Skip navigation

Q: I am using Windows Virtual PC with Windows 7—how can I update the device driver to match the real NIC?

A: If you open Network Connections within the Windows XP virtual machine (VM) and double-click the Local Area Connection, the properties open and show you a speed of 100.0 Mbps, as the screen shot below shows. xpvminwinvpc100mbps
xpvminwinvpc100mbps-Copy
It’s important to remember that this is a VM, and it sees emulated hardware. In this case, Windows Virtual PC provides an emulated Intel 21140 Ethernet device that runs at 100Mbps, so that’s the speed that is always seen, regardless of the true speed of the connected physical NIC. It is important to note, however, that this 100Mbps is just a label. In reality, the virtual NIC operates at whatever speed the true physical NIC is capable of.

Get more help from John Savill on everything Microsoft--and more--at John Savill's FAQS for Windows.

Hide comments

Comments

  • Allowed HTML tags: <em> <strong> <blockquote> <br> <p>

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
Publish