To use the battery in a VMware virtual machine

Question

I am using a Windows XP SP3 virtual machine over a Windows 7 Host in a laptop. I need Windows XP because I am controlling a robot which drivers only runs in Windows XP and I need Windows 7 to run a Kinect based application.

The problem is that the Robot software does not want to manage the robot because it works out that the laptop is plugged to the battery charger although that is not true, the laptop is not plugged to the battery charger but VMware simulates that is connected.

What can I do to trick the robot software into believing that the laptop is in fact unplugged from the battery charger?

Answer 1

Assuming that you're using VMware Player based on the [vmware] tag.

1) Shut down the Windows XP VM
2) Edit virtual machine settings
3) Select the Options->Power Tab
4) Check Report battery information to guest

See this jpg for what it should look like.