Add an XP Mode virtual machine to your Windows 8 / 8.1

Support for Windows XP by Microsoft is long overdue. There were rumors of being able to update this system by modifying the registry to simulate a version of embedded devices (which the company itself quickly denied that it worked). And although the natural step would be migration From our computer to a new operating system, many programs are still compatible with the old Windows XP.

In this situation, the best idea may be to virtualization of our system, but the solution provided by Microsoft itself (called Windows XP Mode) requires the use of professional versions of Windows 7 and 8 / 8.1.

With the following guide we will learn how to bypass this restriction and be able to emulate the classic Windows XP on our computer.

The first requirement that our team must meet is that both the motherboard and the processor support Hyper-V virtualization technology (either on Intel with Intel-VT or AMD with AMD-V). This information can be obtained directly on the manufacturer's website.

Next, we must download the executable of the XP Mode (WindowsXPMode_es-es.exe) from the Microsoft website, but we will not start the installation of it.

Next, we will proceed to decompress the contained image within the installer. We recommend using the 7-Zip compressor. We will click with the right button of the mouse and choose the option "Open archive" and extract the file located in the path "/ sources / xpm".

Then we will open the file "Xpm" that we have extracted following the same previous process and, this time, we will extract the file named "VirtualXPVHD". This file is a virtual unit of a hard disk, with this operating system installed.

Once the "VirtualXPVHD" file is extracted, we will rename it and we will modify its extension, adding ".vhd" to it. Now we can delete the file "WindowsXPMode_es-es.exe" to free up some space on our drive and. Once this step is completed, we will have an image of a hard disk capable of being booted through a virtual machine.

To emulate this system we have chosen as virtual machine VirtualBox, free of charge, and available for a multitude of platforms. We will create a new virtual machine and we will select the system "Windows XP (32 bits)" as the environment to install.

Next we must allocate the amount of RAM To the system. By default VirtualBox recommends 192 MB but, if you have enough memory on your system (maybe several gigabytes) you can assign a larger amount to it. With 512 MB it will be enough to run this operating system and most of its applications.

Next we must create a virtual hard disk, but instead we will navigate to the location of our "VirtualXPVHD.vhd" file and select it.

Finally, we can start the system by clicking the start button of the virtual machine. Fortunately, you only need to enter a few parameters to finish the system installation and not go through it completely. Once the configuration is complete, you will have a Windows XP functional similar to that obtained from an original disc.

The emulation of a system confines its functionality to the virtual machine space. If we want integrate applications of our virtualized system in the host system, we can use other available utilities such as the Seamless Mode of VirtualBox.