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Multiple issues with VPC 2004 SP1

Source: microsoft.public.virtualpc
Sent: 11/16/2005
From: nmartin00
Message:

Hi,

I have been running a default install of Virtual PC 2004 for quite some time
now (18 months roughly) and have been pretty pleased with the product's
functionality - it's nothing special, but it gets the job done. I have run
the product on 3 of my systems (two different noetbooks and one desktop - all
Win XP Pro SP2), and have never run into any problems.

However last night I upgraded the installation of one of my notebooks to VPC
SP1. I also made sure to upgrade the VM Additions on each VM. Since then I
have noticed a couple of issues that, being an avid mobile user of this
product, seem fairly serious to me, and actually represent a regression in
quality of the product.

First off, being that I run the application on a notebook, I need to set up
VMs with non-standard resolutions. Changing the VM res to something
completely arbitrary works fine. However after any subsequent reboot of any
VM, the screen res is automatically reset to whatever the next highest
standard resolution is, while the window size remains at the configured
arbitrary resolution. In effect I either have to resize the screen every time
a VM restarts, scroll the window to get at the rest of the VM desktop, or run
at a smaller standard resolution that is a waste of desktop realestate and is
cumbersome to work in. None of these are viable options for me.

Secondly, while it is advised to NOT put a host system into stand-by or
hiberbnate while any VMs are running, prior to SP1, I had been hibernating my
host notebook with as many as 4 VMs running simultaneously and met with NO
issues doing so. As I have this app running 90% of the time I use this system
(Win XP Pro SP2 Sony VAIO notebook), it has been extremely conventient for me
to do so, and I am dismayed that SP1 seems to cause machines to become
completely unuseable after the host is restored from hibernate mode.

Given these problems I will be uninstalling VPC in order to revert the
product to a pre-SP1 configuration, and I am hoping that the VMs will be no
worse for wear after I uninstall the SP1 VM Addiotions, and revert them to
the previous version.

Finally, a gripe I have about the product regardless of version is the fact
that any VMs that cannot make use of the VM Additions audio driver default to
using a virtual PC speaker. Can we PLEASE get a patch that would allow for
the disabling of the VPC speaker in VMs? I mean seriously who really wants
their VMs to beep at them like that? The noise is unbearably loud and
annoying when running VPC on a system with even a half-decent set of
speakers. That or at least include a sound card driver for Windows Server OSs
so we can mute the audio (XP does make use of the driver, so I can mute it in
that case). Or at a minimum, configure the app to use one the the Windows OS
sound events so I can disable the noise via the Sounds and Audio Devices
Control Panel applet. The only available option for handling this at all is
to mute the audio on the host OS. I don't know who was responsible for this,
but it is horrible design in my esteem.

I think that covers my issues with MS VPC. For the most part it has served
me quite well, and I have been happy to use it. I would be interested to hear
if anyone else is having similar problems.

Thanks.

Post Reply | This is Spam! | Mark as Spam

Related Messages

Re: Multiple issues with VPC 2004 SP1

Sent: 11/16/2005
From: "Ben Armstrong [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

Hi,

You have raised three issues here:

1) This is a known issue, but no fix is available at this stage
2) This is a known issue and there is a hotfix available - please
contact Microsoft Product support if you are interested in obtaining this.
3) Yeah - this bugs me too.
--
Cheers,
Benjamin Armstrong
===============================
Virtual machine Program Manager

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
You assume all risk for your use.

nmartin00 wrote:

Show quoted text

> Hi,
>
> I have been running a default install of Virtual PC 2004 for quite some time
> now (18 months roughly) and have been pretty pleased with the product's
> functionality - it's nothing special, but it gets the job done. I have run
> the product on 3 of my systems (two different noetbooks and one desktop - all
> Win XP Pro SP2), and have never run into any problems.
>
> However last night I upgraded the installation of one of my notebooks to VPC
> SP1. I also made sure to upgrade the VM Additions on each VM. Since then I
> have noticed a couple of issues that, being an avid mobile user of this
> product, seem fairly serious to me, and actually represent a regression in
> quality of the product.
>
> First off, being that I run the application on a notebook, I need to set up
> VMs with non-standard resolutions. Changing the VM res to something
> completely arbitrary works fine. However after any subsequent reboot of any
> VM, the screen res is automatically reset to whatever the next highest
> standard resolution is, while the window size remains at the configured
> arbitrary resolution. In effect I either have to resize the screen every time
> a VM restarts, scroll the window to get at the rest of the VM desktop, or run
> at a smaller standard resolution that is a waste of desktop realestate and is
> cumbersome to work in. None of these are viable options for me.
>
> Secondly, while it is advised to NOT put a host system into stand-by or
> hiberbnate while any VMs are running, prior to SP1, I had been hibernating my
> host notebook with as many as 4 VMs running simultaneously and met with NO
> issues doing so. As I have this app running 90% of the time I use this system
> (Win XP Pro SP2 Sony VAIO notebook), it has been extremely conventient for me
> to do so, and I am dismayed that SP1 seems to cause machines to become
> completely unuseable after the host is restored from hibernate mode.
>
> Given these problems I will be uninstalling VPC in order to revert the
> product to a pre-SP1 configuration, and I am hoping that the VMs will be no
> worse for wear after I uninstall the SP1 VM Addiotions, and revert them to
> the previous version.
>
> Finally, a gripe I have about the product regardless of version is the fact
> that any VMs that cannot make use of the VM Additions audio driver default to
> using a virtual PC speaker. Can we PLEASE get a patch that would allow for
> the disabling of the VPC speaker in VMs? I mean seriously who really wants
> their VMs to beep at them like that? The noise is unbearably loud and
> annoying when running VPC on a system with even a half-decent set of
> speakers. That or at least include a sound card driver for Windows Server OSs
> so we can mute the audio (XP does make use of the driver, so I can mute it in
> that case). Or at a minimum, configure the app to use one the the Windows OS
> sound events so I can disable the noise via the Sounds and Audio Devices
> Control Panel applet. The only available option for handling this at all is
> to mute the audio on the host OS. I don't know who was responsible for this,
> but it is horrible design in my esteem.
>
> I think that covers my issues with MS VPC. For the most part it has served
> me quite well, and I have been happy to use it. I would be interested to hear
> if anyone else is having similar problems.
>
> Thanks.

Post Reply | This is Spam! | Mark as Spam

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