Help with Limewire experiment (using VMWare, 2 x Win XP's, connecting LW between them to simulate normal LW use-age)
 

Hello Everyone

Im a third year computing student, attempting to do some experimental work involving Limewire and I have had some issues getting the program to connect. i wonder if anyone can help me?

Ill give you as much detail about the problem as i can. Using VMWare, i have created two virtual machines both running Windows XP with service pack 3. They both have bridged access to the internet, and can open and access webpages correctly. They both have the latest (5.4.6) version of the Limewire client installed. The connection to the internet for these machines is via DSL.

What i am attempting to do is to simulate day to day use of a 'typical' Limewire user in a virtual environment. Essentially, by running Limewire on a virtual machine, i want to be able to download files that i have created via the client from one of my virtual machines shared folders onto the other machines downloaded files folder. By doing this, i am trying to get limewire to make versions of the Limewire.props file and other files that i can later analyse. However, i cannot get the Limewire client on either machine to successfully connect to the network.

Can anyone explain what it is that im missing here, why the machines are connected to the internet, but wont connect to the Gnutella network? is it possible to get a direct connection between the machines using IP addresses, so i can search the shared folder of one and download the files directly to create the illusion of usual download activity?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, and i can try to give more details if required.

Thanks in advance!

Will

When you say you are using VMWare, I presume you mean your machine is a mac & are running VMWare under OSX? Likewise I run 2 x Windows XP virtual machines but using Parallels (which is supposed to be faster & more efficient than VMWare. Though I'm still using v.4) I also run a windows 2000 though Parallels does not officially support it.
Does VMWare come with any windows security software? Parallels comes with Kaspersky security suite.

You need to ensure only one firewall is operating on each. And add LW as an exception. Try to ensure both LW's are connecting & listening using different ports to the other LW. Don't forget to add VMWare as an exception in your OSX firewall if you are using OSX & if your OSX firewall is turned on.

As for LW connecting, see If LW 5 Will Not Connect.

Unlike LW 4, LW 5 does not have the Direct Connect option unless both users are on Friends list & sharing Private Shares. LW 4 uses ip addresses for direct connect. LW 5's friends option is different.

An alternative to direct connect/friends sharing is downloading via magnet links; How to use Bitzi Web Lookup ... & How to use Magnet Links & Direct Connect (Post #6 last paragraph has a little more on Magnet Links). This would be an ideal way to test things for you.

As far as the LW.props file goes, check that the white listed ip addresses include your main machine, router & virtual machines private and public.

Check your VMWare is networked properly with the rest of your machine both in VMWare settings & in OSX's Network settings. If yes, arguably both VM's should run as though they are on same Local Network & thus get super speeds if both LW's are able to connect to each other. This might not be what you seek though, and as you suggested, simulate virtual users on different machines.

Strangely I have not attempted what you are doing since using Parallels. Many years ago I was unable to get my OSX LW to connect to my Virtual PC running win 2000. Something to do with my VPC settings I guess, however I was also using a router that had no UPnP support & could only port forward. Thus my windows LW was able to connect but always showed as having a firewall issue.

I can tell you that on my setup using a magnet link from one Win XP (LW 5.3.6) to the other Win XP (LW 5.4.6) worked fine & downloaded very fast. A 68 MB file downloaded in 5-10 seconds. No doubt that was replicable of using LAN speeds.

In your scenario, you may wish to put up a totally new file up for share that there's no chance of anybody else sharing. Then Search for that file using the other Win XP's LW.

Thank you very much for your advice and comments, ill try to implement them as soon as i can and get back to you with the results. Just to let you know, the host machine is running windows XP aswell, and should be configured inline with the virtual machines, but as you say i will check firewall settings and exceptions on both virtual machines and the host, as that may be an issue. You say that you achieved fast download speed between your virtual machines, this is exactly what i am trying to achieve myself, sharing a file that no one else has access to purely in order to generate some evidence that a file search and transfer has actually taken place. Ill post up here if i come up against any problems. (or if it works first time!)

Thanks and regards,

Will