I have read some of the similar questions but I haven't found a solution which meets my requirements. I don't want to use the SharePoint 2010 Easy Setup Script. It downloads trial version of software. Still.. I tried it and it didn't find the Win7_Ultimate_x64.vhd file and the script didn't show where it downloads it and I stopped pursuing this route.
I want to develop against Sharepoint 2010 but I only have a single standalone Windows 7 64 bit machine with 16G ram. Installed on the machine are Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, SQL Server 2008 (and SQL Server 2011 Dinali CTP) & Office 2010. I have ISO's for Windows 2008 R2 and Sharepoint 2010 Server. I would like to install Windows 2008, SQL Server 2008 & Office 2010 and all the requisites inside a VM on the Win7 box. It seems I can use either VMWare or VirtualBox.
Question: Can I use VS2010 on the Win7 box to talk & connect to Sharepoint 2010 in the VM, in effect simulating a two machine scenario?
Or if I install a dual OS setup with Windows 2008 Server, are there instructions for a standalone machine setup?