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Win XP now free as a virtual machine, can OSX use it?

M

MrMister111

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jan 28, 2009
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UK
I have an iMac with Yosemite on. I don't have a Windows PC. I need a Windows PC for a specific task I have to do, I could borrow one I suppose but quite a bit hassle.

So now on Windows 7 (found at work), you can download for free a virtual machine that has a full version if XP on.

Would this be able to be used if I can get the download on a Mac? via a few virtual machine program?

Anyone done this? I don't want to buy a copy of Windows just for this 1 task, do this would be great.

Thanks
 
Where do you find this download?
I use FUSIOn an parallels, maybe I can test it
 
Windows XP is not free, windows 7 has a Windows XP mode, which is a virtual XP running inside win7 using windows own virtualization technology. You cannot use this anywhere else other then inside win 7, i.e., windows proprietary virtualization technology won't work with parallels or vmware.

If you're running win7 inside Vmware/Parallels, then it won't work because windows 7 does not have direct access to the hardware which it needs.

You can do this if you run windows 7 in bootcamp.

See this link
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7
 
Ah ha, that's why it was "free" on the Windows 7 machine I see. Thanks. Pity..

So am I still stuck then for a XP on Mac?
 
MrMister111 said:
Ah ha, that's why it was "free" on the Windows 7 machine I see. Thanks. Pity..

So am I still stuck then for a XP on Mac?
Click to expand...

Running windows on a Mac is quite simple, you need to either run it a virtualized environment with Virtual Box (free), Parallels, or VMware (the latter two offer trials but are not free). The other option is to run it in bootcamp which is basically running windows natively.

You have to supply your own windows license with all three options.
 
MrMister111 said:
What is the link above then for ie testing?
Click to expand...
You can use those links to test websites by running a virtualized Windows. The VMs are fully functional but will expire. They do not require a separate license and cannot be activated with one.
 
Its not free at all.

Its one of the benefits you get for paying for W7 Pro over W7 Home.
 
MrMister111 said:
Anyone done this? I don't want to buy a copy of Windows just for this 1 task, do this would be great.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Yes. I downloaded the XP VirtualBox VM with IE8. It was free and worked fine - as previously mentioned they are fully functional so you can install whatever else you need.

There is an expiry date that you can workaround according to their release notes by using snapshots but as I only wanted to install one program to get contacts of a very old blackberry it wasn't necessary so I didn't try it.
 
MrMister111 said:
Anyone done this? I don't want to buy a copy of Windows just for this 1 task, do this would be great.
Click to expand...

I am using VMWare Fusion for running Windows XP, works great.
Only one concern that running virtual machine requires more RAM.
Before it was more or less ok to do regular tasks and keep VM running, with 8Gb of memory. But from time to tome the system used swap, which slowed down the system, so i decided to upgrade my mac to 16Gb, much more better now.
 
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