Trusty XP Pro Install on Windows 8 in a VM

Hello,

Have found a lot in searching/reading on running Win8 in VM's.
I have a very trusty/stable and clean XP Pro SP3 fully patched PC.

I'm not quite ready yet to ditch my XP Machine.
I have a new Win8 Pro PC with an I3 with 8GB

I want to install VBox or VM Player on the Win8 Pro PC and run my XP install in a VM.
I have Macrium Reflect on my XP Pro PC, I believe I can create a VHD then convert to VDI.

for a XP Pro in a VM are there any benefits to either VBox or VM Player.?

Any guidance, pointers or tips welcome.

Thanks... Dave

I'm not a VM guru. But I happened to have this Macrium page on bookmark:
How to create a Virtual machine from a Macrium image backup (ImgToVHD, VHD, virtual machine)

Maybe there are some helpful tidbits.

Macrium img to VHD process

MilesAhead said:

I'm not a VM guru. But I happened to have this Macrium page on bookmark:
How to create a Virtual machine from a Macrium image backup (ImgToVHD, VHD, virtual machine)

Maybe there are some helpful tidbits.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for the link...
I think it exposed an issue, but may have also provided an answer.??
My XP PC contains 2 physical HD's, each with 2 partitions on = C: & E: and D: & F:

I can use Macrium to make a "single" .img file containing both HD's & 4 Partitions.
However it looks like when you run the ".img" to "VHD" converter it creates a VHD per HD
So I would create 2 VHD's with Macrium, and need to link the 2 VHD's when creating the VM.

In the example on the Macrium page, I think the example with Virtual Box seems to imply
that you can link multiple VHD's when you are creating a New VM.?

Thanks... David

I've only set up Virtual Box a time or two. So I hope a real virtualization(if that doesn't seem oxymoronic) guru will chime in and help you out.

MilesAhead said:

I've only set up Virtual Box a time or two. So I hope a real virtualization(if that doesn't seem oxymoronic) guru will chime in and help you out.

Click to expand...

I hope also...
I think there can be issues taking a "Live Install" into VM vs. doing a "Clean install"

Hello,

There were attempts to restore a real Macrium image in a VM, by me and other VM users around here and I can confirm it's possible. The VM has to match the hardware, especially disk sizes as close as possible between host and guest to guarantee a successful restore.

In VirtualBox create two HDD's for the VM, matching the host XP computer as close as possible. Dinamically expanding disks are the recommended ones since they don't use up the whole space when created. Then try the macrium restore again in the VM after boot.

If it fails you'll have to at least restore the main C: drive and restore the second disk manually through another backup/image.
Or you can always use a clean XP install but if you have a fully patched and functional install, try the imaging for sure.

Regards,
Hopachi

WirezFree said:

I have Macrium Reflect on my XP Pro PC, I believe I can create a VHD then convert to VDI.

Click to expand...

No need to convert again, for plain usage VirtualBox and VMware Player both support VHD disks. If you plan to shrink the disk or expand it (convert it to program's native format) in VirtualBox then it's recommended to convert it to VDI. If you do those advanced disk operations in VMware Player then you'll have to convert it to VMDK.

To easily convert to VDI you can use the CloneVDI tool. The benefit is that it can expand/increase the cloned disk size while converting and also expand the size of the internal file-system on the same disk (NTFS, fat32, ext4...).

WirezFree said:

for a XP Pro in a VM are there any benefits to either VBox or VM Player.?

Click to expand...

There are many tips and tricks. Here are a few I've discovered after running a bunch of different VM's.

VBox is fast, runs XP very well. You can do some advanced tweaking around and use the many command line options, something more for the power users (you have more options than the free VMware Player). Simple users can still use it from the interface. The benefits are that VBox is able to create snapshots and clones for fast and easy backups/restores although is free. VBox supports most known VM disk formats.

VMware Player has more ease of usage for any user level, better graphics performance and you can use drag and drop + copy/paste between host and VM (ease of use advantage) once the VM Tools are installed in the VM/guest. Backups in VMware Player: simply copy/backup your VM's VMDK disk or whole VM folder to a safe location.

Good luck with the new VM.

Hi there

XP runs very well in a Virtual Machine -- I'd use vmplayer myself since I'm used to VMware products and they've always worked flawlessly for me.


The simplest way is actually ON the XP machine itself to use a utility from VMware (free) to convert / create a VM from the running machine. Now you'll be able to use that (the disk image) straight away as a VM -- you'll have to supply a key the first time -- simply activate by phone and say you've MOVED your XP installation to a FINAL machine before support ends -- don't get involved with mentioning VM's -- the whole Ms support center will just get horribly confused.

Note though if your original XP installation was an OEM one then you won't be able to use the VM on a new machine.

Another interesting idea is to create a W7 virtual machine that includes XP MODE !!! -- and run THAT as a VM on W8. Not sure what the performance would be like though.

Use the VMware standalone converter if you want to create a VM from the existing XP system

VMware vCenter Converter: P2V Virtual Machine Converter | VMware United Kingdom

Otherwise just install XP again in the VM using the wizard. Don't forget though to run VMWARE TOOLS on the VM the first time its booted or VBOX additions if using vbox. This sorts out video, mouse, audio etc.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi Hopachi & Jimbo45,

Many thanks for the pointers, tips and references.

I like the idea of the P2V converter,
I looked at the 89 page user guide..
A bit daunting on first pass.

Will do a bit more reading/research.

Thanks & again
Dave