>The VM is in effect a completely different computer. It has its own harddisk. Sharing of information with host system would be similar to sharing across network. I have not tried to mount a physical drive as drive for the VM. Most of the time I just simply set up a shared folder when I needed to transfer data between the VM and host system.

Works with VirtualPC at least.

>
>As I stated in an earlier post, one snag you might run into is getting the copy of Windows to accept the new computer, as you're moving the harddisk from one computer to another. Windows will notice the hardware change, and depending on the level of change it may or may not accept the new system. It is likely you'll have to re-activate the copy of XP. If you're luckly luck Windows will accept the hardware changes and allow reactivation (generally what you'll get when you have a generic retail or generic OEM copy). If you're unlucky (apt to happen with some "name-brand" OEM releases), it'll refuse to reactivate (as activation is tied to something specific on that name-brand's computer -- possibly a ROM-BIOS ID).

There is at least one possibility to add/alter a registry key which sometimes is asking needlessly for the original disc.

sorry no exact link here at the moment, rember reading about it in magazine c#t.

thomas