What is the best way for a process inside a VirtualPc to talk to a process on the host?

Question

I have Virtual PC 2007. I am writing a C# program that will run on the Host and Virtual. It needs to communicate both ways.

What is the best way to do this?

Can it be done in a way that does not require changing Virtual settings?

(the OSs will be XP, Vista, Server 2000 / 2003)

Answer 1

WCF. .NET Remoting without the calls to the suicide prevention hotline.

Answer 2

Via TCP. Simple client/server setup.

or

.NET Remoting

Answer 3

WCF is definitely the way to go. Whether or not is requires changing the virtual settings depends on how your virtual machine is set up.

The most secure way would be to create a new private network that just the host and guest can access. That way you don't have to worry about changing any firewall settings on your main network interface to allow the server and client to communicate.

OTOH if security isn't a concern then the standard bridged networking options for the guest will work fine.