How do I secure Virtual PC?

gibagiba
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I've just installed VPC with W2K on my PowerBook yesterday. Contrary to what I've heard on the web, VPC runs surprisingly well once I allocate to it 512mb of RAM and 16mb of vram.



Now my only question is, will running W2K under VPC compromise the security of my Mac? If so, what should I do the protect it? I want to avoid running things like anti-virus in the background, since it might make the VPC sluggish. Should I also install some type of firewall?



P.S. using VPC in full screen mode on my AlBook 12" just looks so inappropriate. But I admit, it's the first time I'm so excited about using Windows.



TIA

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    what version of vpc do you have?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    karl kuehnkarl kuehn Posts: 756member
    VPC runs a full copy of Windows, including all of the vunerablilities. You have to protect it just like you would protect any other Windows machine. And since this Windows box has access to your MacOS X hard drive and files...
  • Reply 3 of 7
    randycat99randycat99 Posts: 1,919member
    I'd think the least you can do is activate that Internet software firewall thingy that WinXP has. Better still, deactivate networking in VPC settings, if you know you won't need any Internet access from Windows.



    The notion that Windows will have access to your native file system through VPC is interesting, however. I'm pretty sure that in VPC 4 or less, the only folders Windows would be able to see are the ones you explicitly define as shared (if any). However, VPC 6 (and possibly 5) is able to mount all available logical partitions in your Mac file system such that they can be seen through Windows. IIRC, this feature can be disabled in VPC settings, fortunately. I am curious to know if malware running within Windows could actually wreak havoc into your native file system via this route. Without knowing more, I cannot see why not. \ I thought this was to be a "cooler" feature of VPC 6 (convenience-wise), but if this can really be exploited, then it is not cool at all.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    beigeuserbeigeuser Posts: 371member
    AFAIK, even if the VPC drive image of Win 2K gets messed up by virus/worms etc., it will not affect Mac OS X. You just need to reinstall a new Win2K drive image.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    beigeuserbeigeuser Posts: 371member
    Sorry, double post. I could never get that delete post function to work.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    jidojido Posts: 125member
    Don't think there is any chance of a Windows malware mounting your Mac disks and damaging them from inside Virtual PC.



    I use ZoneAlarm to protect my Windows installation, and I avoid Internet Explorer as much as possible (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net for a lightweight alternative for simple browsing). I never ever used Outlook.



    No problem so far...
  • Reply 7 of 7
    randycat99randycat99 Posts: 1,919member
    In later versions of VPC, it isn't Windows that can mount your local disks. It is VPC that makes your local disks accessible to Windows. So when you start up your copy of Windows, it wakes up and sees your Mac volume(s), in addition to the hard disk partition it is running on. A windows-based malware still cannot "execute" after it sends a package outside of your VPC hard disk. However, it can still use its Windows host OS to act upon, add, or delete files on your Mac volume, just as if it is accessing an external volume. The one obvious restriction is that it can only act upon files to which your Mac user account currently has read/write access to. So if you run from a regular user account, your systems core components will still be protected, but your personal documents will not. If you are still running from an Administrator account, your entire system is unnecessarily exposed to risk.
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