Yes, you can get infected through a VM.
Yes, you can get infected through a VM.
I'm using VMware 9 and want to explore a potentially risky search. If my virtual machine becomes infected, could the virus spread to my main operating system? Or am I protected?
Barnacules declines. Even though he's a software deity, I'd wait for more perspectives.
No, unless you connect drives and it's a worm capable of moving between networks linking to other machines.
If you have your networking settings done right then no, you just need to consider all other components as well, your PC might not be the only thing in danger. If there is an infection on the WM, it can't do shit unless it is specifically designed to escape that "enclosure", even then it most likely relies on the user forgetting something like cross file sharing between the WM and host, or networking settings set badly. Unfortunately I don't know how your WM's network should be set for maximum security, a bridged connection for an example might put the host at risk, but that is only an example, I don't know for sure. Try the support page for the WM software you are using, there should be notes on this kind of thing.