The virtual machine team is "pedal to the metal" developing and testing an update for Virtual Machine Additions. This update will make Windows Server 2003 SP1 run better in virtual machines running under the release version of Virtual Server 2005. As soon as the new VM Additions are available, I'll let you know.

Did you know that you can display your virtual machine from within a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation? Here's how:

1. On a computer with Virtual Server installed, open Microsoft Powerpoint.
2. On a PowerPoint slide, click "Insert," and then click "Object."
3. Select "Create new" (the default), in the list click "Microsoft Virtual Server VMRC Control," and then click "OK."
4. Double-click the object on the slide. This opens Microsoft Visual Basic.
5. On the left side of the screen, configure properties, so your target virtual machine displays. A list of what you have to configure is below.
6. When finished configuring properties, save the changes in Visual Basic and go back to the PowerPoint slide.
7. Click the slideshow icon and click "Yes" until the virtual machine displays. If the display shows "No connection," click "Remote Control," click "Connect To Server," and then specify the virtual machine.

Properties to configure in Visual Basic:

Height: Height of the virtual machine display space. I started with 400, and it looks OK on my screen.

Left: Space between the virtual machine display and the left side of the slide. I set it at 50.

ServerAddress: Name of the computer running Virtual Server. I tried connecting to a remote instance of Virtual Server and wasn't able to get it to work. If you can figure this out, please post a comment, so we'll all know.

ServerDisplayName: Name of the virtual machine.

ServerPort: VMRC port, 5900 by default.

Top: Distance from the top of the slide for the virtual machine display. I set it at 50.

UserDomain: Domain, if you're in one.

UserName: Your user name.

Width: Width of the virtual machine display. I set mine at 600.

Note: I'm doing this on a machine that has every possible Microsoft product on it. I assume this will also work for you. If it doesn't please let me know and I'll figure out what's up.

This whitepaper is now available on Microsoft.com at http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/4/d/14d17804-1659-435d-bc11-657a6da308c0/VSvsVPC.doc. Thanks to those of you who gave me comments on the draft.

Abstract: Microsoft® Virtual PC 2004 is a virtual machine solution for desktop operating systems. Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, on the other hand, is a solution for server operating systems. Although Virtual PC and Virtual Server share many features in common, they are designed for different purposes. As a result, some of their features are also quite different. This white paper explains the differences between Virtual PC and Virtual Server and discusses the scenarios in which it is appropriate to use one or the other.

Q: Rod has this question: "I recently made the switch over to Virtual Server 2005 from VMware.  I love the web based interface but am having troubles with enabling SSL. Can I use SelfSSL from the IIS6 Reskit?  Could I set up a CA in a virtual machine to create the website and VMRC SSL certificates? Any tips on securing the Admin website and VMRC?

A: Here's a response from Ed Reed, a developer on the Virtual Machine team, and our resident VM security expert:

For the Administration Website, there are no special requirements for an SSL certificate. As long as the certificate supports Server Authentication, it really doesn't matter where the certificate comes from. The choice of certificate, however, determines the level of security that SSL encryption can provide. Here are some links to relevant information:

• Designing a Public Key Infrastructure:
  http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/library/DepKit/b1ee9920-d7ef-4ce5-b63c-3661c72e0f0b.mspx
• Best Practices for Implementing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Public Key Infrastructure: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/security/ws3pkibp.mspx
• Windows Server 2003 PKI Operations Guide: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/security/ws03pkog.mspx
• How to implement SSL with a stand-alone certificate server in Virtual Server 2005: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;887490

The requirements are different, however, for VMRC. Because Virtual Server runs as NetworkService, you need to create the VMRC SSL certificate using the IVMVirtualServer::VMRCCreateEncryptionCertificateRequest COM interface. You can also create this certificate from the Administration Website on the Virtual Machine Remote Control (VMRC) Server Properties page. This request makes a temporary certificate that can be used to perform SSL encryption, however, it doesn't have the full security of a certificate signed by a third-party CA. If you use MAKECERT or some other tool, the private key is stored such that it is inaccessible to NetworkService. Such a certificate will not work for VMRC.

If you want to use Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT) to migrate a computer running Windows Server 2003 SP1 to a virtual machine, you'll need to copy some system files from your installation of Windows Server 2003 SP1 to the computer running VSMT. Normally VSMT automatically swaps out certain system files in your installation for others that are compatible with virtual machine emulated hardware, but VSMT doesn't have the necessary files for Windows Server 2003 SP1. This is because VSMT was released before Windows Server 2003 SP1.

1. Copy the following files from your installation of Windows Server 2003 SP1 to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft VSMT\Patches\Source\5.2.3790\sp1\.

a. From %SystemDrive%\WINNT\system32\drivers, copy the following files:

atapi.sys
intelide.sys
pciide.sys
pciidex.sys

b. From %SystemDrive%\WINNT\Driver Cache\i386\driver.cab, copy the following file:

aic78xx.sys

c. From %SystemDrive%\WINNT\Driver Cache\i386\sp1.cab, copy the following files:

hal.dll
halacpi.dll
ntkrnlpa.exe
ntoskrnl.exe

2. Copy the following XML files from %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft VSMT\Patches\Source\5.2.3790\ to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft VSMT\Patches\Source\5.2.3790\sp1\:

finish.xml
hal.xml
hal_nacpi.xml
start.xml
storage.xml
storageSCSI.xml
UNIPROC.xml

For more information how VSMT swaps out system files and the reasons why it's important, see the "Step 6: Load system files" topic in the VSMT User's Guide (%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft VSMT\Help\vsmt.chm). To download VSMT, go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/vsmt.mspx.

Important notes:

• You should either run Windows Server 2003 SP1 under Virtual Server 2005 SP1 (now in beta), or at least install the Virtual Machine Additions that ship with Virtual Server 2005 SP1. Otherwise, you may be unhappy with your virtual machine's performance. For more information about the beta, see http://blogs.technet.com/megand/archive/2005/04/20/403950.aspx.
• ADS 1.0 doesn't work with Windows Server 2003 SP1. If you installed ADS 1.0 and pointed it to Server2003-SP1 SlipStream binaries, you'll get an error (Error Code: 81070303). To fix the problem, you'll need to uninstall ADS, then reinstall it. During setup when it asks for location of windows files, point it to Server2003 RTM binaries.