virtualbox.org

I realize that some of my questions have been answered in one form or another, so I beg your indulgence.

rpmurray wrote:Ah yes, I keep forgetting that most people don't read the manual first. Completely slipped my mind to ask if you'd done the obvious.

For non-tech person, it's not an easy manual to read. I have tried and I have gleaned some information, but not everything I need.

Essentially, my issue now is upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7. I am using a MacBook Pro, OS X 10.8.5. Intel Core i7; 512 G SS drive; 16 GB RAM, VRAM 512 MB.

I created a VM running Win XP 32 bit on an older computer and copied the vdi to the new one. Even though I extended the size from 10 GB to 20 GB, I get messages (which I ignore) that my memory is critically low. I just now increased the base memory to 4096 after reading that 1048 is bare minimum. Video memory (VRAM?) 16 MB, but just read that it should be 128 (don't know how to change that). I extended the size to 20 GB a while back, but now I read that Win 7 requires 40 GB.

Since my Mac is 64 bit, I bought Win 7 64 bit. Now I just read that you can't upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit.

The main purpose for the VM is to run Quicken. I sometimes use MS Word 2003. As was suggested to someone else, I am attaching today's VBox.log. It is much smaller than usual because I didn't do anything but start up the VM.

SO, finally the question: would it be easier and would I be better off deleting the old vdi and starting from scratch on a new one? I have the disk for the old MS Office as well as for Quicken. Maybe these won't run on a 64-bit system?

Your questions are mostly Windows-centric ones and as such it might be better if you seek help in a Windows-centric forum or search the net. These questions include:
- How to upgrade from WinXP-32 to Win7-64. If you can.
- Quicken (version?) and MS Office 2003 compatibility with Win7-64.

Some questions that could be answered in this forum:
- Amount of RAM, VRAM, HD to successfully run Win7-64 (or any client for that matter): Stick with what the client template suggests.
- Host is 64-bit, client should be 64-bit: Not necessarily. You could have gotten Win7-32 to install just as easy in VirtualBox. I personally would prefer the 32-bit version.
- Should I start from scratch: I would. It makes the whole think cleaner. Plus, if you can't upgrade your WinXP-32 to Win7-64, then I guess you must.

ciamurra wrote: I created a VM running Win XP 32 bit on an older computer and copied the vdi to the new one. Even though I extended the size from 10 GB to 20 GB, I get messages (which I ignore) that my memory is critically low. I just now increased the base memory to 4096 after reading that 1048 is bare minimum. Video memory (VRAM?) 16 MB, but just read that it should be 128 (don't know how to change that). I extended the size to 20 GB a while back, but now I read that Win 7 requires 40 GB.

You should be able to run XP with 1024MB of RAM but 2048MB would be more than enough. As far as video RAM people used to run XP on video cards with as little as 8MB so there's no need to use 128MBs of video ram.

Since my Mac is 64 bit, I bought Win 7 64 bit. Now I just read that you can't upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit.

actually you can but it's not that easy. From Microsoft.

The main purpose for the VM is to run Quicken. I sometimes use MS Word 2003. As was suggested to someone else, I am attaching today's VBox.log. It is much smaller than usual because I didn't do anything but start up the VM.

If you have older versions of software you want to run there is always a possibility it won't run on Windows 7

SO, finally the question: would it be easier and would I be better off deleting the old vdi and starting from scratch on a new one? I have the disk for the old MS Office as well as for Quicken. Maybe these won't run on a 64-bit system?

Personally I would keep the XP guest so you can run your older software and do a clean install of Windows 7 since you already bought it.