Advertisement The years have rolled by and Windows XP is now an antiquated and unsupported operating system (OS). But just because When Microsoft stopped supporting XP in 2014, they also announced that Microsoft Security Essentials would no longer be available, with updates for existing users available for a limited time only. That limited time has now., that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasons to revisit Windows XP. They might be work related, or maybe you miss XP and want to take a stroll down memory lane? Well, the death bell may have tolled, but there is still a way of installing Windows XP, using a download provided by Microsoft.

It is absolutely true — you can still download Windows XP. Microsoft knows that web developers always have a need to test their websites on a variety of browsers and OS. As such, Microsoft provides Windows XP Mode, a full version of XP that runs from within Windows 7. Now, most people have also long since moved on from Windows 7, too. Making this compatibility mode fix, well, a little unhelpful. Don’t give up though because I’m going to show you how to take that Windows XP Mode download, extract a file or three, The term 'virtual' has been co-opted in so many ways.

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But Virtualization in the context of PCs can be confusing. We're here to clear it up. Before we begin, you’re going to need to download and install the latest version of Oracle VirtualBox,.

Linux hosts: If this is the first time you have launched VMware Workstation, a dialog box asks if you want to rename existing virtual disks using the new.vmdk. If you store your virtual disk files or suspended state files on a Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host - or if you may do so in the future - it is important to convert. Sep 03, 2011 Get the VMX Path for VMware VMs In order to use the New-VM cmdlet to register a VM from a VMX file you need the.

Furthermore, Were you ever faced with a.rar file and wondered how to open it? Fortunately, managing ZIP files and other compressed archives is simple with the right tools. Here is what you need to know., such as.

I’ll be using 7-Zip for this tutorial, but PeaZip comes with the same functionality. Once you’re ready, head on to the next section. Downloading and Extracting Windows XP Mode Virtual Hard Disk Let’s get started. Select Download. On the next page, select WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe, then hit Next.

The Windows XP Mode executable will now download. Double-click xpm. This is the XP Mode virtual hard drive folder.

It should look the same as the image below. These are the files we need to create the XP Mode virtual hard disk. Unfortunately, they’re Archive files, meaning they’re currently Read-only. ( What do you do when you've created some new Windows software and you want to share it with the world? Ideally, you'd create an EXE install package.

Here's how.) Need to compress a large file? There's no shortage of file compression and archiving apps for Windows.

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Select Extract from the toolbar, then press the ellipsis icon next to the address bar. Browse to where you’d like to extract the files — your C: drive is fine — and select Make New Folder. I’ve called my folder Windows XP Mode, but the choice is yours. When you’re ready, press OK, then OK again to start the extraction process.

This can take a minute or two. Head to the folder you created when the extraction process completes.

You’ll see the same list of files. Autos Bauen Willy Weckl Kostenlos Filme. The difference is that we can now edit these files as we see fit. Select the file named VirtualXPVHD. Press F2 to rename.

Insert a period (full-stop, U.K. Readers) between the “P” and the “V,” and press Enter. The file should immediately change into a virtual hard disk, and the icon to boot. Installing the Windows XP Mode Virtual Hard Disk in VirtualBox Before we completed the XP Mode virtual hard disk extraction, I asked you to download and install VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a very popular, free virtualization device. It can virtualize all sorts of operating systems, including macOS ( The best way to try a new operating system is with a virtual machine installed on your existing OS. Here's how to run macOS Sierra on Windows 10 (i.e.

Create a virtual Hackintosh).), Linux ( Five Linux operating system distributions are particularly suitable for running virtual machines, so let's take a look at them.), and of course, copies of Windows, old and new. • Open VirtualBox. At bottom of the Create Virtual Machine window, select Expert Mode (if your window shows an option for Guided Mode, you’re already using Expert Mode). Now, give your virtual machine a suitable name. If you include “XP” in the virtual machine name, the Version will automatically change to reflect that. Even so, double-check the Version is Windows XP (32-bit). • Assign the virtual machine some memory.

Memory is a shared resource, meaning both the host (your PC) and the guest (the virtual machine) use it concurrently. Luckily, Windows XP is old, and doesn’t require buckets of RAM to run. I would advise assigning a minimum of 512 MB — but you won’t need more than 2048 MB. • Finally, we need to assign a hard disk — the virtual hard disk we extracted from the Windows XP Mode executable, earlier. Under Hard disk, select Use an existing virtual hard disk file.

Then, hit the folder with the green arrow. Browse to the folder we extracted our files to, select VirtualXP, then Open. When you’re done, your new virtual machine setup should look like this: Okay?

Windows XP Mode Virtual Machine Disk Settings Before we boot up our shiny new Windows XP virtual machine, we need to tweak a few settings. On the VirtualBox toolbar, press Settings. Head to System. Look at the Boot Order. Uncheck Floppy, and move it down the list. Promote Hard Disk to the top of the pile. Just like your host PC, the virtual machine has a specific boot order.

We want the virtual hard disk we created to be at the top, so it boots first. Under Display, increase Video Memory to 128 MB.

Network Settings: Default Double-check the Network settings. Older versions of VirtualBox relied on the manual entry of network configurations. The software is a fair bit smarter these days (read: automated), and usually picks up your network settings without prompt. My Windows XP Mode virtual machine works using the default configuration. That is, using NAT, the adapter specific by VirtualBox, and making sure Cable Connected is checked. Network Settings: Host-only Adapter However, if it doesn’t work (and we’ll realize the good or bad news in a moment when we fire up the virtual machine), you can try an alternative configuration. • Set Attached to: Host-only Adapter • Set Name: VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter • Set Promiscuous Mode: Deny • Check Cable connected Using the Start Menu search bar, type “network,” and select the Network and Sharing Centre.

In the left-hand column, select Change adapter settings. Hold CTRL and select both your Ethernet/wireless card and the VirtualBox Host-Only Network. Then, right-click and select Bridge Connection. This creates a network bridge, allowing the virtual machine to connect to a network even though it doesn’t have direct access to the router (or alternative switch). When you enter the virtual machine, you’ll have to update your network adapter settings.

• Head to Control Panel >Network and internet Connections >Network Connections. • Then, right-click the Local Area Connection, and select Properties. Highlight internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then select Properties.

• Select Use the following IP address, and enter an available IP address for your home network. For instance, I will enter 192.168.1.10.

Enter your Subnet mask and Default gateway. • Unsure what they are? On your host machine, press Windows Key + R, then type CMD, and hit Enter. Now, type ipconfig /all. You’ll find the information you need listed under your Ethernet or wireless adapter name.

• Enter the same DNS server addresses as the host. I use Google DNS, so I’ll enter 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. We’ve extracted the virtual hard disk. We’ve created our virtual machine, we’ve fiddled with the settings. I think we’re ready to go.

Highlight your Windows XP Mode virtual machine on the main VirtualBox window. Double-click it. Hold your breath!

Looks like we made it! There is a strong possibility that your mouse will not immediately work with the Windows XP Mode virtual machine.

Navigate the operating system installation pages using the TAB key, arrow keys, Spacebar, and Enter key. Complete the installation. You’ll arrive at a completely black screen. Press Right Ctrl + R to Restart the virtual machine. When it reboots, you can Cancel the New Hardware Installation and Microsoft Automatic Update wizards. Instead, head to Devices >. Use the default installation location and wait for the setup to complete.

You might encounter warnings that you are attempting to install unsupported software and/or drivers. Select Continue Anyway. Once the Guest Additions installation completes, select Reboot now. (If it fails to reboot, Restart the virtual machine again.) And there you have it. A working, fully-featured Windows XP installation to call your own. Note: this installation will expire within 30-days. 25 characters govern your Windows system.

Your product key is worth $100 or more, whether or not you upgraded to Windows 10. We explain what you can and can't do with your Windows license., you can enter that to keep the virtual machine active. Otherwise, you’ll have to reinstall.

That’s a Wrap Who says Windows XP is dead? Thanks to VirtualBox and Microsoft offering Windows XP Mode for free, we can revisit and hold onto Windows XP forever.

It was, and indeed, remains a popular version of Windows, even for the nostalgia-inducing sounds and desktop backgrounds. That said, Windows has come a long, long way, and it is clearly no longer suitable as a primary operating system, security issues aside.

What will you use your Windows XP virtual machine for? Are you going to fill it with old games? Or is there a specialist piece of software you need? What do you miss most about Windows XP when compared to Windows 10? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! Originally written by Ryan Dube on 5 July 2013.