need help changing Store Folder to network share

I have WinME running in Virtual PC on an XP machine. I'd like to have both 
instances of OE share a single Message Store Folder. From what I gather, the 
only connection between Guest and Host OS is though a network share. For 
example, if I want to copy or move files from WinME to XP, I just drag them 
to the appropriate XP folder via  network share.

If someone has experience with setting up a common OE Store Folder over a 
network, I'd appreciate your help because it's not working as expected. 
Here's what I did: 

I created a network share for the XP/OE Store Folder and then changed the 
WinME Store Folder to point to it. Although the WinME OE seems happy with the 
network Store Folder, my existing messages and folders don't show up. With 
all OE's quirks, this didn't surprise me and I figure there's probably a 
simple fix. 

To troubleshoot, I created a new folder "test" in the WinME OE and put a 
message in the folder. For reasons I can't fathom, text.dbx doesn't show up 
in the XP Store Folder. I searched both drives for test.dbx and it doesn't 
seem to exist anywhere!!  Explorer Search is set to find hidden files, and I 
even un-hid the folders just to make sure. 

Further testing showed I can assign the Store Folder to a location on the 
virtual machine and all the .dbx files are visible in the new location 
including text.dbx. But when I change the Store Folder back to the XP Store 
Folder via network share, test.dbx remains invisible.

I know a common Store Folder can be implemented in a dual-boot scenario, but 
in that case, a network share is not required. So I'm not sure if my problem 
is related to using a network share, or somehow related to how virtual 
machines work.

Can anyone explain this behavior, or otherwise tell me how to use a common 
Store Folder for both machines?

Thanks
David

Cannot Store Outlook Express Messages on Removable Media
 http://www.**--****.com/ 

You mention changing the store folder.  Are you editing the registry to 
do that?  That should work with limitations.

Microsoft doesn't support putting the data files on a network drive or 
Zip drive, but editing the registry may be a workaround.  If you ever 
start OE and the data drive is not available, OE will automatically 
start using the local hard drive for the data files.

Also see:
 http://www.**--****.com/ 


-- 

Mike -  http://www.**--****.com/ 

WinXP can be configured such that 2 or more User Accounts share a common 
message store and Address Book, but not WinME running in Virtual Machine.
-- 
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin  http://www.**--****.com/ 
DTS-L  http://www.**--****.com/ 

Thanks for your response Michael. 

I didn't edit the registry. I just changed the Store Folder via 
Tools/Options/Maintenance. I have links to 3rd party sites (including the one 
you linked to) that explain OE registry edits. I'll give that a try.

I understand why MS would not want to support Store Folder on a network 
share or removable media since it's not guaranteed to be available. But in 
this case, since the virtual machine requires XP to be running, the XP 
network share would always be available to the WinME instance of OE, 
guaranteed.

However, I'm still baffled by not being able to find the test folder .dbx 
file I created. At least when the vm is running, it should be *somewhere*...

David

I have only a vague understanding of how the VM is configured.  It would 
be best to post in a VM newsgroup for help on finding the files that you 
created.

-- 

Mike -  http://www.**--****.com/