12 Jun
2017
12 Jun
'17
3:16 a.m.
-Hal > I don't know how to take the installed Win XP OS off the currently > still-booting Win XP computer and put it into the VM on my Win 10 computer. > > Q: > Or would I just use the manufacturer-specific install CD and license key to > do an install in the VM? <== <== > > If I do that, I'd still be missing the Service Packs... When I created my XP VM I used a non OEM version of XP ... I have not tried an OEM version in a long while I know if you have the install that is pre SP3 it will work for OEM (Dell) disks ... I think you can still download the Service Packs from Microsoft catalog site. You do need a valid key. > Q: >> old XP machines ... placed into VMs to protect them > Does that protect: > - just the license key, or > - the entire lot of installed programs and the C:\ drive's data on the > "protected" Win XP computer? <== <== I just reinstalled the software I needed on the new VMs after I got the XP OS installed and patched. I looked into this program that will clone a bare metal OS to a VM ... but it is tailored for VMware (not Virtual Box) ... but it might work for your machine. https://www.vmware.com/products/converter.html The whole XP machine is protected ... as long as you don't use it for the Internet you are mostly safe (There is a patch for the SMB hole, Microsoft published a special patch for XP because there are still so many of those machines running in dedicated machines like ATMs and Hospital machines (think MRI machines) ) >> open a VDI (VirtualBox dynamic disk image) of a VM > If I can get VirtualBox and the FreeDOS/Fractint image installed and > running, I'll try that and let you know what happens. > I kind of like that this takes place outside the VM and FreeDOS, and doesn't > need any modification of either of those envronments -- e.g.: network > installation. It looks like there are drivers for Win 10 that will let you open and access a virtual disk. There are a number of Win10 options ... You might want to look at ImDisk or the 7-Zip suite. I have not done this. There is also a utility from VMWare that will do this. > Q: > P. S. One last Q.: Am I correct in thinking that: > "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.22-115126.vbox-extpack" > assumes an OS with more capability than FreeDOS for some of its features to > work? Yes ... no FreeDOS or DOS support for the extensions > P. P. S. I just chanced across this in the VirtualBox docs: > "Set up a DOS VM with networking (and shared folders)" > https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Sharing_files_with_DOS > Excerpt: "Now I can read from and write to my host's drive from the > VirtualBox DOS machine!" > I realize that the described procedure might be no longer be needed if > networking features are built into newer VM versions or the Extension > Pack... > Also, this might method take too much memory away from DOS for Fractint to > run. > This will work but as you say it takes a lot of memory away from Fractint ... the extensions are not an option in DOS but will work on an XP machine.