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Emulators and virtual machines, elixirs of eternal life for WinXP


silverni

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My English is elementary, I hope you can understand what I say; and for this reason I write very little in the forum.

I report my experiences that I think are interesting for all WinXP users.

 

In WinXP I start VirtualBox, and then a virtual machine and a 4GB .vhd file that contains a minimum Win7 Ultimate system; from within the virtual machine I launch for example Palemoon MPC and Firefox Quantum.

The 4GB Win7 .vhd file was created using Wimb's instructions on the Reboot.pro and 911CD.net forums.

I post a screenshot.

 

An Android emulator can overcome other WinXP limitations (Whatsapp, Skype, App of the banks, ...); until now I have used a minimal Youwave system; soon I will test more powerful emulators compatible with WinXP; some references:

 

Bluestacks and BlueStacks Tweaker

https://www.bluestacks.com/

https://bstweaker.tk/

 

Nox App Player

http://en.bignox.com/

 

MEMU

https://www.memuplay.com/it/

 

Greetings

 

WinXP+Win7.jpg

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Running win7 and Android emulator within windows XP to overcome limitations of a host system... feels like an... overkill... like pulling the horse you ride on with a car... But I somehow like it :)

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I toyed with this idea on Windows 2000 and have successfully run Vista x64 in VMware Workstation 6.5. I tried 7 x64 in VMware Player 3.1.2 (Workstation 7-based) and the host blue screened during the installation though 7 x86 worked.

It felt sluggish on a Core 2 Duo E6700 but I'm sure if I made use of vLite/RT7 it could have been a better ride. No working WDDM drivers in any case (Workstation 6.5 doesn't support WDDM; on Player 3.1.3 I corrupted the VMs after installing them).

unfortunately those old virtualizers won't even boot Windows 10. The last VMware Workstation for XP (v10) supports nothing above Windows 8.1. Not sure about VirtualBox 5.2 but I think it's new enough to run 10.

On the other end of the chronological emulation/virtualization scale, PCem and 86box work on Windows XP. With very solid hardware (as in from this decade), you can have a good DOS/Windows 9x experience free of issues with race conditions and early 3D acceleration.

Edited by win32
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21 hours ago, win32 said:

unfortunately those old virtualizers won't even boot Windows 10. The last VMware Workstation for XP (v10) supports nothing above Windows 8.1. Not sure about VirtualBox 5.2 but I think it's new enough to run 10.

And here's where you're wrong buddy. Windows 10 Home x64 seems to be working perfectly on VMware Workstation 10.0.3 if you set the virual machine to Windows 8.1 settings on the initial configuration when you create the virtual machine itself. Also, Windows 8.1 vmware tools seem to work great on Windows 10.

 

 

untitled.JPG

Edited by Windows 2000
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I currently do everything in WinXP.
I created the mini-Win7 virtual machine for over a year, I started it only for testing and tuning, and the system was very solid.
I'll probably need it sometime, and it's convenient to keep it ready.
Certainly if I were to use the virtual machine over and over again it would be time to abandon WinXP, but for now I don't even see the need for it.
The meaning of the thread is that the death of WinXP can be postponed indefinitely, in a future that is currently not predictable.

I use VirtualBox 4.3.36 of 2016/01, the last officially supported and definitely working version in WinXP; for 5x the operation in WinXP should be verified, I did not find significant information on the Internet.
As an operating system I only tested this mini-Win7, I don't expect I need more complete or modern systems.
Among other things, the .vhd file can also be started autonomously from boot, as a secondary operating system for maintenance; and in reality this was the use envisaged by Wimb2, I believe the use as a virtual machine is my invention.

I always try to use the minimum tool that allows me to achieve my goals.
As a browser I almost always use NM27, the only one that supports the "Print pages to PDF" extension that I use a lot; more rarely I use portable NM28, or Firefox 52.
I keep strictly away from sites that are too "trendy" or "experimental"; and in any case for the basic functions NM27 it is sufficient, for example I can download files and consult documentation on Github (and actually also works IExplorer6).

As primary defense system I use secpol.msc, much more convenient than PSExec Sysinternals; settings can be changed on the fly and take effect immediately, no need to restart programs.
I attach screenshot.


Greetings
 

Secpol1.jpg

Secpol2.jpg

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More than virtual machines, Android emulators seems interesting to me, for a long series of reasons.

Recent developments in individual computing almost exclusively concern mobile devices; the Windows desktop environment has long been a mature product, recent developments are dictated exclusively by ambiguous and dangerous marketing strategies, oriented exclusively to organizations.
For a single user with sufficient experience, recent versions of Windows NT6-10 are in fact a regression in terms of usability, but above all in terms of security (this aspect would require a dedicated post).

The world of Android mobile devices, on the other hand, is in a phase of chaotic evolution, new solutions and applications are constantly being offered, almost all the most recent applications presented in the Windows desktop world have an Android version.
Conversely, Android is still unstable and presents greater potential risks than WinXP.

Reproducing an Android system in a stable and familiar environment like WinXP has many advantages, for example:
- become familiar with the world of mobile devices and available apps
- check the operation of the system and applications in more depth than is possible using an Android hardware device.

Greetings
 

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