upgrading XP to Win 7 inside Virtual Windows xp?

One last note and I'll leave you alone.

It wasn't my intention to try and get two Win systems for the price of one.
I just wanted to make my instructional video as complete and accurate as possible and that would naturally include showing how to key in a product licence and then Activate a new Win 7 system. As I said in an earlier note, I never expected that the Activation would work. I thought it would be rejected and I would have explained the resultant error message on my video.

Come to think of it, why did it work? Are there "evil dooers" (to use a George Bush euphanism) who actually use a single copy of a Windows installation CD on a multitude of PCs and register with the same key each time? I can't believe Microsoft wouldn't be able to catch such repetitive activity. They certainly catch and reject cases where the Product code of an Win Upgrade Version is used on a pc that has no previous Windows system installed.

Kari said:

pricetech said:

and what other operating systems can be installed on that "virtual machine" ??

Click to expand...

Linux Mint running on a Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine:

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If you're going to dispute me, at least make a valid dispute. We weren't talking about Virtual PC, we were talking about XP Mode.

Two entirely different things.

pricetech said:

If you're going to dispute me, at least make a valid dispute. We weren't talking about Virtual PC, we were talking about XP Mode.

Two entirely different things.

Click to expand...

Precisely my point. You said that we understand meaning of a virtual machine differently, asking what kind of other operating systems you can install on it. Being very clear you don't know very much about virtualization, virtual machines and XP Mode especially, I tried to do what we normally do here on Seven Forums: correct misinformation and tell you how it is. Politely, giving valid facts instead of rumors.

pricetech said:

and what other operating systems can be installed on that "virtual machine" ??

Your definition of a Virtual Machine is different from mine I guess.

Click to expand...

You widened this subject to virtual machines in general, not me. Until that very weird comment of yours quoted above, I was only talking about XP Mode and how to upgrade it.

Still, one fact remains. XP Mode is a real, true, functioning virtual machine. I hope you have now at least learned that, and realized that what you told the OP is untruth.

I'm standing behind my words, as we say in my native Finnish. On forums like Seven Forums, it is very important to give correct information. We have a lot of members just starting with computers, it is essential we do not give wrong information. That's why it really is best for everyone not to response if not knowing the answer.

I am a bit surprised to see how personally you seem to take this. You were wrong, but it happens to everybody.

Friendly and sincere,

Kari

Kari said:

pricetech said:

If you're going to dispute me, at least make a valid dispute. We weren't talking about Virtual PC, we were talking about XP Mode.

Two entirely different things.

Click to expand...

Precisely my point. You said that we understand meaning of a virtual machine differently, asking what kind of other operating systems you can install on it. Being very clear you don't know very much about virtualization, virtual machines and XP Mode especially, I tried to do what we normally do here on Seven Forums: correct misinformation and tell you how it is. Politely, giving valid facts instead of rumors.

pricetech said:

and what other operating systems can be installed on that "virtual machine" ??

Your definition of a Virtual Machine is different from mine I guess.

Click to expand...

You widened this subject to virtual machines in general, not me. Until that very weird comment of yours quoted above, I was only talking about XP Mode and how to upgrade it.

Still, one fact remains. XP Mode is a real, true, functioning virtual machine. I hope you have now at least learned that, and realized that what you told the OP is untruth.

I'm standing behind my words, as we say in my native Finnish. On forums like Seven Forums, it is very important to give correct information. We have a lot of members just starting with computers, it is essential we do not give wrong information. That's why it really is best for everyone not to response if not knowing the answer.

I am a bit surprised to see how personally you seem to take this. You were wrong, but it happens to everybody.

Friendly and sincere,

Kari

Click to expand...

+1 Kari - I completely agree you must give correct information. Thank you for taking the time to explain it well for everyone!

user659 said:

Thank you very much Keri for going to the trouble of showing me your screenshots.
I'll give it a try.

Although others have produced upgrade guides, I want to create this one as a live video by using Wisdom Autoscreen Recorder 3. I can add my voice narrative to the process as it proceeds.

Click to expand...

Hi there

Trying to get back to what I think the OP wanted to do -- make a video of how to upgrade XP to W7 using a Virtual Machine so as not to change his W7 system.

What you could do is forget XP mode and install vmware player or Virtual Box.

Now you could install a "Classical standard" XP system --- you don't have to activate it for a few days so after booting it up you can then do the Windows 7 upgrade via the standard methods --either Via VISTA first or whatever.

The advantage of this is you can repeat this process as many times as you like if you get stuck half way -- just delete the VHD and start again and you can do it on ANY VERSION OF W7 - you don't need W7 PRO for this and you haven't destroyed your XP mode system if you still want to use XP Mode.

You can even run a VM on W7 Starter if you need to although probably not a good idea.

I think the idea of XP MODE was good but its been poorly implemented and is too restrictive. If you have access to a retail XP system then use vmware / vbox to create your VM's.

Cheers
jimbo

kari:

Whatever.

OP:

Again, I'm glad you made it work. I'd like to know how any further experiments turn out. It sounds a lot like one of my "just because" projects.

Have fun with it either way.

Joe

I have to say that, as a brand new member, I am very impressed with the contributors to this forum. Even though there may be minor disagreements, perhaps caused merely by a mischoice of words rather than any intent, you all seem eager to assist.

So, let me end by thanking Kari, jimbo and joe, and say this "OP" is "Ian"

Ian
Huntsville, Ontario, Canada

Thanks, Ian

@pricetech

I was reading some of your earlier posts, something was bothering me for I knew I had read something but not completely understood. Then it hit me. It's all here to see:

pricetech said:

Kari said:

pricetech said:

and what other operating systems can be installed on that "virtual machine" ??

Click to expand...

Linux Mint running on a Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine:

Click to expand...

If you're going to dispute me, at least make a valid dispute. We weren't talking about Virtual PC, we were talking about XP Mode.

Two entirely different things.

Click to expand...

Now I understand your frustration and confusion better, and I feel I owe you an apology. I should have explained this earlier: XP Mode is nothing else but a Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine, in other words a specially designed virtual machine meant to run in Virtual PC. XP Mode is not a virtualization application to virtualize XP. From other posts of you I have seen that you know at least generally what VirtualBox is. OK. Think an XP guest operating system installed on a VirtualBox virtual machine. XP Mode is that same XP guest operating system but installed on a Virtual PC virtual machine, instead. XP Mode is not be compared to VirtualBox but to an OS installed on VirtualBox.

It is my fault I didn't explain this to you earlier, and I'm sorry for that.

So of course when you asked what other operating systems you can install to XP Mode, I of course assumed you know XP Mode is just a Virtual PC virtual machine, a guest OS running on Virtual PC, and answered telling that you can for instance install Linux to a Virtual PC virtual machine.

You didn't understand my answer because you didn't know what XP Mode is, comparing it to virtualization application like VirtualBox, which then escalated this argument of ours a bit.

Hopefully you get it now.

Kari, over and out.

More information on Virtual PC and XP Mode: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/

*sigh*

If you want to further experiment, try rolling back Win7 to XP virtuallly using the windows.old folder which the clean install created in C: drive root.

Here's how: How to restore a Windows 7-based computer to a previous Windows installation by using the Windows.old folder

It would be great to have some screenshots or video of this process.

Kari said:

EDIT:

pricetech said:

and what other operating systems can be installed on that "virtual machine" ??

Click to expand...

Linux Mint running on a Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine:

View attachment 122498
View attachment 122499

Click to expand...

How did you set this up?

WaltA said:

How did you set this up?

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It's quite straight forward procedure, just follow instructions on installing an OS to Virtual PC.

But, I really do not recommend it. Virtual PC Integration components do not work with any other guest OS than XP, Vista and Seven. Instead download VirtualBox or VMWare Player virtualization software (both free) and install your Linux guests on one of those.

Kari