Virtual PC

[ciscokid]

How do i Install Windows XP onto virtual pc 5.0.2?

[777]

From the Virtual PC Readme:


Depending on the version of Virtual PC 5.0 you purchased, a bootable floppy disk image for the OS included with Virtual PC has been provided to allow you to boot a new virtual machine created with Virtual PC and install your own operating system (see section below).

If the OS you plan to install is on a bootable CD, you can create a new virtual machine from the PC List, create and attach a blank hard drive image and then boot directly from the CD to begin installing the OS. The boot floppy has been provided for access to the CD ROM if the OS you want to install does not come on a bootable CD ROM.

More detailed information on installing your own OS can be found in Virtual PC's built-in help.

About Boot Floppies Included With Virtual PC 5.0

Virtual PC is available in various versions which include an operating system preinstalled on a virtual hard drive image. The following information describes the different boot floppy disks that are included along with each operating system available with Virtual PC 5.0:

Virtual PC 5.0 with PC-DOS: A PC-DOS boot floppy is included that will allow access to the CD ROM drive to install an OS from a CD. Note that PC-DOS does not support FAT32 and therefore the floppy cannot read or write to a hard drive image that is greater than 2GB or one formatted as FAT32.
When you boot a PC with this floppy image, follow the instructions presented on the boot screen to prepare the hard drive for installing your own OS.

Virtual PC 5.0 with Windows 98 SE: The Windows 98 boot floppy provided with the Windows 98 version of Virtual PC 5.0 is the same one that you can create from within Windows 98 itself. It will allow you to boot and access the CD ROM to install an OS on drive images formatted in either FAT16 (up to 2GB in size) or FAT32 (up to 127GB in size.)

Virtual PC 5.0 with Windows XP Home Edition: The Windows XP boot floppy included with the Windows XP Home Edition of Virtual PC 5.0 will allow you to boot a new virtual machine and access the CD ROM drive to install an OS from a CD. The boot floppy included with the Windows XP Home version is a DOS boot disk that was created from within Windows XP. This DOS boot disk does not support FAT32-formatted drives and therefore cannot read or write to a hard drive image that is greater than 2GB or one formatted as FAT32. The largest drive you can create and install an OS to when using a DOS boot disk is 2GB and you must format it as FAT16 for use with this floppy image.

Virtual PC 5.0 with Windows 2000 Professional: No boot floppy is included with the Windows 2000 Professional version of Virtual PC. There is no provision within the Windows 2000 operating system to create a bootable floppy image other than console recovery disks that assist in repairing problems if errors are encountered when booting Windows 2000. You will need to obtain a boot floppy from the OS you plan to install or create one on a hardware PC and then make an image of it using Disk Copy. If you have a retail version of a Windows operating system, it likely included a boot floppy that can be imaged by Disk Copy and subsequently used with Virtual PC.

hope this helps :)

[Craig R. Arko]

Can't you boot from the XP install CD?

[ciscokid]

At the moment i just have DOS. Would i be able to get my mates original PC copy of Windows XP and install that?

[scottmackey]

Great question! I am wondering the same thing ... my father just purchased a PC with Windows XP and I am interested in buying VPC, but saving $100 and using my dad's install CD would be quite nice.

I don't see why it wouldn't work...

[silicondiode]

regarding the question of using dad's install CD - the short answer is NO. you have to "activate" XP via the 'net when installing, otherwise after 30 days XP won't boot. so, there's the 25 digit CD Key that could probably double for a launch code in "WarGames" and then XP phones home...

*snipped

[Craig R. Arko]

Note that even though it's Windows, we still aren't going to start promoting software piracy here. You should buy a legit copy of the OS and install it from the bootable CD.

Please make your responses with that in mind.

Thank you.

--- The management. :)

[Phil St. Romain]

I was successful installing XP using the instructions in the VPC help files.

Only, I found the whole ordeal wasn't really worth the effort, for XP is just mule slow in VPC on X. Actually, that's a charitable assessment.

Good luck, but don't get your expectations up too high.

[dricci]

I've heard bad things about XP under VPC on Mac OS X. I'd stay away from it, legal or otherwise.

Instead I purchased Windows 2000 Pro add on for VPC and it actually runs quite nicely. I believe it's faster than Windows 98 and Me for me, with only Windows 95 being the fastest (which I believe is due to the lack of integrated IE in 95).

[BlingBling 3k12]

If you do anything with VPC... use Windows 2000. It's is MUCH faster than XP... XP is a total memory hog on a Wintel machine so I can only imagine it on a Mac! also, the only difference is that XP has the luna interface instead of the standard windows look...

hey dricci... nice to see ya over here! :D