| Installing Windows 7 on Virtual PC 2007 and activating it Windows Server 2008 Server Core style was not a problem since the host PC (a Lenovo 3000 N100 laptop running WinXP Pro) I used was connected to our corporate network. At home though, hooking up to the Internet is via dialup using PLDT WeROAM. The problem is, I wanted to use the same network interface I assigned Windows 7 in VPC and I don't have a switch to physically connect the network interface into. Below is my workaround to address the problem at hand. |
- Make a Loopback adapter
Things you need:
- an RJ45 connector
- a pair of twisted pair wire about 4 to 5 inches long
- a crimping tool (if you don't have one, it's Php 200.00 at CD-R King)
- Strip open a UTP cable and cut-off a pair about 4 to 5 inches long. I used the White Orange-Orange pair.
- Insert the individual wires into the RJ45 connector in the following order:
- Crimp the RJ45 connector and you now have a loopback adapter.
- Plug the loopback adapter into your PC's LAN adapter.
- Sharing the Internet connection.
- Go to the Control Panel and launch the Network Connections applet.
- Right-click your mouse on the dialup icon (in my case, it's HUAWEI3G.PLDT Weroam PLUS) then select Properties from the context menu.
The dial-up dialog pops up.
- Click the Advanced tab and tick Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection.
- Click OK when a message box pops up.
- If you only have one NIC, just click OK and you're done. However, if you have more than one NIC, select the appropriate network connection under Home networking connection and click OK.
- Click OK when a message box pops up.
Your computer should now be ready to share it's Internet connection.
- Next, fire up VPC and start your guest OS (I had Windows 7 to play with).
- Login to windows 7 and launch the Command Prompt.
- Type ipconfig and press Enter.
If you did steps 1 to 6 right, you should see the guest OS's IP configuration.
- Open your favorite web browser and see if you now have Internet connectivity.
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PS: If you don't want to make a physical loopback adapter, try using the MS Loopback adapter and assign that adapter to be used by the guest OS. You get the same result but making a physical loopback adapter gives you a different experience because nothing beats a rather physical action...  |