XP32 in Virtual Machine on Vista64

T

tombew

Limp Gawd
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Jan 5, 2005
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I have Vista64 installed on system w/4GB ram, E8400 @4GHz, DFI LanParty UT X48-T2R.
I am interested in installing XP Pro 32 bit on it in a virtual machine.
It looks like Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1 RTW is easiest to deploy.

Anyone done this?
Impressions, caveats, cautions, advice, etc?

Recommendations?
Any advantages to VMWare? (Their instructions seem confusing on a quick look-over.)
 
Virtual PC can work but I wasn't too impressed with the performance. It really uses a VERY weak set of hardware. I'm a big fan of Virtualbox which has some more functionality and feels a lot faster.

In case you were curious, 3D gaming does not work in virtual machines.
 
I'm also a big fan of VirtualBox because I can run Windows and Linux clients in it without any special hacks. It is very light on resources, and also suppports the Intel VT feature. I've found that installing the OSes from .iso files is easy and fast.
 
Virtual PC is easy and stable, but yes, the performance sucks. VMWare Workstation is much faster and more capable, but not free. VirtualBox is good but no drag and drop between guest and host, and the most recent version has a USB bug, at least for me. If I have a USB thumbdrive connected to it then it will not shut down, it just hangs. Virtual PC does not support USB drives at all. They all have their pluses and minuses, but overall the best free option is VirtualBox.
 
>> get vmware if you don't want performance issues. <<

Could you expand on this a little?
What sort of "performance issues"/

I don't have a problem with paying for software if it is what I need to do the job.

Thanks to those who answered- I appreciate you taking the time!
 
xxEIEIOxx said:
Virtual PC is easy and stable, but yes, the performance sucks. VMWare Workstation is much faster and more capable, but not free. VirtualBox is good but no drag and drop between guest and host, and the most recent version has a USB bug, at least for me. If I have a USB thumbdrive connected to it then it will not shut down, it just hangs. Virtual PC does not support USB drives at all. They all have their pluses and minuses, but overall the best free option is VirtualBox.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the information.
 
tombew said:
>> get vmware if you don't want performance issues. <<

Could you expand on this a little?
What sort of "performance issues"/

I don't have a problem with paying for software if it is what I need to do the job.

Thanks to those who answered- I appreciate you taking the time!
Click to expand...

I have actually run some benchmarks on VMWare and Virtual PC (still have gotten around to VirtualBox yet). I used SANDRA and a couple of other programs. VMWare runs about equal to the speed of the host machine, with the exception of the fact that you won't have any decent graphics acceleration in any of them. Virtual PC runs at about half of the host speed at best. I think the memory bandwidth actually scored about 1/4 of the host. We just use them for software testing, but if you need to use them where productivity is an issue, Virtual PC is a dog. VirtualBox feels pretty snappy, maybe I will see if I have time to test it out later.
 
VirtualBox doesn't have drag and drop functionality between guest and host, but it does offer a very simple way of mapping a drive from the guest to the host's drive(s). Honestly, after using them for a while, I prefer VirtualBox's method much more.
 
VMWare Server has the same features as Workstation, no USB bug and is free. VMWare Player may be even better if you simply need to run your XP VM with the smallest amount of overhead. VMWare has also been in the game longer than anyone else and has the largest user base.

IMO the best free option is VMWare Server/Player.
 
DeaconFrost said:
VirtualBox doesn't have drag and drop functionality between guest and host, but it does offer a very simple way of mapping a drive from the guest to the host's drive(s). Honestly, after using them for a while, I prefer VirtualBox's method much more.
Click to expand...

They all have this functionality. I still like the option of a quick drag and drop.

Well, I booted up VirtualBox and loaded up SANDRA and HD Tune. I don't think I will go any further than those 2, as the results are: The Guest is 2 to 20 times faster than the host. :eek: There is no way those programs are giving accurate results in VirtualBox. It is faster than Virtual PC and probably a little slower than VMWare. There is no way possible it is faster than the host it runs on, so I will leave it as untestable unless someone else has a better suggestion.
 
VM Server works great except you have to disable the driver check (Vista64) at boot up for it to install and work properly. Other than that VM Server is great, but Virtual box is good too.
 
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