Windows Server 2003 on VirtualBox (Win7)

[BamaDan78]

Good afternoon,

We have some old software that we occasionally have to access which can only be run on Windows Server 2003. Since 2003 is no longer supported by MS and is therefore open to exploitation, we have considered several options. One was to run it on a Win 7 machine using VirtualBox. Given the risk of exploits, is it safe to have 2003 running as a virtual machine on a PC connected to our network?

[BillG]

It would not make any significant difference whether it was running as a vm or on the metal. If it is a server it would still need to be connected to the network so that users could access it, so I can't see how it would be more or less vulnerable.