Windows 7 install integration components and other tips

After installing an OS using Virtual PC, you may notice that things aren't running the way you'd like them to run. For one thing, every time you click within a Virtual PC environment, your mouse gets trapped there. You can press Ctrl+Alt+left arrow to get it out, but it'd be a lot easier if your mouse moved in and out of this window just as it can do with other windows.

You can install the Integration Components after the OS has been installed on the VPC. In addition to helping your mouse work a little better, they'll also give access to these resources:

Clipboard

You will be able to copy and paste data back and forth from the host OS to the virtual machine. Data copied in one environment is available on the clipboard in the other environment.

Hard drives

You'll have access to all of the hard drives on the host system from within the virtual machine. The drives appear as shares within Windows Explorer in the format of X on ComputerName where X is the actual drive letter and ComputerName is the name of the host PC. For example, if the host PC is named Client1, the C: drive would appear in Windows Explorer on the virtual machine as C on Client1.

Printers

Printers available to the host system are available to the virtual machine. This allows you to print to a printer from the virtual machine.

USB devices

USB devices plugged into the host system can be accessed from the virtual machine.

You can install the Integration Components by following these steps:

With a Windows Virtual PC console open, click the Tools drop-down menu and select Install Integration Components. An AutoPlay box will pop up.
Click Run Setup.exe within the AutoPlay dialog box.
A Welcome page will appear. Click Next on the Welcome page, and click Yes when prompted by User Account Control. After a moment, the installation will complete.
Click Finish, and then click Yes to restart your PC. After you reboot and log onto the system, you'll find that your mouse now treats the VPC environment just like any other window, but you're not finished yet.
Select the Tools drop-down menu, and select Enable Integration Features. You'll be prompted to provide credentials that will be used on your system. Enter the user name and password you used when creating the VPC image, and click OK.

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