VMWare, Ubuntu and Win XP - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: edy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2017, 01:36:54 am
content: I have an old Win XP machine running at the office with legacy software and wanted to "virtualize" it so that I can migrate it to any new hardware over time to run on an Ubuntu system, make easy backups, etc. Can anyone tell me if this is a good approach and what you have found works better or worse?1. VMWare - should I use the player, or workstation? Does the free option work? Do I need to pay?- I need to know which version to install on my system which has Ubuntu 16.04.- My Ubuntu system has VirtualBox already on it, should I use that instead?2. Making a copy of the WinXP system...- vCenter Converter apparently lets me make a disk image of the WinXP machine to a hard drive.- Do I just copy this image over to my Ubuntu system and run it in the VMPlayer and that's it?3. Network and other connections.- My legacy app on WinXP requires connection to a server. Will it work and automatically be able to connect out to the network without any issues?Thanks for any help you can provide in advance, regarding which if any version of VMWare I should use, if the FREE one is sufficient for my needs, or if you recommend something else like VirtualBox. Also, any recommendations on how to convert an existing Win XP machine and what tools I would use with VMWare versus VirtualBox versus other virtual machine programs?

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2017, 01:53:46 am
content: If you have an old pc you can use, I am going to suggest another option. Download a package called "Proxmox VE" and install it on the box.https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-veThen run your VMs on Proxmox VE. Proxmox uses KVM as the Virtualisation package and it is the same KVM that you can run on any Linux machine.The thing about Proxmox is it only takes about 5 minutes to install and you have a full VM platform running with a full web interface from which you can connect to any running program via a window from a remote PC. If you have a spare box handy, it is the easiest way I know to set up a VM server. If you can add several drives to the box, it makes it easy to do backups of the VMs.If you use a free version, there may be an annoying popup every time you open the command window in a browser, but it is a simple edit of a file to eliminate this.Proxmox is extremely reliable, and runs Windows XP without a problem. As long as you make backups, then if it fails, get another PC, reload Proxmox in minutes, restore from the backup, and your XP VM is running again.It is not memory intensive. Even a 4G PC using an old dual core pentium processor is fine to run a Windows XP VM under proxmox.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2017, 02:12:14 am
content: With regard you your other questions, if the XP is set up using a bridged mode ethernet, then it will act as another PC on the network and can connect to a server. You can even set the MAC address to be the same as the old PC which may allow a server to seemless see it as the same PC.I am not an expert on the vCenter methods of migration. Turning a XP boot disk into a VM image file is not very hard. The main problem is getting the Windows to boot on new hardware. The more drivers you can uninstall, the better the chances (graphics drivers, Audio drivers, etc). If you can get rid of enough drivers, a straight image of the drive may just start in a VM without changing anything else. The vCenter converter may somehow force Windows to load all new drivers. Another way is to first make a clone of the disk (just in case anything goes wrong) and run a Microsoft package called Sysprep to convert the disk to OOBE mode (Out of box experience). Then without letting the PC reboot, close the PC down and turn the drive to a virtual disk. Now when you start the disk in a VM, it will start up as if it is a new PC, but the old user accounts and all the old programs will still be there.Here is the Proxmox notes on migrating hardware to VMs:https://pve.proxmox.com/wiki/Migration_of_servers_to_Proxmox_VEA simple way to convert from a hardware disk to a VM disk that works with every VM package is:1 Run clonzilla on the original PC and make a backup of the whole drive.2. Make a new VM with a drive that is as big as the drive in the old PC.3. Boot that VM off the clonezilla iso and copy the clonezilla image to the new virtual drive.4. Shut down and remove the clonezilla iso. Next time the VM starts, it will boot of the VM copy of the old drive.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 18, 2017, 08:17:40 am
content: As a side-note: Don't forget to download the 'Wanna Crypt' patch for Windows XP from:https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msrc/2017/05/12/customer-guidance-for-wannacrypt-attacks/XP won't get this update automatically through Windows Update.