Page 1 of 1

Playing old games and shortcuts to hibernate the computer

Posted: 14. Sep 2015, 01:30
by TNToaster
Hello, i never used VirtualBox before, i made searches with google and i found VirtualBox would be the best solution to my problems. But i still have 2 questions that i couldn't find an answer with google.

I'm using Windows XP, and i don't like other Windows or others operating system. I always install XP on every computer i have. The problem is that i can't find XP drivers with the new computers on sale (and that's for the same reason that Dual Boot would not be the solution for me), it's becoming always harder to find XP drivers. Even if i could install XP,, without the video and sound and other drivers, i can't do anything. So i think to emulate XP with VirtualBox on the new computers (currently not purchased the new computer). Seem to be a good permanent fix to my problem.

After viewing many video on youtube and searching info online, i found many useful informations. So for now, i only have 2 remaining questions:
1. Is it possible to play old video games with a windows XP running through VirtualBox?
The old games i want to play are: Warcraft 2, Fate The Traitor Soul, emulators such as EPSXE, project 64, NES games.
Other than that, i don't really play games on the computer, i mostly look at movies with VLC and listen at music, i also convert video and rip CDs. Hopefully VirtualBox would be able to fill my needs about this.

2. Is there a way to have the shortcuts that put in hibernation mode the computer, shut down the computer, and others. Most of the time, when i leave the computer, i usually put it in hibernation (i only restart the computer about one time per month). It's faster and convenient. And i wonder if there's a way to continue this way, or if i would be required to firstly hibernate my virtual XP, and then, to hibernate my real operating system without other possibility? If there's a way to hibernate the whole computer directly from my emulated XP it would be perfect.

Thank you for answering my questions

Re: Playing old games and shortcuts to hibernate the compute

Posted: 14. Sep 2015, 02:06
by loukingjr
1. FWIW, there is no way to predict which games and programs will run in a VM. The only way to know is if someone happens to have successfully run them. Some games will run, some won't. Gaming is not a virtual machine's forte.

2. AFAIK, no. You have to either shutdown or save the state of the VM before hibernating the host.

Re: Playing old games and shortcuts to hibernate the compute

Posted: 14. Sep 2015, 07:30
by NoNoNo
TNToaster wrote:1. Is it possible to play old video games with a windows XP running through VirtualBox?
The old games i want to play are: Warcraft 2, Fate The Traitor Soul, emulators such as EPSXE, project 64, NES games.
Other than that, i don't really play games on the computer, i mostly look at movies with VLC and listen at music, i also convert video and rip CDs. Hopefully VirtualBox would be able to fill my needs about this.
I run virtual Windows XP for music. Definitely it can play games, but not all games run. Virtualbox's virtual VGA card driver is not "game-ready" driver like some famous vendors.
  • Gaming:
Sometime I play old game in VBox(WinXP). For examples: Mafia(lost heaven), Freelancer, Age of Empires 1... mostly can run in newer Windows (in bare pc, not virtual), too.
I didn't play emulators so much, but I do know Gens will NOT run in VBox.
  • Movies & Music:
Not all video players run smooth in VBox. You should know it first. If you run video player in VBox, you may find out it consume more CPU power than normal. It consume even more CPU when video converting! (in other words: Cost more time to finish converting.)

Music player, in my experiences, is quiet smooth. I'm happy with it. Except ripping CD, somehow it didn't work well. (I think access CDDA in virtualbox is not best-try.)

TNToaster wrote:2. Is there a way to have the shortcuts that put in hibernation mode the computer, shut down the computer, and others. Most of the time, when i leave the computer, i usually put it in hibernation (i only restart the computer about one time per month). It's faster and convenient. And i wonder if there's a way to continue this way, or if i would be required to firstly hibernate my virtual XP, and then, to hibernate my real operating system without other possibility? If there's a way to hibernate the whole computer directly from my emulated XP it would be perfect.
I think you have to hibernate twice because no obviously way to give hibernate command to HOST OS.

Re: Playing old games and shortcuts to hibernate the compute

Posted: 14. Sep 2015, 15:36
by scottgus1
re # 2, I believe Virtualbox version 5 has a new feature to pause the guest before the host hibernates (see help file section 9.26) and the guest resumes running when the host resumes.

re hibernating the host with a command from the guest: Not built-in, but definitely possible with custom scripts.

Using a real Windows network between host and guest: This one will work with no Guest Additions installed if you need to not have them. You can also use this method if you have Guest Additions installed but you do not want any Guest Additions Shared Folders. You run a script on the host that monitors a host shared folder every few seconds for an empty file named "HibernateMyHost" in the shared folder. Make it out of VBscript so it will run invisibly, from a shortcut in the Startup folder or as a task in Task Scheduler. On your guest, you make a script that makes the "HibernateMyHost" file in the host's shared folder. When the host script finds the file, it deletes the file then hibernates the host.

Guest-Additions Shared Folder version, not requiring a Windows network between guest and host: Same as the real-Windows-network version, except the shared folder monitored and used by the scripts is one established with Guest Additions Shared Folders. No real Windows network is necessary if you don't want to make one.

There is another way, using the Guest Additions and the Guestproperty set & get functions of Vboxmanage in the host and Vboxcontrol in the guest, which you can investigate if you wish. The guest script sets a custom Guestproperty, the host script resets it and hibernates.

In any case the Windows 7 command to hibernate the host is:

Code: Select all

rundll32 powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState
Windows 8 & onward have new hibernate switches built into the Windows command Shutdown.exe, I think.

Re: Playing old games and shortcuts to hibernate the compute

Posted: 14. Sep 2015, 15:53
by loukingjr
scottgus1 wrote:re # 2, I believe Virtualbox version 5 has a new feature to pause the guest before the host hibernates (see help file section 9.26) and the guest resumes running when the host resumes.
Testing this feature on a OSX host with two different guests, Windows 7 and Ubuntu 14.04.3, it "works" after a fashion. It does seem to depend on whether the guest is actually "busy" or "idling" as to whether the guest resumes in a working state.