[Solved] migrating a Windows XP installation from old PC

[mpack]

I would not have done the prepare for VirtualPC step, since VirtualBox is not VirtualPC.

On networking: just enable NAT in the guest network settings (not NAT network).

As to boot options, I believe you would Start|Run|msconfig and change the boot.ini tab contents to

Code: Select all

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Change the OS name if your XP is Home instead of Pro. Make a VM backup first.

On installing the Guest Additions, see user manual chapter 4.

[youcancallmemar]

okay thanks for the reply mpack...

will i be ok continuing to use this despite having prepared for VirtualPC?

for the boot options, changing the boot.ini tab contents is not possible from msconfig, at least it isn't possible for me. is there a secret to it?

networking seems to be fixed now that guest additions were installed! those things are essential! thank you!

[mpack]

As you see, you are having to do extra work to get rid of unwanted VirtualPC stuff, but XP still works. So yes, I would continue with what you have.

I've never tried to edit my boot.ini (until a few minutes ago), so I wasn't aware that msconfig doesn't let you change it. No matter, "boot.ini" is just a text file hidden in the root folder of the XP C: drive. It can be edited with notepad. Change folder options temporarily to let you see hidden files.

[youcancallmemar]

Perfect! thank you, everything is working well now. I am so impressed with virtualbox. the integration is magical. appreciate all the help getting things going over here!

M

[socratis]

Excellent! I can mark this as [Solved].