Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
DonVetOne
Posts: 96
Joined: 2. Feb 2018, 14:13

Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by DonVetOne »

Hi all

I would like to move an existing XP guest to a new PC (on the same network) but need to change names of files in the folders.
The original name(s) are "Windows XP Spare".* but need to change this by dropping the word SPARE.

At the same time would like to change the default folder from the 'user' folder to a simple subfolder on the C drive - so C:\VirtualBox VMs
Oh I am using Ver 5.24 on a 32 bit PC.

Thanks,
Donald.
scottgus1
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

DonVetOne wrote:change the default folder
This can be done with the main Virtualbox window, File menu, Preferences, General tab, Default Machine Folder. This determines where new VMs get built. Your old VMs can stay where they are, or you can right-click the VM in the main window's VM list and choose "Move". FWIW a VM can be anywhere on your PC that the logged-on account has write access to.
DonVetOne wrote:I would like to move an existing XP guest to a new PC
This one is easy, except for the renaming part. Copy the whole VM folder to the new PC and use the main Virtualbox window Machine menu Add command to register the VM's .vbox file. (A VM folder usually contains the .vbox file, possibly a couple older .vbox files, the virtual disk file(s) and Logs and Snapshots subfolders. This format, all in one folder, is the easiest to copy and register to a new host. Such a copy is also a good backup. Some folks put the disk file in a different folder, which messes up the simple copy process. Use the main window's File menu, Virtual Media Manager, to select the wandering disk file and Move it into the VM folder next to the .vbox file, then the format of the VM will be good for copying.)
DonVetOne wrote:need to change names of files in the folders
This one is a bit more complicated. Before the copied VM is registered with Virtualbox using the Add command, the name of the folder and the .vbox file have to be changed, as well as the references to the VM's name and disk file names inside the .vbox file, if you also changed the disk names. If the VM has snapshots, I would suggest not renaming these. A .vbox file can be opened in Wordpad. After all the old names in the .vbox file have been changed, save the .vbox file and try it. I would suggest doing these edits on a copy of the .vbox file and register the copy.
DonVetOne
Posts: 96
Joined: 2. Feb 2018, 14:13

Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by DonVetOne »

I seem to have files that are updated in the USER folder as well as the created C:\VirtualBox VMs folder... so concerned that this will create a problem if I don't transfer the correct files... something seems to be untidy in the source side of things... how do I consolidate and tidy this up first?
mpack
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by mpack »

The only thing in the user appdata folder is the VirtualBox manager config, which is distinct from any VM.

The app data mainly consists of a list of registered VMs, any named virtual networks you created etc. VMs are easily re-registered if moved to a new host.
Radchu24
Posts: 25
Joined: 10. May 2021, 19:37
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 10 and Ubuntu

Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by Radchu24 »

There is a simple way to export a VM. Open the manager, press Ctrl + E, select your VM, and follow the wizard's instructions. Send the OVA / OVF file to another computer, press Ctrl + I on the second computer, click the file icon, and select your OVA / OVF. Please note that if you use the save machine state, then you will need to discard this.
Radchu24
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by Radchu24 »

If you would like to move the VM, then just go to the Virtualbox VM folder and drag and drop the VM's folder ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. If it is on the same pc then you will have to change the UUID of the Virtual Drive
scottgus1
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Regrettably, Radchu24, the advice about drag-n-dropping the VM won't work, it causes lots of problems. Please start a new topic if you want to discuss the problems.

Exporting the VM is OK, but it changes the UUIDs and probably the disk file format of the VM, which can mess up activated software and grub loaders in the VM. Exporting is for taking a VM to another company's hypervisor, like Hyper-V or VMware. The folder-copy process above is only for going to another Virtualbox host, but does not change UUIDs or disk file format or any other bits (data or otherwise), so can be used for FC-confirmed integrity-checkable backups or copies.
DonVetOne
Posts: 96
Joined: 2. Feb 2018, 14:13

Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by DonVetOne »

Sorry I wasn't clear about the USER folders

The two folders are
C:\Users\donle\VirtualBox VMs
with files
Directory of C:\Users\donle\VirtualBox VMs\Windows XP

29 May 2021 15:40 <DIR> .
29 May 2021 15:40 <DIR> ..
29 May 2021 15:39 <DIR> Logs
29 May 2021 12:34 <DIR> Snapshots
29 May 2021 15:40 7 784 Windows XP.vbox
29 May 2021 12:35 7 841 Windows XP.vbox-prev
2 File(s) 15 625 bytes
and
D:\VirtualBox VMs
with files
Directory of D:\VirtualBox VMs\Windows XP Spare

27 May 2021 08:57 <DIR> .
27 May 2021 08:57 <DIR> ..
05 Oct 2020 15:10 <DIR> Logs
19 Oct 2019 12:52 6 858 Windows XP Spare.vbox
19 Oct 2019 12:07 6 858 Windows XP Spare.vbox-prev
29 May 2021 15:40 42 951 770 112 Windows XP Spare.vdi
3 File(s) 42 951 783 828 bytes

and I want to rename all cases of Windows XP Spare to simply Windows XP
scottgus1
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

DonVetOne wrote:I want to rename all cases of Windows XP Spare to simply Windows XP
Covered above:
scottgus1 wrote:Before the copied VM is registered with Virtualbox using the Add command, the name of the folder and the .vbox file have to be changed, as well as the references to the VM's name and disk file names inside the .vbox file, if you also changed the disk names. If the VM has snapshots, I would suggest not renaming these. A .vbox file can be opened in Wordpad. After all the old names in the .vbox file have been changed, save the .vbox file and try it. I would suggest doing these edits on a copy of the .vbox file and register the copy.
Forum guru 'fth0' PM'ed me on this suggesting that a change of the VM's name in the VM's General settings, "Name" textbox, may help. I tried it on a VM, and the VM folder name, .vbox file name, and VM name inside the .vbox file were changed. However, the disk names stayed the same. And the VM has to be registered already to use the Virtualbox Settings to change the name. If you can rename the VM on the old PC before you copy it, then many of the changes will happen. But you will still have to rename the disk file manually and inside the .vbox file before registering the VM on the new host PC.
Radchu24
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by Radchu24 »

scottgus1 wrote:Regrettably, Radchu24, the advice about drag-n-dropping the VM won't work, it causes lots of problems. Please start a new topic if you want to discuss the problems.

Exporting the VM is OK, but it changes the UUIDs and probably the disk file format of the VM, which can mess up activated software and grub loaders in the VM. Exporting is for taking a VM to another company's hypervisor, like Hyper-V or VMware. The folder-copy process above is only for going to another Virtualbox host, but does not change UUIDs or disk file format or any other bits (data or otherwise), so can be used for FC-confirmed integrity-checkable backups or copies.
Hmm... That's weird. I dragged and dropped it through my Bootcamp mac and it somehow worked... I guess I'm either insanely lucky or this is a feature removed in 6.1 cause I use 6.0 for software virtualization. How weird.
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scottgus1
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

Drag-n-drop of a VM to another place was never supported as best I know. Reasons are:
1. Virtualbox.xml keeps the absolute paths to each .vbox file.
2. Each .vbox file has an absolute path to the VM's disk files if these files are kept outside of the VM folder.
Virtualbox does not know if these files are moved through non-Virtualbox methods, and the XML records still point to the old places.
Radchu24
Posts: 25
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by Radchu24 »

Radchu24 wrote:
scottgus1 wrote:Regrettably, Radchu24, the advice about drag-n-dropping the VM won't work, it causes lots of problems. Please start a new topic if you want to discuss the problems.

Exporting the VM is OK, but it changes the UUIDs and probably the disk file format of the VM, which can mess up activated software and grub loaders in the VM. Exporting is for taking a VM to another company's hypervisor, like Hyper-V or VMware. The folder-copy process above is only for going to another Virtualbox host, but does not change UUIDs or disk file format or any other bits (data or otherwise), so can be used for FC-confirmed integrity-checkable backups or copies.
Hmm... That's weird. I dragged and dropped it through my Bootcamp mac and it somehow worked... I guess I'm either insanely lucky or this is a feature removed in 6.1 cause I use 6.0 for software virtualization. How weird.
Oh yeah, I had a problem with the guestadditions.iso because it was in the VM at the time. I edited the VBOX file to remove the guestadditions.iso and it worked!
How strange...
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DonVetOne
Posts: 96
Joined: 2. Feb 2018, 14:13

Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by DonVetOne »

Please explain to me someone WHY in the directory listing for the two folders on the SAME machine I have the files listed, which folder do I need to copy to move the VM to another machine?

Thanks
scottgus1
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Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by scottgus1 »

You can copy either one, if they are part of a linked clone of another VM. Since you need the copy named sans "spare", I'd copy "C:\Users\donle\VirtualBox VMs\Windows XP". It appears the C drive VM does not have the disk file in the folder with the .vbox file. See above viewtopic.php?f=6&t=102988#p500407 on Moving a disk file into the VM folder before copying the folder. Note that the two VMs are separate on the old host, so they may have different data.

Once you copy a VM to a new host PC, the old copy can stay or be deleted as you wish. If you keep the old copy, then the new copy has the same network name and MAC address as the old copy, leading to possible network conflicts if you run them both at the same time on the same network. However, changing the MAC address on a Virtualbox VM network card is easy, there's a Refresh swirly button to do that under the network card's Advanced settings. Changing the network name would be done in the VM's OS. Licensing would have to be complied with if you now have two copies of the same software running.
DonVetOne
Posts: 96
Joined: 2. Feb 2018, 14:13

Re: Windows XP Guest on Windows 10 Host

Post by DonVetOne »

"Please explain to me someone WHY in the directory listing for the two folders on the SAME machine I have the files listed, which folder do I need to copy to move the VM to another machine?"

Please help me with the above.... when a new windows XP machine is created (added) it seems it will create a windows XP folder - I would like to keep ALL files in this folder but somehow this is not working our very neatly... thanks.
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