How to - DriveStation Duo HD-WIU2 RAID Utility on Vista/W7/W8 working via vmware

[antikythera]

I had cause to reconfigure the RAID mode on my legacy DriveStation Duo today. I no longer have a PC with windows XP installed so needed to find a way to use the utility.

I found that while the program supplied with the unit on the bundled software CD would run in W7 x64 SP1 it could not connect properly to the controller in the DriveStation. So I searched on the web and found several threads on here saying it can't be made to work.

So rather than give up, I installed the free vmware player and set up a copy of XP SP2 on that. It worked flawlessly.

The following observations may help if you need to do the same which is why I am sharing this information.

1. In Virtual Machine settings you can easily remove the network adaptor so that the XP installation cannot connect to the internet.
2. VMWare is fast and easy to install XP on. Simply insert the CD if you have it or point it to an ISO image. Enter the product key and it sets everything up for you.
3. VMWare can take control of the USB connected DriveStation. This is essential as it gives the Buffalo RAID Utility complete control of the DriveStation controller.
4. When you are done you can either keep this installation for future usage or delete it and vmware from your PC.