Host system running XP, with VirtualPC 2007 SP1, in a fairly locked down corporate environment. I would like to run experiments on a separate physical test machine, without connecting it to the corporate network, or exposing the nework to the separate
physical test PC.
I am trying to avoid using a KVM switch with this test PC. (For now the machine is close by, but it may be too far away for a simple KVM switch in the future).
Instead, what I would like to do, is to run a VM (clean install of Windows - I dont need any applications) on my host, and have that VM use my 2nd NIC. I'll run Remote Desktop on the VM to operate the physical test machine. An old Netgear router/switch
will provide IP addresses for both the physical test machine and the VM running on the host. The VM exists only to give me the desktop of the remote test PC as a nice windowed application on my host desktop.
So, a simple diagram:
corporate network <---> host machine (NIC1) <ideally, no traffic here> VM using NIC2 <---> router <---> physical test PC
Host machine should continue to have its IP address assigned from corporate network through NIC1. Everything between corporate network and the host should continue to operate as before.
VM should have its IP address assigned by the router/switch through NIC2, and the physical test PC should also have its IP address assigned by the router/switch
corporate network ideally shouldn't "see" either the VM or the physical test PC.
VM shouldn't "see" corporate network - should see only only the router and the physical test PC
Likewise, the physical test PC shouldn't "see" corporate network - should only see one other machine (VM in host PC)
How do I configure VirtualPC 2007 SP1 networking for the VM (and/or networking on the XP host) for this situation?
Is the ideal of no traffic between the networks possible?
Right now, when I plug in NIC2 (A USB to Ethernet adapter), the XP host will immediately lose connection to the network, and tries to use the new connection.
I can then ping the router and ipcofig/all shows the 2nd NIC has pulled an IP address, in this case 192.168.0.7
I can start VirtualPC and tell it to use the NIC2 adapter, and just like the host, it works fine. But the host can't talk to the corporate network or access the internet, etc.
(Clarification... the host can't do anything useful. I can still ping the old default gateway for NIC1. But I can't type, for instance, ping google.com And I certainly can't fire up a browser and get on the internet.) There is
still an active NIC and IP address on the host for the old network, but it tries to use the new NIC2 for everything... and I'd like it to use the new NIC2 for nothing... and let VirtualPC VM handle everything with NIC2 and the new network.
So the XP Windows host apparently switches over to the 2nd NIC as the preferred one (not sure of the right term here) despite the fact that it is still connected to the corporate network on NIC1.
I'm not quite sure the questions to ask here, but I'll try:
When a Windows machine has two NICs, which does it use, how does Windows know which to use, and when?. How do I tell the host not to send any internet traffic to NIC2. Essentially, to let the VM handle all communications on NIC2?
If I'm going to run a VM, and it pulls an IP address from the router, does the host machine have an IP address on that router also? So would the router issue 3 DHCP addresses: one for Windows host, one for VM, and one for the test PC? That
appears to be the case now, and I just wanted to make sure that that is the expected behavior?
Does this prohibit my desire of "host can't see network on NIC2" since Windows networking on host will pull a IP address from router (and be able to ping everything else on the 2nd network)
John Swenson