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Setting up a Virtual Windows XP Machine using VirtualBoxCLOSED

THIS TUTORIAL ADDRESSES: Virtual Machine r Virtualbox r Windows XP r Virtualization r

By boppingmoose, O C TO BER 24, 2013 6:54:46 A M

g See all their Tutorials

Creating the Virtual Machine

1) Install the latest version of VirtualBox (4.3 at time of writing)

2) Click the New button to start the “Create New Virtual Machine Wizard”

3) Click Next

4) Under “VM Name and OS Type” name your Virtual Machine something sensible (eg.

Windows XP) but make sure you choose “Microsoft Windows” as Type and “Windows

XP” as Version so VirtualBox can automatically give you the best default settings for

your Virtual Machine

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5) Click Next

6) Choose something appropriate for the RAM size, maybe 512 for Windows XP if you

have less than 4GB of RAM, or 1024 if you have more than 4GB (If in doubt 512

should be enough, and you can always increase it later)

7) Now let VirtualBox create you a new virtual hard drive

8) Click Next to start the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard

9) Use Dynamically Expanding for most disks and set it to 80GB (you can always add

more disks later if you need them)

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10) Click Next and click Finish to create the disk

11) Congratulations, you have created a blank Virtual Machine ready to install Windows

XP

Tweaking the Settings for Better Performance

12) Go to the Display tab, and set the Graphics Memory to 128MB and tick the boxes

for 3D acceleration and 2D Video Acceleration

13) Once done you can close the settings windows

Installing Windows XP inside the Virtual Machine

14) Click Start

15) You’ll get the First Run Wizard which helps a lot, first thing it does is ask where

your installation media is – click the little folder to browse for your Windows XP ISO (or

insert your Windows XP CD/DVD and click Next if you’re installing from CD/DVD)

16) Click Finish on the next screen and your Virtual Windows XP Machine should start

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to boot & install

17) If you lose your mouse pointer during installation remember Right Ctrl brings it

back

18) Follow through installing Windows XP as if you are on a real machine

Tweaking Windows XP inside the Virtual Machine

19) Once install is finished you MUST install the VirtualBox Additions – click on devices

in the menu-bar at the top of the VM and choose “Install Guest Additions”

20) If you want full 3D support you have to install the guest additions again with the

Virtual Windows XP Machine in safe mode (press F8 while the Virtual Machine is

starting to get the boot options and choose Safe Mode)

21) Once you’ve got the additions in, you can set up a shared folder so you can share

files between host & guest – click on devices in the menu-bar at the top of the VM and

choose “Shared Folders”

22) Click the green plus sign on the right to add a shared folder

23) Click the down arrow in the blank next to Folder Path and choose Other to browse

to your folder

24) Click Make Permanent if you want this share to be available every time you boot

your Virtual Windows XP Machine

25) Click OK and you are done

26) To access the share just type \\VBOXSVR in a run window, hit enter and the

shared folder will show up

27) I always map a network drive (usually Z: ) to the share for convenience

28) Now I can just browse to Z: in my VM and I can see the shared area on my host

PC:

Now you can install any software you like just as you would a real PC

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