Of course we need the virtual machine software to do this. In this case we are going to use a free package called VirtualBox. Get it at the following link. There will actually be two files we want to download; the actual VirtualBox software and what are called the VirtualBox Extension Pack.
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Install the VirtualBox package then run the Extension Pack download. The Extension Pack gives some added functionality.



Now we need to set up VirtualBox to do Windows XP. Just make the setup look like the following images.

The following settings are generic and should work on most systems. In some cases, such as memory, adjustments may need to be made according to your system. My system, from where these settings are taken, has a 16 core CPU and 32 GB of memory.

Make your settings look as much as possible like the following images.


The following three steps are only if you downloaded and extracted the pre-built virtual hard drive. Make sure that it is where you want to keep it. You will not have to install Windows XP.




The following two steps are only if you did not download the pre-built virtual hard drive. You will have to install Windows XP.


You should now have the following. We will make some other setting changes before installing Windows XP.

Just make the following settings look like the images.








Now let's install Windows XP...


Now we will install what is called "Guest Additions".
This is only needed if you installed Windows XP manually instead of downloading the prebuilt virtual drive.


Except for in full screen, Seemless and Scaled modes you will notice a bunch of icons at the bottom of the window and menu options at the top. Since there is very thorough help documentation under the "Help" menu option I'm not going to bother with a bunch of images for each option.

The icons at the bottom are just status indicators for different devices such as network and drive activity.

The menu options at the top you will probably not use much except for "Devices and View".

Devices is mainly used to control what optical drive is attached or to attach an ISO image as an optical drive such as Guest Additions.

View mainly controls the screen aspect such as full screen. Since it can be hard to find your way out of a couple of screen options I will list the keyboard "Hot Keys" for these options.

• The right CTRL key is called the Host Key. If you change this from the default right-CTRL your new key will become the Host Key
  
• Full screen can be toggled on/off with the Host + 'F' keys. Full screen is exactly what it says. It will fill the entire screen looking like XP is all there is. You may even notice a thin white line at the bottom of the screen. If you hover the mouse over this line it will bring up the menu bar that is at the top when in a window. This white line can be a bit hard to bring up as the main system's task bar will want to come up a lot instead.
  
• Seemless mode is sort of cool. It is toggled with the Host + 'L' keys. This will put the XP task bar at the bottom of the screen and it will look like the XP apps are running on the host system's desktop. This also has the white line to bring up the menus.
  
• Scaled mode is the one that seems a bit hard to get out of without Host keys. The combination to toggle is the Host + 'C' keys. It takes away the status and menu bars but leave the window sizable.
  
• One last thing about the View menu options. The last option under this menu is "Virtual Screen". This gives a list of several screen resolutions along with scale percentages.

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Jay, I am very impressed.....you are truly a talented and helpful individual.

But how come I never got detailed instructions with images?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Hey, I supplied images when needed.

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Jay, if I have to purchase a new Win-10 computer, is this excellent tutorial still valid for installing VirtualBox and XP?

And since my old system crashed, will my XP installation disc and license still be valid?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

You should just be able to use the same VirtualBox XP files. If you are going to restore an image to the new system, as mentioned in another thread, you may be good to go after the restore if the VirtualBox XP files were kept on the system drive. If on a separate data drive just copy everything over from the old data drive to the new as is and things should still be fine.

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If my restore from old computer is not successful, then how would I use the same VirtualBox XP files? Everything is on my system drive, but I'm not sure exactly which files you mean..

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

First I don't see where a restore from an old system would fail.

By VirtualBox files I mean things like the virtual hard drive. In the worst case, and you had to start over, the tutorial is still valid.

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Jay, my new Asus computer is finally up and running the way I want with one exception, that being the install of Windows XP in virtual mode. I have printed a copy of your excellent tutorial, so I hope to get the job done early next week (I'm slow in my old age).

But before I get started, I wanted to get your advice on where to do the install. My Asus came with a 2 TB HDD, and I'm thinking of partitioning this drive and doing the install there. If I do this, what size partition do you recommend? Of course, I also have room on my 1 TB SSD C: drive. Your recommendation.

I also have a 2nd question. At the beginning of your tutorial, you state that I could download a complete and working virtual hard drive from your website. Is this offer still valid, as it would certainly save me a lot of time and effort? I would then need only to install those programs that I want to run under XP.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

I don't know why you would want to download the working VirtualBox XP hard drive through my downloads although I THINK it is still there when you already have a working virtual XP drive with your software installed.

I would install VirtualBox on your C: drive. I would then copy the XP virtual files to the same location as they are on the old system. Open VirtualBox and then just double click on the .vbox file in the XP location and it will automatically import everything to the VirtualBox menu. I have proven this on my system but I was re-doing on my current system. This may or may not work on your new system as the hardware is different but it may. It would be my first try.

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Jay, I hit my first little snag, while installing VirtualBox 6.1.38. Just before installation began, a message popped up that said "Installing the Networking Feature will reset your network connection and temporarily disconnect you from the network".

What do they mean by reset my network connection? Should I worry about this? Do I need the Networking Feature?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Let it happen as it always does. Setting the VirtualBox networking will just take you off-line for a few seconds.

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OK, I let it happen and continued to work through your tutorial. But now I have another question.

I went to my old Velocity computer to extract the XP files to move to my Asus computer. The 3 files I downloaded to a flash drive were: XP Pro.vbox, XP Pro.vdi, and Logs folder

But when I got ready to copy these files to my Asus computer at this location:
C:\Users\bbarr\VirtualBox VMs
I already had all files with these names at this location (although the vdi file was a little smaller). I have no idea how these files were already there. Were they put there as I worked through your tutorial? If so, should I replace them with the ones I copied from my Velocity computer?

And then I assume if I open VirtualBox and double click on the XP Pro.vbox file, it will automatically import everything to the VirtualBox menu (at least we hope so).

Thanks for your patience.........

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Yes, replace the files on the new system and then double click the .vbox file with VirtualBox open... Actually just copy the files renaming the current files on the new system to keep as a backup. Try opening XP through the VirtualBox interface. I doubt that this will work and expect that you will get a failure due to a mismatch with an XML file. Still worth a try.

On the other hand, since it reads like you already have XP installed and working, It MAY be easier to just install your software.

You could also just copy the old vdi file which is the virtual hard drive if you set it up with the same name and size. If you try this you should rename the existing vdi file on the new system so you can restore if this fails.

There are just a lot of options as to how you can go about this.

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When I tried to start XP, I got the error message shown below in red; needless to say, it is above my paygrade. I have also attached a photo of my screen after I completed your tutorial. The only problem I had along the way was getting VB to recognize my external optical drive.

Failed to open a session for the virtual machine Windows XP Pro SP3.

Failed to load R0 module D:\/VMMR0.r0: The path is not clean of leading double slashes: 'D:\/VMMR0.r0' (VERR_SUPLIB_PATH_NOT_CLEAN).

Failed to load VMMR0.r0 (VERR_SUPLIB_PATH_NOT_CLEAN).

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ConsoleWrap
Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Jay, don't worry about my above problem. I might have found a solution on the internet. Without thinking about it, I had installed VirtualBox in the root of my D: drive like I had done before on my Velocity computer. Now I am going to uninstall VB and reinstall it in a suitable folder on C: drive.

BTW, I was able to load both the old and new .vdi files into VirtualBox, but I got the same error message when I tried to start either one.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Jay, I'm into XP with all my installed software (Calendar, Address Book, etc.)!!!!

I used the .vdi file that I brought over from my Velocity computer. I've got a little tweaking to do, but I didn't have to load any software.

Thanks for all your help. I may be back to you if I encounter tweaking problems, lol.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Jay, how do I get virtual XP Pro to recognize my wireless printer? It recognizes the connected USB printer, but not the wireless one.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

You would need to switch from 'NAT' to 'Bridged mode' under network settings in VirtualBox. I've never bothered but understand that it can be tricky. Personally, since you have a connected printer, I would not bother.

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Thanks. Based on your warning, I probably won't bother. The only reason I was even considering it was because my wireless printer is an OfficeJet that prints in color, copies, scans, etc. The connected printer is a black & white LaserJet.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net