Running W7/SIMS on MBP via VirtualBox - SIMS server unable to deploy SOLUS/SIMS/FMS

[MarcLister]

My headteacher loves his Apple gear and has relinquished his Windows PC from his office in favour of his 2017 MBP. He obviously needs to be able to access SIMS/FMS. To achieve this I've installed VirtualBox on his MBP and then set up a W7 virtual machine. I can run it, update Windows and connect to the Internet via the browser. However I can't get the school SIMS server to see the virtual W7 machine to deploy SOLUS/SIMS/FMS. The proxy settings are correct as I can get online via the browser.

 

My issue is that as I'm running Windows 7 in a virtual machine on a MBP I have potentially three areas that I need to check: a) Windows, b) VirtualBox and c) MBP/Mac OS X.

 

Could anyone help me narrow down the suspects from 3 to 1 so that I can spend my time correctly working on the right area? As the boss has no Windows PC I have very little time to be able to troubleshoot his MBP and so need to be prepared and make best use of however much time I can work on the MBP for?

 

I haven't looked at this issue since mid-December 2017 so I may need to check any questions or suggestions against the MBP before I can answer them.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Arthur]

I can run it, update Windows and connect to the Internet via the browser. However I can't get the school SIMS server to see the virtual W7 machine to deploy SOLUS/SIMS/FMS.

Does the VM have its own IP address with direct access to the network (not shared with the Mac)? a.k.a. bridged networking?

[MarcLister]

Does the VM have its own IP address with direct access to the network (not shared with the Mac)? a.k.a. bridged networking?

Good question. Tbh I knew that'd be an early question for me to answer. From memory I tried checking this out in December and I seem to remember that either way I didn't have much luck. I will double check this when I get a chance.

 

Do I need to set Windows to have its own IP address in the Networking options or the VM itself? Not used VirtualBox before so not sure what needs to have the IP address set.

[Arthur]

Do I need to set Windows to have its own IP address in the Networking options or the VM itself?

In VirtualBox's settings for the VM...

 

 

Windows should get its own IP address from DHCP once the virtual network adapter is set to Bridged.

 

I normally use VMware Fusion on our Macs, but VirtualBox looks quite similar in terms of the networking options.

[MarcLister]

Hi Arthur. Lovely, thanks for that. I'll check that next week. Got a couple of meetings with the head so should be able to have a quick look whilst in the room.

[synaesthesia]

Gotta love the plonkers that that fight tooth and nail to buy something they like rather than something they need then wonder why we have to go all around the houses to make things work!

Do you have any form of remote access set up anywhere? RemoteApp would do wonders for SIMS and FMS and make them feel like they're running natively on his machine.

[MarcLister]

Gotta love the plonkers that that fight tooth and nail to buy something they like rather than something they need then wonder why we have to go all around the houses to make things work!

Do you have any form of remote access set up anywhere? RemoteApp would do wonders for SIMS and FMS and make them feel like they're running natively on his machine.

I couldn't possibly call my boss a plonker. But I do agree with the sentiment. I said he could keep his Windows PC and I could set his MBP up to allow him to remote into his PC from home and access SIMS/FMS if he needed to. He declined this suggestion.

 

I did smile (inside) when he asked me earlier this week when I'd have SIMS/FMS working on his MBP. That'd be the MBP he loves so much he barely let's it out of his sight and that wasn't my suggested method of accessing SIMS/FMS on?

 

We do have remote access. As he doesn't have a work PC anymore the only machine he could surely remote into would be the SIMS server itself? Not sure I want him able to access the SIMS server itself.

[NB9457]

With Parallels, you can pin a SIMS icon to the dock and it will run in its own window and appear to the end user as a Mac App. May be worth downloading the trial and having a play.

[MarcLister]

With Parallels, you can pin a SIMS icon to the dock and it will run in its own window and appear to the end user as a Mac App. May be worth downloading the trial and having a play.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will do.

[MarcLister]

In VirtualBox's settings for the VM...

 

 

Windows should get its own IP address from DHCP once the virtual network adapter is set to Bridged.

 

I normally use VMware Fusion on our Macs, but VirtualBox looks quite similar in terms of the networking options.

Sorted! I was given the honour of placing my humble hands on the royal MBP on Thursday afternoon to check the settings and to tidy up the "spaghetti junction" of cables on his desk, ironically as a result of getting rid of his Windows PC and having cables trailing all over the place to power his MBP, iPhone X and his network/HDMI cables into his MBP via a dock.

 

I checked the network setting and it wasn't set as you suggested it needed to be. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the password for the Windows account I'd set up so I had to wait until yesterday afternoon when the boss was taking a whole school assembly to have another go. I logged into the VB Windows machine and then went to my PC to log into the SIMS server and re-deployed SIMS/FMS/Discover which obviously requires Solus as a pre-requisite. All good apart from me logging into SIMS to test it when FMS tried to install and failed. I re-deployed FMS and ended up with a happy boss. Well that is until next week when he says the resolution of the Windows virtual machine is rubbish low and is slow as hell. I've upped the RAM available to the Windows virtual machine from 2 to 3GB. The MBP has 8GB in total. Bearing in mind the boss has a lot of stuff open on the MBP how much of the 8GB RAM is it safe to make available to the virtual machine before I cause problems with the OSX running in the background?

[Arthur]

Sorted!

That's great news!

 

Well that is until next week when he says the resolution of the Windows virtual machine is rubbish low and is slow as hell.

What you are describing sounds like you also need to install the drivers for the guest VMs virtual hardware from VirtualBox's guest additions ISO.

 

how much of the 8GB RAM is it safe to make available to the virtual machine before I cause problems with the OS X running in the background?

2GB is normally sufficient for the VM. You could go upto 3GB, but it's probably worth seeing what the performance is like after installing the guest additions.

 

It's a shame the boss didn't spec the MBP with 16GB RAM. 8GB isn't much these days (especially not when running a VM in the background)! It's a bit of a moot point now since the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.

[MarcLister]

What you are describing sounds like you also need to install the drivers for the guest VMs virtual hardware from VirtualBox's guest additions ISO.

Will try that out. Thanks. Run it from VirtualBox itself?

2GB is normally sufficient for the VM. You could go upto 3GB, but it's probably worth seeing what the performance is like after installing the guest additions.

Yep, makes sense to see.

It's a shame the boss didn't spec the MBP with 16GB RAM. 8GB isn't much these days (especially not when running a VM in the background)! It's a bit of a moot point now since the RAM is soldered to the motherboard.

I thought Macs had excellent memory management? But yeah shame he didn't get the 16GB. That wouldn't have been too much of a priority for him. He went for a 256GB SSD rather than the 128GB and probably preferred to put the money in more storage than RAM.