Can a virtual session access network
June 11, 2011 7:12 AM
Does a virtual XP session need to be on the "domain" to access network drives that's already been mapped on a Win7 system?
Just to elaborate: I have a system running Windows 7 Ultimate. I installed Virtual Machine and have XP Mode virtual session running on it. What I am trying to get away with is having only one system on the domain rather than having to join both the W7 and the XP session each on the domain. If I were to join either system to the domain and login, it will pull down group policies and map network drives for the user. And because the virtual session can access all hardware and physical drives of the main session. So does that mean the virtual session can can also see/access to mapped network drives on the main system?
I'm thinking it should, cause a citrix session can access mapped drives on your local PCs, just wondering if anyone has tried it and know for sure.
I woke up with this question in my head and I know I'll get a headache until I figure it out. It is saturday and I got other things planned for the day rather than go into work and figure it out and I don't want to ruin my weekend with a headache.
Just to elaborate: I have a system running Windows 7 Ultimate. I installed Virtual Machine and have XP Mode virtual session running on it. What I am trying to get away with is having only one system on the domain rather than having to join both the W7 and the XP session each on the domain. If I were to join either system to the domain and login, it will pull down group policies and map network drives for the user. And because the virtual session can access all hardware and physical drives of the main session. So does that mean the virtual session can can also see/access to mapped network drives on the main system?
I'm thinking it should, cause a citrix session can access mapped drives on your local PCs, just wondering if anyone has tried it and know for sure.
I woke up with this question in my head and I know I'll get a headache until I figure it out. It is saturday and I got other things planned for the day rather than go into work and figure it out and I don't want to ruin my weekend with a headache.
It may come down to the VM host itself (VMWare, VirtualPC, VirtualBOX, etc) but for the most part your network drives will usually be part of a separate "session."
You should be able to map network drives inside the virtual without being on the domain however unless there's added security on the domain to prevent that. When off the domain, you'll have to re-authenticate to the UNC path each time your session ends however.
There's a third option I can think of; I'm uncertain of its reliability. You can create a symbolic link within your shared local drive on the host PC:
Run CMD.EXE as Administrator (start/run type CMD and press CTRL+SHIFT+Enter)
mklink /d c:\symbolic\folder\name \\server\network\share
This will create a localized symbolic link to the network share that should be readable within the guest without having to authenticate to the servers directly (inherits the host's session creds). Might be worth a shot.
posted by samsara at 12:26 PM on June 11, 2011
You should be able to map network drives inside the virtual without being on the domain however unless there's added security on the domain to prevent that. When off the domain, you'll have to re-authenticate to the UNC path each time your session ends however.
There's a third option I can think of; I'm uncertain of its reliability. You can create a symbolic link within your shared local drive on the host PC:
Run CMD.EXE as Administrator (start/run type CMD and press CTRL+SHIFT+Enter)
mklink /d c:\symbolic\folder\name \\server\network\share
This will create a localized symbolic link to the network share that should be readable within the guest without having to authenticate to the servers directly (inherits the host's session creds). Might be worth a shot.
posted by samsara at 12:26 PM on June 11, 2011
Just thought of a fourth option as well. You could use the /savecred option for runas to create startup shortcuts on the XP guest that map the drives.
posted by samsara at 12:41 PM on June 11, 2011
posted by samsara at 12:41 PM on June 11, 2011
Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll keep them in mind for other things I may need to do. But I went ahead and joined the Windows 7 system to the domain then mapped a few drives manually, then started a XP virtual session and everything showed up, no further authentication required. Only difference is that it doesn't show up as D or G or Z, it shows up like a shared folder, C on %MachineName%.
I can see that being a problem if users application requires a certain letter path, cause when trying to map UNC paths, it does require credentials. I guess there are options there, gotta decide what to do...
posted by udon at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2011
I can see that being a problem if users application requires a certain letter path, cause when trying to map UNC paths, it does require credentials. I guess there are options there, gotta decide what to do...
posted by udon at 1:05 PM on June 14, 2011
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Or also, you can just map those drives from the guest machine without being part of the AD. Just type in the AD creds when you connect to them.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 8:56 AM on June 11, 2011