Virtual Machine Additions

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Virtual Machine Additions

Virtual Machine Additions is a very important component to running a virtual machine. You must install Virtual Machine Additions on all virtual machines.

Virtual Machine Additions adds the following enhancements to a guest operating system:

  • Improved mouse cursor tracking and control
  • Greatly improved overall performance
  • Virtual machine heartbeat generator
  • Optional time synchronization with the clock of the physical computer

Virtual Machine Additions also adds keys to the registry of the guest operating system. You can query the registry to determine from these entries information about the virtual machine and the physical computer running Virtual Server. For more information, see Virtual Server registry entries.

Virtual Machine Additions is included for the following supported server operating systems:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (all versions)
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 with Service Pack 6a (SP6a)

Virtual Machine Additions is provided as a convenience for the following client operating systems:

  • Microsoft Windows XP (all versions)
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Windows 98
  • Microsoft Windows 95

For instructions on installing Virtual Machine Additions, see Install Virtual Machine Additions. For more information about the components of Virtual Server, see Virtual Server Components.