You Experience Folder Sharing, Start Menu, and Display Problems in a Virtual Machine (824434)

SYMPTOMS

When you are using a Microsoft Windows-based virtual machine in Virtual PC, you experience problems with several features that previously functioned without problems. You may experience problems with the following features in Virtual PC:

Drag-and-drop operations between the Macintosh computer and the virtual machine.
Folder sharing between the Macintosh computer and the virtual machine.
Mouse control.
CD-ROM support in MS-DOS.
Time synchronization between the Macintosh computer and the virtual machine.
The Windows Start Menu in the Macintosh OS X Dock.

Additionally, the quality of video in the Windows-based virtual machine may be reduced.

CAUSE

This problem may be caused by an upgrade of the virtual machine's operating system to a new version, or by the installation of a service pack on the virtual machine's operating system.

RESOLUTION

You must reinstall Virtual PC Additions on your virtual machine to use these features again. To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

If the virtual machine is in full-screen mode, change to windowed mode:
1. Press and hold down the COMMAND key.
2. On the Control menu, click Windowed Mode.
Point to the small puzzle-piece icon (the rightmost icon) that is at the lower left of the virtual machine's window, and then click Install Additions.
Follow the steps in the installer, and then restart the Windows-based virtual machine.

MORE INFORMATION

Virtual PC Additions are utilities in Windows that let Windows-based virtual machines interact with the Macintosh operating system for functions such as folder sharing and mouse control. When you update the operating system of a virtual machine by upgrading the operating system, by applying a service pack, or by applying a hotfix, these actions disable Virtual PC Additions.