Do not know where to start !

[DoctorBill]

Here is my dilemma....
I want to run Windows XP within my Windows 7 machine.
I know what the Virtual Box is.
I have installed it in my Windows 7 machine and have "started" it.
I get a windows that says, "no bootable medium found.. System halted."

I am assuming that I need to load Windows XP into the Virtual Box.
I have no idea how to even start to do that !
The User Manual does not tell me how to load Windows XP or the XP Games and
Graphics Programs (PhotoShop LE) into it........at least I can't find it.

Having troubles with JARGON used to describe stuff.

Can someone help ?!
I need to be lead by the hand, as it were !
For Instance - once I am in the "Virtual Box Manager" - how do I load Win XP from my Disk ?

DoctorBill

[BillG]

The first thing to realize is that the virtual machine behaves just like a physical one. It has its own emulated devices - it does not use the host machine's devices directly.

To install XP on a physical machine you would put the installation CD in the CD drive and boot the machine. To install it on a virtual machine, you have to somehow make the installation media available to the vm, no the host.

If you have a Window XP CD, put it in the CD drive of your host machine. In Virtual Box Manager, select your vm then click Settings. This shows you how your vm is configured. Select Storage to se the vm's storage devices. It will show the virtual hard drive and the optical drive. Click on the CD icon of the optical drive (which will be showing empty). Now click the disk icon which appears in the top right of the window. If the CD is in your host drive, select Host Drive. The physical CD is now assigned to the vm.

Start the vm and it will boot from the installation CD.

If you have the installation media as a file on the host rather than as a CD, select that instead from the Choose Virtual Optical Disk File.

[socratis]

@DoctorBill
You sound like a fairly new user to VirtualBox. Since you are expected to know some basic terms, I would suggest to start by reading three small chapters from the User Manual:

• 1.2. Some terminology,
• 1.7. Creating your first virtual machine and
• 1.8. Running your virtual machine.

[DoctorBill]

Wow !
I have installed the VM, got the CD/DVD to work and got Windows XP loaded !
Amazing !

I was worried when the XP was loading up and said it had detected another Windows
and would overwrite it. I figured the VM was isolated and the Windows XP installer
would NOT overwrite the Windows 7 that is my host system computer.

The fact that this is still operating after I closed out of the VM must mean it worked OK.

QUESTIONS:
The Windows XP screen is small - how to I get it to be full screen ?
I wanted to put a screenshot up on here, but it won't show it....(?)
How do I get this forum to show newest posts first ?

I set the Virtual HD to 192 MB (Floating) - my HD is 250 GB.

I want to run an old XP PhotoShop (I own it) and some Games - Myst, Riven, Trespasser,
etc.

I also want to install VM on an Hp Laptop with Windows 7 Pro running. Later on.

Thanks for the help ! I am STILL lost in the Jargon and may reappear if I can't get
where I want.

DoctorBill

PS - What is wrong with the "W, w" on this forum ?....faded or partially erased.

[Polda18]

The Windows XP screen is small - how to I get it to be full screen ?

I think that Windows XP still support VirtualBox Guest Additions. Download VirtualBox Guest Additions installation package - should be with .vbox-extpack extension (from physical host machine!). Double ckick it - it will install it to VirtualBox extensions (download the one for your version of VirtualBox - you'll find it out when you look at About VirtualBox in Help menu). Then start your guest machine with Windows XP, log in, click Device and click Load Guest Additions Disc Image (or similar named - I have Czech localisation, so I can't tell you the exact thing in English). It should load up automatically in guest machine. Install it and restart. Now you're able to resize screen size to match your host's machine screen. You're able to use shared clipboard and you're able to set up shared folders...

I wanted to put a screenshot up on here, but it won't show it....(?)

I don't get it. What do you mean? That you've taken screenshot of virtual machine and don't know how to post it? The easiest way to take screenshot from guest machine and “transfer” it to the host machine is to click View and Take screenshot. It will save in PNG file with guest machine name and date and time stamp as the file name. Then just upload it as attachment to your post...

I set the Virtual HD to 192 MB (Floating) - my HD is 250 GB.

Virtual HDD size is the size you set it when you create new machine. If you want it bigger, you must turn the slider to the right. I wouldn't recommend you to set it as big as your host HDD - it would be even impossible as the VHD consumes some notable amount of free disk space of your host machine. It's a neccessary step to swallow some free disk space in order to make it working. If you want to save some disk space, select dynamically allocated hard drive image.

I want to run an old XP PhotoShop (I own it) and some Games - Myst, Riven, Trespasser,
etc.

No problem, just install it in your virtual machine.

I also want to install VM on an Hp Laptop with Windows 7 Pro running. Later on.

Just follow the guides and you're okay on your second host machine.

PS - What is wrong with the "W, w" on this forum ?....faded or partially erased.

What do you mean? What's “W, w”?

[socratis]

The Windows XP screen is small - how to I get it to be full screen ?

Download VirtualBox Guest Additions installation package - should be with .vbox-extpack extension (from physical host machine!).

You've got to be really careful with the terminology. There are two distinct things:

• The Extension Pack (ExtPack) get installed on the host and it has to match the VirtualBox version. It provides functionality such as USB2-3, Webcam, VRDP, PXE, Encryption. You have to download it and install it separately from the main VirtualBox program, due to its license.
• The Guest Additions (GAs) get installed on the guest and it would be good to match the VirtualBox version, for anything other than enhanced graphics support. It provides functionality such as shared folders, shared clipboard, drag and drop, pointer sharing, enhanced graphics support. You do not have to download it separately from the main VirtualBox program, since it comes bundled with it.

I wanted to put a screenshot up on here, but it won't show it....(?)

If you do NOT have to put a screenshot, don't. But if you HAVE TO put a screenshot, look at the "Upload attachment" at the bottom of the form. If you're using HiDPI, scale it down by at least 50%. And don't put your whole screen if you simply want to focus on an error message. Crop your images.

I set the Virtual HD to 192 MB (Floating)

Again, DoctorBill, you got to be careful with the terminology. There is no "Floating", there is "Dynamic". I specifically gave you links to read the terminology. Please do NOT use the excuse "I'm new with the terminology" because with 10' of reading you'll know quite more than the basics.

192 MB is way too small amount of hard disk space to hold Windows XP, never mind all the programs that you want to install. You will need at least 3 GB to install Windows XP only. Add your games, and you should start looking easily at more than 10 GB.

I want to run an old XP PhotoShop (I own it) and some Games - Myst, Riven, Trespasser, etc.

No problem, just install it in your virtual machine.

Actually you might have problems, plenty of them. All of these programs use a lot of heavy duty graphics and one thing VMs are not good at yet, that's graphics. So, Polda18, it might be a problem, with all of them. @DoctorBill, you'll have to try out what works and what doesn't.

[Polda18]

@socratis:
Ad:Guest Additions - you're right.
Ad:Programs - Well, at least Photoshop would work well enough, wouldn't it? For games, it's all about graphics requirements. Most of old games do not require much. For example, Quake III Arena went out when even Windows 2000 was still in development. Main OS was Windows 98 and Windows ME. Hardware requirements: simple. Pentium based CPU, nVidia GeForce series, ATI or compatible GPU, a sound card to play sounds. The game itself was small... Windows XP will have no problem running it even under VirtualBox...

[DoctorBill]

Thank you - Polda18 and Socratis for your comments. Socratis - I AM trying to learn !
Started watching the Tutorial on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prP2HWenpmQ

I believe that I did choose Dynamic when I set the VM up. It is running with Win XP,
PhotoShop LE and two games added. How can I tell if "Dynamic" is auto-adjusting the usage ?
It MUST be doing so.....

I loaded and have used my PhotoShop LE disk. Works !

Loaded MYST but hit what is to me a Wall - required a 256 color video. Looking into Forum
posts about that.....Many people have had the same problem - old technology.

Also loaded and ran "Trespasser", a first person Jurassic Park game (probably everyone knows it).
Two things:
1. Some cheats that I know require ctrl - F11, then typing in "Woo", press enter then
ctrl-F11 to get unlimited ammo. Did that, but the letters "Woo" did not show up on lower
left as per usual. BUT - It did work - so it took ! ????

2. During some dealings with the VM, I tried to add a Thumbdrive - got a message at
bottom that it was installed. BUT - of a sudden, NO MOUSE changeover by clicking
Ctrl (Host). Dead Mouse. could not get any response to uncapturing the mouse.
Had to power down - Windows 7 would NOT CLOSE with the VM running. NOT GOOD !

QUESTION - is there a keyboard key combination to exit VM if mouse doesn't respond ?
There must be a way to exit w/o having to use the mouse uncaptured.

Oh - the "W and w" are the font used here - notice how 'w' is faded a bit. Just saying....