Install Windows XP in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V
By Greg Shultz in Windows and Office, October 11, 2012, 4:39 AM PST
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Greg Shultz shows youhow to install Windows XP in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V virtual machine.
As youmayremember, Windows 7 came with Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode allowingyou to download and install a fullyfunctionalcopy of Windows XP SP3 in a virtual machinerunninginside of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. XP Mode wasdesigned to ease migration and compatibilityissues by allowingyou to easily run Windows XP application in Windows 7.
The XP Mode for Windows Virtual PC includedspecialized integration components designed to allowapplicationsinstalled in the Windows XP virtual machine to appear as if theywererunningdirectly in Windows 7 - the applicationsevenappeared on the Windows 7 Start menu. Whenyoulaunchsuch an application from the Start menu, the virtual Windows XP loads in the backgroundwithoutany UI and it looks and feels as thoughyouarerunning the applicationdirectly in Windows 7. Microsoft callsthis feature Seamless Mode.
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As I explained in my last blog post, Create a test machine in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V, Microsoft has done away with Windows Virtual PC in favor of focusing on Hyper-V, which is a muchmorepowerful and feature richvirtualization platform and also is the mainvirtualization platform in Windows Server. However, as a side effect of doing so, the XP Mode capability has alsogone by the wayside.
Now, beforeyouget all excited, losing XP Mode was not part of someevil plan by Microsoft to push folks away from Windows XP. In fact, the reason for the disappearance of XP Mode is related to the differences in the hypervisor platforms used by Windows Virtual PC and Windows 8's Client Hyper-V. Windows Virtual PC uses Type-2 hypervisorwhileHyper-V is a Type 0 hypervisor. The differences in Hyper-V's hypervisor type meansthat it can't provide the same accessthatmade XP Mode's integration feature possible.
However, thatdoesn'tmeanthatyoucan't still run a Windows XP on a virtual machine in Windows 8. In this post, I'll show youhow to install Windows XP in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V virtual machine. As I do, I'll show yousome of the neat features in Client Hyper-V.
As I workthroughthisarticle, I am going to assumethatyou have readmypreviousarticle, have alreadyinstalled Windows 8's Client Hyper-V, and arefamiliar with the basic steps that I covered on setting up a virtual machine.
This blog post is alsoavailable as a TechRepublic Photo Gallery.
Launching Windows 8's Client Hyper-V
To begin, just press the [Windows] key to bring up the Start Screen. Then, type Hyper and press [Enter] whenHyper-V Manager appears, as illustrated in Figure A.
Figure A
Accessing Windows Feature tool from the Start Screen is easy.
Creating the virtual machine
In last week'sarticle, I told youthattherearetwowaysthatyoucancreate a virtual machine from the New Virtual Machine Wizard. Youcanworkthrough the wizard to create a virtual machine or youcanquicklycreate a virtual machineusing the preconfigured default settings, whichyoucanthenchangelater. Sinceweworkedthrough the wizard to create a virtual machine last time, we'llcreate a virtual machineusing the preconfigured default settings. We'llthenedit the virtual machine'ssettings. Whilegoingthis route is a bit more time consuming, it willallowus to take a look at some of the features available in the virtual machineSettingswindow.
Afteryoulaunch the Hyper-V Manager, navigate to the Actions pane and select the New | Virtual Machine command. When the first screen of the New Virtual Machine Wizard appears, just click the Finish button, as shown in Figure B, to immediatelycreate a virtual machine with preconfigured default settings.
Figure B
Youcanquicklycreate a virtual machineusing the preconfigured default settings.
Whenyousee the new virtual machineappear in the Virtual Machines list, right click the name and rename it to somethinglike XP Virtual Machine, then go back to the Actions pane and click the Settingscommand, as shown in Figure C.
Figure C
Renaming the virtual machinewillhelpyou to keeptrack of it.
Editing the virtual machine'ssettings
When the Settingswindowappears, you'llseethatthereare a multitude of settingsthatyoucanconfigure to customizehowyour virtual machinewillwork. For the purposes of thisarticle, I'll just cover the basic settingsthatyouneed to getstarted with your Windows XP virtual machine.
Because Windows XP is an old operating system, it isn'tcompatible with Hyper-V's network adapter. As such, the firstthingthatyouwillneed to do is add a legacynetwork adapter. Select the Legacy Network Adapter item, as shown in Figure D, and click the Add button.
Figure D
Because Windows XP is an old operating system, the firstthingthatyouneed to do is add a legacynetwork adapter.
Whenyou do, Hyper V willadd the Legacy Network Adapter to the Hardware list and immediatelytakeyou to thatsection. Since I alreadycreated a virtual switch for my last article, I'llselect the Test 1 Virtual switch from the virtual switch drop down, as shown in Figure E. Then, clickApply to save yourchanges. If youhaven'talready set up a Virtual switch for the Network Adapter, youcan do so at any time. (See my blog post, Create a test machine in Windows 8 Client Hyper-V.)
Figure E
If you have alreadyconfigured a Virtual switch, just select it.
Now, move up the Hardware list and select the Memory section. I'mgoing to specify 1GB of RAM for my XP Virtual Machine. As youcansee in Figure F, I'vespecified 1024 in the Startup RAM textbox and left the Enable Dynamic Memory check boxunselected. Even though the textbox is titledStartup RAM, in the case of the Windows XP operating system, thiswillbe the total amount of available RAM.
In otherwords, it willessentiallybestaticmemory. Being an older operating system, Windows XP is not supported by Hyper-V's Dynamic Memory feature, so you'llneed to leavethat check boxunselected. The Memory Weight slider is designed to allowyou to prioritizememoryusage but it is related to the Dynamic Memory feature and so in the case of Windows XP we'll just leave it as it is in the middle.
Figure F
Hyper-V doesn't support Dynamic Memory for Windows XP.
To continue, go ahead and clickApply to save yoursettings. Thenmovedown to the IDE Controller 0 | Hard Drive section.
Whenyouarrive at the Hard Drive section, as shown in Figure G, the onlythingthatyoumaywant to do is increase the size of the hard disk. By default, the hard disk is set to 127GB in size. For thisexamplemachine, I want to increase the size of the hard disk to 500GB. To do so, click Edit button.
Figure G
Chances arethatyou'llwant to expand the size of the virtual hard disk.
When the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard appears, you'llseethat it immediatelyadvances to the Choose Action page. You'llthenselect the Expand option, clickNext, and thenspecify the size as 500GB. Thesetwo steps areillustrated in Figure H. To complete the operation, click the Finish button. Whenyoureturn to the Settingswindow, clickApply to save yourchanges.
Figure H
You'lluse the Edit Virtual Hard Disk Wizard to expand the size of the virtual hard disk.
Keep in mind thatHyper-V createsdynamicallyexpanding virtual hard disks. This meansthat the hard disk onlytakes up as muchroom as needed and canonlygrow to the specifiedsize. For example, clicking the Inspectbutton (next to the Edit button in the Hard Drive section) displays the Virtual Hard Disk Properties dialog box, shown in Figure I. As youcansee, at this point the size of the virtual hard disk file is 4MB. As I install the operating system and applications, the virtual hard disk willgrow in sizeuntil it reaches the maximumsize of 500GB.
Figure I
The Virtual Hard Disk Properties dialog box shows the currentsize of the virtual hard disk.
At this point, movedown to the IDE Controller 1 | DVD Drive section and choosehowyouwant to install the operating system and applications on your virtual machine. Youcanuse ISO images files or the physical CD/DVD drive. As shown in Figure J, I'veselected the Physical CD/DVD drive option and indicated the appropriate drive letter. This willmake it easy to install Windows XP from the optical disc. ClickApply to save yourchanges.
Figure J
You'llspecifyhowyouwant to configure the DVD Drive thatyou'lluse to install the operating system and applications on your virtual machine.
Launching the installation
Installing Windows XP in a Hyper-V virtual machine is easy. To begin, insert the Windows XP CD in the drive, go back to the Actions pane in the Hyper-V Manager, scrolldown to the virtual machinesection and click the Connect command. Whenyou do, you'llsee a virtual machinewindowthattellsyouthat the machine is turnedoff. At this point, just click the Start button on the menu bar, as shown in Figure K.
Figure K
Click the Start button on the virtual machinewindow'stoolbar.
You'llthensee the installation begin. Figure L shows the Windows XP Setup screen.
Figure L
Seeing the basic looking Windows XP Setup screen in Windows 8 is quite a starkpicture.
Once the installation is complete, you'llsee the Windows XP desktop in a virtual machine in Windows 8, as shown in Figure M.
Figure M
Once the installation is complete, you'llsee the Windows XP desktop in a virtual machine in Windows 8.
Whatyourtake?
Have you had a chance to experiment with Windows 8 Client Hyper-V yet? Will youinstall Windows XP in a Hyper-V virtual machine in Windows 8? As always, if you have comments or information to shareaboutthistopic, pleasetake a moment to drop by the TechRepublicCommunity Forums and let ushear from you.
Alsoread:
- Deploying a new virtual machine: Eight steps thatshouldbe in your checklist
- Configure a Hyper-V VM for automaticstartup
- Configuring Live Migration on Hyper-V Server 2012