I copied this from an email I sent to a sales guy, asking for help...

"So right now they have 2 Win7 machines running Virtual XP mode so they can use a DOS program called Dynastores. Dynastores needs to be a database on one PC and just accessed from the other. They want to downgrade both Win 7 PC's to XP Pro because in the virtual mode the sharing of the database isn't possible. The Dynastore software people say they are making a Win 7 interface and it should be ready soon.

My idea is to load Dynastores on their existing Win98 computer, where it was hosted before, and then in XP mode on the Win7 PC's,access the Dynastore database. Essentially making the Win98 machine a server for Windows 7/XP mode to access as a client."

Has anyone ever done this? Google doesn't even come close to having any hits on it. I 'll need to write a batch file to run the DOS program from the Win7/Virtual XP so I can access the Win98 database. Clusterfuck, I know, but the customer is hellbent on keeping this DOS program going.

Not specifically with DOS but I've had clients running incompatible software with windows 7 that I've had to virtualize too. Downgrading to xp is so dumb now with all the options out there. Before they got the windows 7 PC's how did they access that program?

They had 3 Win98 machines, one hosting the other two accessing.

xp mode on win7 is mostly graphics issues, not anything else.

I think that the vms could access the other machine with no problem. I do things like that all the time with vms. What exactly is the issue there? try turning on promiscuous mode?

http://www.vmware.com

you can download their free esx and then make vms for win98 or winxp or whatever.

Since when is VMware free? They went with virtual PC XP mode for the same reason they use this damn DOS program, they're cheap. The problem is writing a batch file that can access a virtual drive in order to properly run the DOS program.

vmx has been free for years. I think the last time I installed/ran was 2006 or 2007. right after they went to the client/server model.

<c:/> run cpuenema.exe


ERROR 907
YOU SUCK AT THIS

Abort, Retry, Fail? A


ERROR 907
YOU SUCK AT THIS

Abort, Retry, Fail? R


ERROR 907
YOU SUCK AT THIS

Abort, Retry, Fail? F


ERROR 907
YOU SUCK AT THIS


PROGRAM AND ALL EXISTENCE ABORTED

The customer was heard to remark: "G-U-I is a little too close to G-A-Y for me."

Esx's web server interface takes some getting used to, but I lik it a lot.

Doesn't that cause an electrical short?

pffhahaha! Like where this thread went.

This story is far from over. I had to go there today because the Virtual PC stopped integrating with the host on one of the PC's. Next week I'm on vacation, the week after I'm at the Cisco bootcamp, so they can suffer through it some more.