Window XP on bootcamp via virtualbox?

[azpaing]

Hi,
I used bootcamp to run Window XP (SP2) on my MacBook Pro. I am wondering how can I use virtualbox to use this Window XP without installing windows with virtualbox. What I mean is that I want to run installed Windows XP by using virtualbox on Mac OSX platform. Is that possible?
My Mac OSX is version 10.6.2. Virtaulbox version is 3.2.2.
Sincerely,
AZPaing

[ZeB]

Unfortunately, for now VirtualBox is not able to use Bootcamp volumes. That would be perfect, and this feature is really expected by VB users.

[wyrdR]

I couldn't get this to work, so I gave up and installed Windows 7 on Bootcamp; that works OK, but there's issues with the Licence Key because switching between the Real and Virtual versions makes Windows 7 think it's on two different machines. Most of your XP stuff will run in 7.

Alternatively:

If you enable R/W support for NTFS, you can install Virtual Box on both OSes (OSX & Windows 7) and share an XP Guest between the two. I've done this with a Linux VM, but there's no reason you couldn't do this with XP.

[ZeB]

I couldn't get this to work, so I gave up and installed Windows 7 on Bootcamp; that works OK, but there's issues with the Licence Key because switching between the Real and Virtual versions makes Windows 7 think it's on two different machines. Most of your XP stuff will run in 7.

Alternatively:

If you enable R/W support for NTFS, you can install Virtual Box on both OSes (OSX & Windows 7) and share an XP Guest between the two. I've done this with a Linux VM, but there's no reason you couldn't do this with XP.

Except if i really misunderstood what azpaing tries to do, but i think he just wants to run via VirtualBox a volume created with Bootcamp… As i said it's impossible, except by using other solutions like parallels or vmware fusion. There are solutions to convert a bootcamp partition in order to use it via VirtualBox, but it'll be still a copy, you won't run the original one.

[wyrdR]

That's true of XP, but not of Vista or 7. The solution is to convert to Windows 7, then use a few terminal commands involving VBoxManage to set it up

I run my Bootcamped Windows 7 in VirtualBox but run apps that need it in XP Compatibility mode. i.e. I *am* running the *same* Windows 7 direct from my Bootcamp partition in VirtualBox and dual Boot. *It's not a copy - It runs straight off the rawdisk*. There's a Topic in here somewhere about it – read it ages ago. Someone smarter than me may have got XP working too, I'm not sure.

I was just saying that if he really still wanted a pure XP VM, he could run the same VM in both Mac OS & Windows.

Read through Using Windows Bootcamp Partition with VirtualBox? for more info.

~ wyrdR

[ZeB]

Well i must present my apology to you wyrdR, cause the thread you linked proves that it's possible to use a Bootcamp partition even with XP. Still, it's tricky, kinda bugged (booting and using the system seems more than slow) and the process can be quite difficult for terminal noobs.
However, since it's possible to accomplish, it's a great hope for our community that Oracle developpers implement this possibility in a near future.