Virtualizing windows XP

I'm starting college on the 27th and I'm certain that at least one of my classes is going to have some useless software that I will have to use because it Improves My Education(TM). What is the simplest and heck, cheapest way to go about running XP inside of my existing kubuntu install. I've only messed around with this VMware player to the extent of loading up a bootable CD ISO inside my actual install and its all a bit Greek to me.

 

I'd recommend virtualbox because it emulates a complete system and doesn't require others to make your disk image for you. You can install windows, software, do basically anything a "normal" windows installation would allow you to do. Be sure you allocate the amount of disk space for your virtualization, otherwise you'll run into problems.

Also... What exactly is your question? Are you looking to be more familiar with VMware player or would you like to try something else?

 

Sorry for the poorly worded second part, I was hurrying to type a post before I got out of range of my wireless . I am fuzzy on the whole concept of virtualization and am looking for anything that will remedy this. Thanks for your reply, I'll check into virtualbox.

EDIT: Wow, this is pretty neat. I was under the impression that virtual machines were really limited in what they could do. From what I've read and experienced (installing XP VM right now) I was greatly underestimating them. It would be really neat to virtualize a Smoothwall installation and somehow route your host machines traffic through it. *drools*

 

Note: you can make your own VMware images with VMware Server (which is free).

Note2: the free open source edition of VirtualBox is missing a couple features of its proprietary code big brother. Most notably support for USB devices, and shared folders (though I'm sure there are ways to get around at least the second).

I've personally had good experiences with running VMware Server on both Windows and Linux, though I've only run a Windows guest before. I've never tried VirtualBox so I can't make a comparison for you, sorry.

 

I've used qemu together with its kqemu kernel module with much success in the past to host an XP installation and to try Xubuntu in a virtual machine. Never used VirtualBox or VMWare.

 

I can recommend VMWare Server, it's what I use.

 

So I gave VMware Server a try. But I can't seem to boot from the DVD drive. Right now, when I start up my VM, I just see blackness in the window and nothing else. The CD drive has an X on it in the status bar (is that what it's called?) where you see the virtual harddrive and ethernet and stuff. I tried reading the help, but it didn't list how to boot from a physical host drive.

Thing is, I didn't have blank CDs lying around so I burned the XP install CD onto a DVD... Boots up fine and I've been able to install my native windows xp with it, so it's definitely bootable and works.

Any ideas on booting from the DVD at the start of the vm? Thanks guys

 

I've got virtual box up and running XP home with networking using NAT mode. I can't seem to get the host interface mode working. If anyone has set it up like this feel free to give me some pointers.

 

I don't have VMware Server installed at the moment, but let me see if I can remember some steps that may help you. You'll have to check out the details on your own, these are mainly pointers to get you on the right path.

Check your Virtual Machine's options, make sure the CD drive is set to be connected on boot. Instead of using a physical CD, try specifying the CD to use as an iso file on your hard drive.

I don't remember if this is specified in the new VM creation wizard, so, I'll double check here, have you created a virtual hard drive for the VM to use?

If I remember correctly, the VM has its own BIOS as well, so you'll have to enter the BIOS of your VM and specify a boot order in order to boot from CD (whether it's a physical CD or an iso).

Let me know if this helps.

 

t12ek, I have made a virtual hard drive. I don't see anything to boot into a BIOS... All I see is a black screen, which stays for like 2 seconds, and then the vm powers off.

Alternatively, since I've already got a nicely-working virtualbox running, is there a way to bridge the NAT so I can access my virtual xp from other machines on the network? I briefly glanced at the user's manual, and the method looks kind of scary...