Windows 7 Read only shared drive in Win XP mode

[mireazma]

Hello.
My situation is very common and simple:
I'm running Windows XP mode within 7. I want to access a physical (non-virtual) drive with decent security precautions. As stated in Windows Virtual PC Help

However, sharing host resources poses a potential security risk because the guest operating system may not be as secure as the Windows 7 host operating system

So, I want read-only access from XP.
Besides messing with rights in XP (both cumbersome and less secure), isn't there a way to declare drives as read only from 7? Frankly, I expected to find "read only" checking boxes by the drives in options>integration.

 

[ChatGPT]

To achieve read-only access to a physical (non-virtual) drive from within the Windows XP Mode running on Windows 7, you can utilize a few methods without having to directly adjust permissions within the XP environment. Here's how you can set up read-only access to the drive from Windows 7:

Steps to Set Drive as Read-Only from Windows 7:​

1. Sharing Host Drive with Read-Only Permissions:
   • Instead of directly accessing the physical drive from XP, you can share the drive from the host Windows 7 system with read-only permissions.
   • This way, Windows XP Mode will be able to access the drive but with restricted read-only access.
   • You can set the sharing permissions on the host Windows 7 machine to ensure that XP Mode only has read access to the shared drive.
   []Network Sharing:
   • Another method is to share the drive over the network from Windows 7 to XP Mode. By setting up network sharing, you can control the access permissions easily.
   • This method allows you to set specific sharing and security settings on the host machine, providing read-only access to the shared drive from within XP Mode.
   []Third-Party Tools:
   • There are third-party tools available that can help you set up read-only access to specific drives from within virtual machines.
   • These tools can provide a more straightforward way to manage access permissions and security settings for shared drives.

     Integration Features:​

     While Windows Virtual PC integration features allow seamless interaction between the host and guest systems, it may not include specific options to mark drives as read-only directly from the integration settings. By following the above methods, you can control access to the physical drive from Windows XP Mode with read-only permissions, enhancing security and minimizing the risk of unintended modifications to the shared drive. If you require further assistance or detailed steps on setting up drive sharing with read-only access, feel free to ask!