This informative piece will guide you through the steps to configure Windows XP on a new virtual machine that has been established utilizing the highly efficient Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization software.
You can easily install and use one of the Windows or Linux-based operating systems on your host computer using the VirtualBox software. You can also install the Guest Additions software to the Windows XP system installed on your virtual computer, and you can use host devices such as webcam and USB in the VM.
After installing the Guest Additions software, you can easily exchange files between the physical and virtual PCs and use the screen resolution in full-screen or autoscaled modes.
After installing and running the Oracle VM on your computer, you can start the VM creation wizard by clicking Machine / New from the program’s tool menu. Then follow this video or the following steps to install Windows XP on it to create a new VM.
Step 1: First of all, download the ISO file of the Windows XP operating system from or a source on the Internet to your computer.
Step 2: Open the virtual PC program and click the New button on the menu or shortcut tools to start the VM creation wizard.
Step 3: In the Name and Operating System window, type WindowsXP in the Name field and select the value in the Version section according to the platform of the system you will install. If you want to store the VM in a different location, configure the site on an external disk in the Machine Folder.
Step 4: In the Memory Size window, set a suitable RAM value for the Windows XP virtual machine according to the RAM capacity of your physical computer. Do not forget to choose 4 GB or higher as the minimum RAM value.
Step 5: Create a new virtual disk for the Windows XP VM in the Hard Disk window. Since the Create a virtual hard disk option is enabled by default, click Next directly at this step, or if you have a VM you have already installed, you can add the virtual disk file with the Add an existing virtual HDD option.
Step 6: In the Hard Disk File Type window, select the VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) option, which is enabled by default. VHD, one of the other virtual disks, is a virtual disk file used by Microsoft. VMDK is the type of virtual disk used by other virtualization software such as VMware Workstation / Player. When using Oracle VirtualBox software, using the VDI disk file for a more suitable VM would be more appropriate.
Step 7: In the File Location and Size window, you can change where the virtual HDD will be stored. If you want to keep the location of the virtual disk in a different place than the installation location, you can click the folder icon and select a place you want on the host. Also, the Windows XP virtual machine will automatically choose suitable disk space. You can type the disk size in the corresponding text box to increase the disk capacity.
Step 8: After creating the Windows XP virtual computer, click Settings to add the ISO file to the VM and make other essential settings.
Step 9: For text or file copying operations, configure the Shared Clipboard and Drag and Drop options as Bidirectional to enable file sharing in the General / Advanced section of the virtual machine’s settings.
Step 10: In the System / Motherboard settings, select the Optical drive for the boot sequence and turn off the Floppy device.
Step 11: Click System / Processor to configure the virtual processor setting of the VM, and configure this value as four or higher.
Step 12: To better render 3D graphics in Display / Screen settings, enable the Acceleration option and configure the Video Memory value as 128 MB.
Step 13: Check that the I/O Cache feature of the IDE controller is enabled in the storage settings. Set the WindowsXP.vdi virtual disk file as SSD (Solid-State Drive) and finally click on Empty to add the Windows ISO file to the VM, then click the DVD icon and add the image file.
Step 14: After preparing the Windows XP VM, click the Start button and start the installation.