hi all,
i'm using ms virtual machine 2007 since it release for study and observation of new software (without need to install and then wreck my pc). but then i start wondering since i do some installation from file that not recognized/unidentified to know what it is actually, if the file is contain virus/malware, can it infecting the host operating system?

in my virtual machine, i also set a shared folder from the host pc. and both machine running winxp.

all help are highly appreciate.

Thanks...

Just set the sharing as 'read only' but no 'full control and change'
Then u will still get ur shared folder but viruses can't get into it
As for infection, the virus may not recognize the vmware image file as it's just a 'normal' binary file

but there's no any setting for 'Read Only' for the shared folder in Ms Virtual Machine 2007.

There is a small certainty that your host OS will get infected though many strongly believe that they are 100% safe even if they execute a malware deliberately within the guest OS. The recent appearance of malware already shows that they could detect the environment in which they run. An example would be querying the guest OS's driver to search for any emulated or virtual drivers. By this, the malware knows whether it is being executed in a virtual environment or not. The fact that there is an I/O hole used for communication between the host OS and the guest OS means that it is possible for malware running within a virtual machine to infect the host OS.

wah... really..... didnt know that....