upgrade windows xp to 8.1

[Derragen]

Hello!
I don't have a Windows 8 but i read at windows microsoft com/en us/windows 8/upgrade from windows vista xp tutorial that i can upgrade my windows xp to a windows 8, than 8 to 8.1 . So how can i do this in VirtualBox? I have an activated Windows XP guest system under VirtualBox, Ubuntu.

[mpack]

You do it in a VBox VM exactly the same way you would on any other PC. Microsoft can give you the details.

[Perryg]

With one exception. You should select 8.1 ( 32 or 64 ) in the version field. Seems most people that tried to upgrade fell into an issue leaving it set to 8.0

[Derragen]

With one exception. You should. select 8.1 ( 32 or 64 ) in the version field. Seems most people that tried to upgrade fell into an issue leaving it set to 8.0

I tried it, but when i tried to install win xp on win 8.1's vdi the installer didnt' work. I got the message that the installer can't fint a hard drive.

[Perryg]

With one exception. You should. select 8.1 ( 32 or 64 ) in the version field. Seems most people that tried to upgrade fell into an issue leaving it set to 8.0

I tried it, but when i tried to install win xp on win 8.1's vdi the installer didnt' work. I got the message that the installer can't fint a hard drive.

You switch before you upgrade, after you install XP.

[mpack]

If you create a VM using the Windows 8.1 template it will include a SATA hdd controller by default, and XP does not have native SATA support. As Perry says, you should create an XP VM first, which ensures that you can install XP successfully. Then change the settings OS version to Windows 8 before the Win8 upgrade, then finally select Win 8.1 before the final upgrade.

Or, you can leave the OS version alone, but manually change the controller to IDE. I'm pretty sure XP will also install on hardware that's suitable for Win 8.1, except for the SATA issue.

[Derragen]

If you create a VM using the Windows 8.1 template it will include a SATA hdd controller by default, and XP does not have native SATA support. As Perry says, you should create an XP VM first, which ensures that you can install XP successfully. Then change the settings OS version to Windows 8 before the Win8 upgrade, then finally select Win 8.1 before the final upgrade.

Or, you can leave the OS version alone, but manually change the controller to IDE. I'm pretty sure XP will also install on hardware that's suitable for Win 8.1, except for the SATA issue.

Thank you! I'll do it and i hope taht will work.

[Derragen]

I tried to resize the windows xp's .vdi file with VBoxManage modifyhd WindowsXP.vdi --resize 25600 command and i got this error:
VBoxManage: error: Cannot register the hard disk '~/VirtualBoxVMs/Windows8/Windows8.vdi' {643ed081-4aa3-4926-ba3e-6ff0a9aafb53} because a hard disk '~/VirtualBox VMs/Windows 8/Windows XP.vdi' with UUID {643ed081-4aa3-4926-ba3e-6ff0a9aafb53} already exists
VBoxManage: error: Details: code NS_ERROR_INVALID_ARG (0x80070057), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
VBoxManage: error: Context: "OpenMedium(Bstr(pszFilenameOrUuid).raw(), enmDevType, enmAccessMode, fForceNewUuidOnOpen, pMedium.asOutParam())" at line 178 of file VBoxManageDisk.cpp .
Whagt can i do to resize it's size without creating a new .vdi?

[Derragen]

Thank you! I solved it. Windows xp failed to boot (i dont't know why), so i made a new .vdi with 30 GiB free space and installed windows XP on it (from a spare windows xp cd).