Trying to run Win XP with UTM on Macbook Air M2 Sonoma 14.6.1 - wrestling with Godzilla

[Andy3142]

I'm struggling to help a friend to use UTM to run XP on a Macbook Air M2 Sonoma 14.6.1. I'm a PC person and know nothing about the Mac GUI; we are working over Zoom; and my friend is somewhat non-technical. I think we followed exactly the instructions on the UTM download site and the various Youtube videos, but it didn't go well ... I feel I just spent a couple of hours wrestling with Godzilla.

We need to use 32 bit XP because the UTM site says SPICE only works with 32 bit. I downloaded the 32 bit .iso from archive.org. Using "emulate" to set this up Windows begins to install, and some message from the Windows installer flashes up briefly, but then Win setup hangs with a black screen. Could it still be alive after 15 minutes, just working super slowly?

I also tried a 64 bit .iso to see if it worked. This gave the error:
QEMU error: QEMU exited from an error: qemu-x86_64-softmmu: -drive if=none,media=disk,id=drive0,file=/Users/JohnDoe/Downloads/Windows XP-3.utm/Images/disk-0.qcow2,discard=unmap,detect-zeroes=unmap: Could not open '/Users/JohnDoe/Downloads/Windows XP-3.utm/Images/disk-0.qcow2': Operation not permitted

I tried many variants of these multiple times, and this error came up repeatedly. I don't know if it is a software error as in eg there is something wrong with the .qcow2 file, or a human error as in we had the wrong file in the wrong place. (We definitely has the relevant windows .iso file in the the VM's CD/DVD drive.)

Any thoughts of what to try next would be most gratefully received!

 

[genexx]

I still do not get why you want to run WinXP ?
The SpiceTools run with Windows 11 for Arm in almost native speed but Windows for ARM does not work with all Software as if you would use a Snapdragon Arm Windows Laptop.

I had Windows7, just to prove it works, running, but it is slow because you have to emulate the X86 CPU and cannot Virtualize ARM for Windows 10 or 11 for Arm.

So, what do you need WinXP for ?

And you can use MacOS Sequoia on his MBA M2.

For a quick Windows Program i use WineSkin and have WinSCP for instance packed as a local Program on my MBA M2.

 

[Andy3142]

@genexx, We have a legacy database that we need for work which runs under XP. I run it using Virtualbox on a PC, but neither Virtualbox or VMware support the new Apple hardware. Parallels is very expensive and doesn't support XP. I understand emulation will be slow, but it's not a game or anything that needs speed, so it's a question of trying UTM and seeing experimentally if the speed is survivable.

 

[MacGeekYYC]

This looks to me like a world of hurt with too many layers of dependencies. Many hours will be spent with slim odds of a good result.

With Zoom in the mix, my head hurts. Physically separated with the additional hurdle of two people with different skill levels working on different platforms, this is not going to end well.

Two other approaches I would investigate.

1 - What I would do if I was the support person in this situation - find a good cheap Thinkpad locally with XP on it, install the legacy database, ship it to the person who needs it.

2 - Perhaps have another look at Fusion with 13.5 on the M2. Another painful solution as the support person doesn't have the hardware, and the end user might not have the skill or knowledge required to test and install.

You won't be able to install an Intel Guest machine, but perhaps the supposed Win 11 ARM translation layer might allow you to run the legacy database with the newer Spice tools.

VMware Fusion Pro: Now Available Free for Personal Use - VMware Fusion Blog

VMware Desktop Hypervisor products Fusion and Workstation are used by millions of people every day to run virtual machines on their Windows, Linux and Mac computers. They give users the ability to quickly and easily build “local virtual” environments to install other operating systems, learn...

blogs.vmware.com

Fusion 13 Pro and Player Are Here!

VMware Fusion 13: Now available for Intel and Apple Silicon Macs The time is now! After a long wait, we’re proud to announce the general availability of the VMware Fusion 13 product line: Fusion 13 Pro and Fusion 13 Player, for both Intel as well as the latest Apple Silicon Macs. After years of...

blogs.vmware.com

Just an opinion from someone who has worked with the Mac since it existed, and spent many years doing Windows corporate network migrations for workstation and servers, shoe horning old software into new operating systems.

 

[genexx]

@genexx, We have a legacy database that we need for work which runs under XP. I run it using Virtualbox on a PC, but neither Virtualbox or VMware support the new Apple hardware. Parallels is very expensive and doesn't support XP. I understand emulation will be slow, but it's not a game or anything that needs speed, so it's a question of trying UTM and seeing experimentally if the speed is survivable.

IT IS SO FREAKIN EASY TO INSTALL WIN XP PRO 32Bit on my MBA M2 now btw.
Follow Instructions from: UTM Preset for Windows XP
Use: en_windows_xp_professional_sp3_Nov_2013_Incl_SATA_Drivers.iso
Format the Disk in FAT!

I change Network in UTM Settings to Bridged because i get a dedicated IP from my Router this way:

I changed the CPU to Pentium before installing with FAT Filesystem because i had the Access Errors but they came from NTFS:

And changed RAM to 2GB.

Because WinXP is so Freakin old and the SMB Version does not function (showed up but...) i had to start my little FTP Proggy on the Mac called QuickFTPServer:

and could access my Desktop via ftp://192.168.x.x in the Explorer Filebrowser.