How to run the Windows XP emulator on Windows 10

2022-10-24

The rapid development of software products often causes incompatibility between installed components and the operating system. A new "operating system" is unlikely to want to work with, say, an outdated game, for which the maximum system requirements stop at Windows XP. This situation occurs not only with game software, but also with software. Updated versions of software, of course, will be updated to the latest operating system, but what about the software, whose development has already finished, and the user just needs to install it?

Fortunately, the solution to such a problem does not require drastic changes, involving the transition to an older version of Windows. Windows XP Emulator is what will really help you "bypass" such incompatibilities. How to use it? Let's tell in our article.

What is Windows XP Mode?

Windows XP Mode is a special environment developed by Microsoft to simulate the compatibility of legacy software with the modern operating system of a personal computer. In other words, XP mode creates a virtual image of a previous version of the operating system allowing to "downgrade" the system characteristics to the requirements of the software that is no longer in development.

System requirements for the emulator

Windows XP Mode was initially created exclusively for the Windows 7 Maximum , Windows 7 Pro and Windows 7 Enterprise , however, the users of the network have confirmed its compatibility both with 8 and 10 versions of the operating system.

The XP mode itself requires 2GB of hard disk space but the installation of the Windows virtual machine requires another 15GB.

Please note: The following instructions are only valid if your PC supports AMD-V™, Intel® VT or VIA® VT technologies.

Preparations

In order to use the environment follow the link.

In the opened tab select the Russian language and click the "download" button.

Go to the following instructions:

1. Save the file WindowsXPMode_en-u.exe (size: 447 MB), run it,

2. The window that opens displays a list of /files of the environment to be installed, locate among them the folder "sources",

3. from this folder locate the file "xpm" and open it using the WinRAR archiver or an analogue,

4. the folder that you have run will include many items but you will only need one VirtualXPVHD. Move this to any folder that will not be renamed later (preferably create a new one) and add in the file name the extension * .vhd,

5. download the free VirtualBox software from: //www.virtualbox.org/. Version 6.1 is currently available. Follow the instructions provided by the program.

Windows XP Virtual Machine

The above instructions were only preliminary, next we begin to build the XP Virtual Machine in the following order:

1. start VirtualBox,

2. click in the "New" field,

3. fill in the Name field (you can type any),

4. under Type choose Microsoft Windows,

5. then in the field Version put XP (32-bit),

6. Go to the tab "disk" and there through the directory look for the previously downloaded and resaved file with the extension * .vhd,

7. click on "create".

Now in the program VirtualBox after all these operations the Virtual Machine with the given name appears. To start it you have to select it with a mouse click and then click on the "Start" button at the top of the emulator. Start of the Windows XP operating system at once.

Please note: In some versions of virtual machine the mouse of the PC is not correctly detected and you may not be able to use it when starting the operating system. Therefore all initial system configurations have to be done using the navigation keys on the keyboard.

It is also worth mentioning that the installation and startup of legacy programs exclusively supported by Windows XP should only take place within the VitrualBox.

Alternative way to run Windows XP on version 10

If you cannot run VirtualBox for some reason then uninstall it from your system and then download VMLite Workstation from //en.freedownloadmanager.org/Windows-PC/VMLite-Workstation-FREE.html

Attention! Uninstalling VirtualBox is necessary for the correct operation of the installed plugin. If you neglect this rule, you can get a "blue screen of death".

So, after having downloaded the file:

1. launch it, follow the installation guide,

2. Go to "Start" menu and open the VMLite Wizard software,

3. check the "Specify the path of XP mode package or a virtual disk file",

4. click the directory disclosure and indicate the path to the previously downloaded file WindowsXPMode_ru-ruexe,

5. following this, we press the "Next" button several times where we fill in the fields with the authorization password to access the virtual machine, indicate the installation path, allocate the amount of RAM and the other settings of the software,

6. from this point on the file you enter again the "Start" menu and look for the application VMLite Workstation. This application is pretty much the twin of VirtualBox. It is used to configure the Windows XP operating system in the same way as described above. It is easy to use and has all the functionality you need. It allows users to fully work with the Windows XP operating system.