Re: XP/Vbox/Win 8.1

[Kari Eveli lexitec@xxxxxxxx]

There are important caveats to what I mentioned in my previous post. You
can indeed extract the VirtualXP.VHD with 7-zip. Installing it to
VirtualBox can be done. I had problems with a missing cursor during the
install, but installing VirtualBox add-ons makes the system workable.
But then I discovered that the copy of XP is not activated. Activation
is done when installing XP mode as part of the normal installation
process, so what you have is a 30-day trial copy. This makes options 1
and 2 essentially the same as option 4. If you have a free license key,
you can use it to activate this copy. Then again I think you should
reconsider as the downloadable copy has been specially made to support
virtual machine use in XP mode environment.


My conclusion: if MS VirtualPC is not available (not present as in Win7
Home or incompatible as in Win8), it is better to use W2K which can be
installed without problems. If you have Win 7 Pro, you can use XP mode,
and, if for some reason you cannot (e.g. you want to use VirtualPX
2007), there is VMware Player which imports and installs an activated
copy of XP (if you have Win 7 Pro). Is it portable to Win 8, I do not
know. Maybe. Still this might be your best bet to use XP mode in Win 8
without paying for an extra copy of XP. If you have a retail XP license,
you should be able to transfer it to a virtual machine, but not an OEM
license tied to a machine. WMware Player is a bit complicated to use as
you need to first convert the VHD file to VMware format. VirtualBox
opens VHDs, but does not handle activation. As the hardware parameters
change when you change virtualization programs, you cannot transfer
activations from different virtualization programs.


Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
lexitec@xxxxxxxx

*** Lexitec Online ***
Lexitec in English: http://www.lexitec.fi/english.html
Home page in Finnish: http://www.lexitec.fi/



11.12.2013 20:16, I wrote:
> There are at least these options when and if you switch to Win 8:
> 1) Any Win 8 version, not just Pro: VirtualBox (or VMware) with XP
> mode VHD
>
>   extracted from Win 7 XP modeneeded), see:
> http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-run-windows-xp-in-windows-8-for-free-tutorial/
>
> 2) Win 8 Pro Hyper-V with XP mode VHD extracted from Win 7 XP mode
> (Win 7 Pro needed) as above
> 3) VirtualBox (or VMware) with Win2K (if you have a copy, just
> install, no activation)
> 4) VirtualBox (or VMware) with XP CD (a separate license to activate,
> costly!)
>
>
> Depending on your needs and virtualization solutions you like, there
> are plenty of possibilities. I have not tried all of these, as I am
> quite happy with Win 7 and VirtualBox/W2K. For running DOS, VirtualPC
> 2007 is still my choice. Win 3.1 DOS boxes are superior in their
> visual aspect, simplicity, and task switching. VirtualPC 2007 DOS/Win
> 3.1 is not for everyone, as it needs tuning and delicate attention
> like any DOS/Win 3.1 system does, and shows its age but producing some
> odd behaviors on the host video system (not severe, but irritating at
> times).
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Kari Eveli
> LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)
> lexitec@xxxxxxxx
>
> *** Lexitec Online ***
> Lexitec in English: http://www.lexitec.fi/english.html
> Home page in Finnish: http://www.lexitec.fi/
>
> 11.12.2013 11:08, Bill Troop wrote:
> > Sadly it is not. Otherwise, I would not be bothering with VB. Who
> > knows? There apparently is some way to get XP running under Hyper-V,
> > the new (and apparently superior) virtualization technology, but for
> > a start you must have Win 8 Pro. I need to investigate this