Hello,
I am new to the concept of Virtual Machines, so please bare with me.
I have an old XP based computer, and it had some viruses/malware that I was not able to remove.
I recently purchased a Lenovo computer with Windows 7.
I wanted to transfer my files and whatnot from my old xp computer to my new one, but the process is daunting due to all the years of accumulation.
Also because the computer has some viruses/malware on it, I am worried about infecting my new computer.
This is where virtual machines enter..
I just learned that a virtual machine can be used with VMWare converter, and basically I can put my old OS into my new one (virtually of course). This is obviously appealing for many reasons.
The articles I read (Feel free to recommend another article if you think it is better):
http://quinxy.com/2011/02/17/the-new-virtual-machine-way-to-migrate-your-pc-part-i/
My concern is that any infection (Dirt) in my old computer could transfer to my new one somehow by leaking.
I started to research and found a few links where it was mentioned that viruses can slip through the virtual environment.
What can I do to keep myself safe in this situation? I don't know how to disable networking and am not experienced enough to know what measures to take. I don't plan to transfer any files from the virtual environment to my new computer at all, so maximum security would be fine.
Here are some links I found talking about this with some quotes from each link (I don't know how to do the recommendations):
http://hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-1299798.html
"Disable all folder sharing, network, etc...
Make sure you have the latest Virtual PC client. There have been vulnerabilties in old versions of VMWare and Virtual PC that allowed malware to jailbreak out of VM."
"If you have Shared Folders enabled in the VM which allows the Guest OS inside the VM to "reach out and touch someone," namely the Host OS in some way, shape, or form, then yes, the Host OS becomes vulnerable to infection.
The only true "sandbox" in a VM would be absolutely no network access whatsoever, no external write-access to any devices outside the VM (USB, external drives, etc - optical media doesn't count since it's primarily read-only by and large), thereby keeping it completely locked down and unable to get out of that VM. "
http://forum.kaspersky.com/lofiversion/index.php/t38843.html
"of course you have to make sure you setup the machine so that it does not have access to the real machine. for example if you copy the file from the virtual machine to the real one manually (or by some script) then you could get infected. or if you share the folders on the real machine to the virtual machine and don't have them as read only, then malware could also escape."
network worms can get through hidden shares on other pcs or use security breaches in a computer to infect it. i havn't tried it yet, but the virtual network between machine and pc looks just like a regular one so it can be possible. (in the same as another pc in your network infecting you)
VMWare Escape Publicized at SANSfire 2007
http://www.foolmoon.net/cgi-bin/blog/index.cgi?mode=viewone&blog=1185593255
Any help on this would be much appreciated. I still have a lot of reading to do on how to properly transfer XP to Windows 7, so my apologies if these are commonly asked questions.