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Running Windows XP Sp3/4 on off the shelf computers?


Roffen

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I am getting less interested in building computers these days, the last motherboard I got doesn't work, I suspect a problem and am tired of trying to make it run.

But what commercial builds can I buy and expect them to run XP?

ASUS, MSI, Lenovo and HP machines are available here. I'd prefer ASUS but the most important feature is the ability to run XP.

Anything you could recommend?

Anyway, it looks like XP compatible hardware soon only will be a sweet memory.

Processor manufacturers will see to that.

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I stated in another post recently, that if someone wants to run XP on modern hardware, the best option, in my opinion, is to run it in a virtual machine: 

XP functions just fine in a virtual machine under Windows 7, and you don't have to worry about hunting down drivers, because XP will use the host machine's drivers. All of the software written for XP will run in a virtual machine just fine.

This screenshot below illustrates me running XP virtual machine under a Windows 7 host machine. That installation has a lot of software for XP including Chrome, Firefox, Silverlight, Microsoft Office, etc. I was installing the WannaCry patch on XP sometimelast month.

I want to emphasize that I installed full XP under Virtual PC, NOT XP Mode!!!.

XP Mode has some limitations, and it is why I chose to use an actual XP CD ISO image when installing under Windows 7.

A huge limitation, that will affect many many people, is that XP Mode will NOT run on Windows 7 Home Premium. Home Premium is likely the most common version that was released on consumer computers. So, you need to install Virtual PC, and then use a physical CD of XP, or an ISO image.

A second major limitation, is that XP Mode was only made for Windows 7. If you are running Windows 8.x or 10, you need to use a physical CD or ISO image.

18553973_625850670941729_515305308_o.jpg

Edited by sdfox7
limitations of XP Mode
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So I install Win7 Home Premium, then Virtual PC, and finally XP.

I don't know anything about Virtual PC.

I understand that I cannot install XP on an empty volume, so how is it actually done in this case?

Is any tutorial material on the process available?

Edited by Roffen
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I'm actually running Windows XP via Virtualbox using my brand new PC. I didn't install Windows, though, but Fedora instead (a famous Linux distro). Fedora is not Arch (which is kinda complicated to deal with if you are new to Linux) and is kinda easy and user friendly, so it's pretty easy to have everything up and running in a few minutes. I'm happy with my config right now, but there are a few issues when you run Windows in a VM, like GPU-Intensive programs running not-so-well, a lack of support for a decent 3D acceleration (won't be fast enough to play games etc), you won't be able to use your webcam if there aren't XP drivers ('cause webcam isn't generally virtualized, but it's "passed through") and audio latency will be high, generally too high to use a mixer, but you won't notice any difference if you just wanna play videos on YouTube, surf internet, listen an internet radio, check your emails etc, which is what many people do.
 

Quote

So I install Win7 Home Premium, then Virtual PC, and finally XP.

I don't know anything about Virtual PC.

I understand that I cannot install XP on an empty volume, so how is it actually done?

Is any tutorial material on the process available?

Yes. You can install Windows 7, 8, 8.1, Windows 10 or Ubuntu/Fedora. It's not a big deal. Then just google "Install Windows XP with Virtualbox" and follow a tutorial. There are many different tutorial. :)

Edited by FranceBB
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Getting amd Ryzen seems better  as drivers are moddable for xp . Plus you may need a xp compatible gfx card if you want xp . Otherwise try what our friends stated above that's all. 

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I'm also interested in this topic. I downloaded VirtualBox v5.1.22 earlier today and will work with it later. My computers also have WinXP installed but with a virtual XP ... I could then 'experiment' with software or whatever and not 'mess' up my existing XP setup ... am I correct?

I now have XP backups that I can install in less than two minutes or just one minute to have my original XP setup up and running again. I might like to put Windows 98SE back on my computer into one of these virtual  setups.

Many years ago I remember downloading and saving a virtual window program from MS ... they made it 'free' to everyone. I have it somewhere on an old CD backup. Does anyone remember MS doing this and what the program was called? My problem will be going through many CDs (or DVDs) till I find the right one. Like I said earlier, I just downloaded VirtualBox so it may be a better program anyway.

Some time ago I bought a backup program called AX64 Time Machine ... seems to be a good product once I now understand how it works, actually pretty easy to figure out. I back up to flash drives ... however, I'm not sure the company is still around. The web site seems to be hacked and some complain no one anwsers questions on e-mail. I think product was free to try, as I remember ... maybe not. I place these links here since I use and like the product. Still things may have changed with the product or developer. I don't have it running all the time ... just start it when doing a newer backup every so often ... does work with XP.

AX64 Time Machine - Snapshot Imaging Backup | Time Machine Backup

http://ax64.com/

Time Machine is a program developed by Bluebird IT PTY LTD. The most used version is 2.0.0.637, with over 98% of all installations currently using this version. During setup, the program registers itself to launch on boot through a Windows Schedule Task in order to automatically start-up. The main program executable is tmapp.exe. The software installer includes 9 files and is usually about 37.19 MB (39,000,991 bytes). In comparison to the total number of users, most PCs are running the OS Windows 8 as well as Windows 7 (SP1). While about 56% of users of Time Machine come from the United States, it is also popular in Russia and United Kingdom.

Time Machine (formerly AX64 Time Machine) 2.0.0.637 Beta

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/AX64-Time-Machine.shtml

This might be of some use to WinXP users.

...

Edited by monroe
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1 hour ago, monroe said:

<truncated>

Many years ago I remember downloading and saving a virtual window program from MS ... they made it 'free' to everyone. I have it somewhere on an old CD backup. Does anyone remember MS doing this and what the program was called? My problem will be going through many CDs (or DVDs) till I find the right one. Like I said earlier, I just downloaded VirtualBox so it may be a better program anyway.

<truncated>

Monroe

Are you referring to XP Mode, which I referenced above? It is a "free" version of XP that runs under Windows 7 Pro/Enterprise/Ultimate.

You need to install Virtual PC first, then XP Mode.

Windows Virtual PC (you need to select 32-bit or 64-bit, depending on your version of Windows 7): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=3702

Windows XP Mode: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx%3Fid=8002

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sdfox7 ... you may be correct on that free download. I can find nothing on Google, only what you mentioned ... XP Mode. I didn't think that was the program. I had a free virtual machine or window program but it must have been from someone else at the time. The program was for WinXP or Win98SE and I tried it out, seem to work.

I mentioned the Time Machine program before since that's how I can test different programs now and recover very fast if everything gets messed up.

The VirtualBox v5.1.22 program might also work for me.

...

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2 hours ago, sdfox7 said:

You need to install Virtual PC first, then XP Mode.

I had a look into XP Mode myself some time ago and I have the impression that it is installable right away on the appropriate versions of Windows 7 - no need for Virtual PC.

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58 minutes ago, HarryTri said:

I had a look into XP Mode myself some time ago and I have the impression that it is installable right away on the appropriate versions of Windows 7 - no need for Virtual PC.

When you download and install XP mode on Windows 7, the host machine (Windows 7) will download KB958559 from Windows Update, and initialize Virtual PC setup.

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Another good VM software is VMware which is probably the best one in this field, athough it's not free. 

@monroe as to virtual box and your XP installation, there are two ways to use a virtual machine: using a virtual hard drive (.VDI, .vdk file) or using the Raw Disk mode to access a physical hard drive or a partition and boot Windows from there, which is what I'm doing right now. Also, remember to install the virtual box guest additions in safe mode in order to get drivers and get USB 2.0 or 3.0, shared folder, high/full screen resolution, audio/video 2D and 3D acceleration via OpenGL and D3DX9 and a few more features. I also suggest to enable the PAE Flag in "Processor" and set paravirtualization to Hyper-V. Last but not least, please note that under Windows Virtual Box may be limited (certain functions are not allowed) and that PCI Express Passthrough doesn't work in almost every case, so don't even try it. If you can, use virtual box over other free VM softwares, 'cause it's really well done and it's a way better than how it used to be in the past. I can almost say that nowadays it offers a normal user experience, like using a native hardware, which was impossible years ago (it was a way slower back in the days).

Edited by FranceBB
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3 hours ago, FranceBB said:

Another good VM software is VMware which is probably the best one in this field, athough it's not free. 

@monroe as to virtual box and your XP installation, there are two ways to use a virtual machine: using a virtual hard drive (.VDI, .vdk file) or using the Raw Disk mode to access a physical hard drive or a partition and boot Windows from there, which is what I'm doing right now. Also, remember to install the virtual box guest additions in safe mode in order to get drivers and get USB 2.0 or 3.0, shared folder, high/full screen resolution, audio/video 2D and 3D acceleration via OpenGL and D3DX9 and a few more features. I also suggest to enable the PAE Flag in "Processor" and set paravirtualization to Hyper-V. Last but not least, please note that under Windows Virtual Box may be limited (certain functions are not allowed) and that PCI Express Passthrough doesn't work in almost every case, so don't even try it. If you can, use virtual box over other free VM softwares, 'cause it's really well done and it's a way better than how it used to be in the past. I can almost say that nowadays it offers a normal user experience, like using a native hardware, which was impossible years ago (it was a way slower back in the days).

I agree. I have found VMWare easier for virtualizing Windows 95, because it supports "floppy"installation, which the current version of Virtual PC doesn't (I don't think VPC has supported floppy since VPC 2007.)

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