<Bill@xxxxxx> wrote:

Bill wrote:Bill:

I think the .vmc has both absolute paths and relative paths for the associated
..vhd's. If it cannot find them using the absolute path, then it uses the
relative path. In your case, it found the vhd's using the absolute path, which
is not what you wanted.

It would be better, IMHO, if it warned you when the absolute and relative paths
were inconsistent.

--
David Wilkinson
Visual C++ MVP