virtualbox.org

Maybe I don't understand this whole thing but installed a new virtual machine and tried to install Win XP on it from an installation disk. I get the message "Setup could not read the CD you installed or the CD is not a valid Windows CD". I have installed this on another computers, after reformating and it installed fine.

I am brand new to this, so maybe I am doing it all wrong.

Windows explorer and the windows live mail. I want to run the old explorer and outlook express, and some other XP programs on this machine and thought I could install a virtual XP machine. I'm about ready to format the thing and just install XP, but I do like some of the Win7 features.

Any Help?

Two options are possible:
- The disc is a recovery CD or OEM and only works on bare metal on the system it's designed for;
- You need to enable Passthrough for the physical drive.

Either of those are the culprit. Since I use ISOs only, I can't say which is the real issue, but other users have installed Windows without the need to turn on passthrough, so I'm going with the first option.


As for your programs you want to use, the default email application in XP is Outlook Express and is very old and has lots of security issues. I do not recommend using it. Use Live Mail that's part of the Windows Live suite or Mozilla Thunderbird or similar.
Explorer can be easy, I don't like the new one either. For that, I have Explorer++. It works similar to the Explorer from XP, but has some more features that you might find interesting. They are optional in use, so you don't have to use them. A quick Google search will give you the website.
Other applications may work if you enable Compatibility for it. Right click the shortcut or .exe file of the application and set it's compatibility mode. See if that helps.