How to run 2 Windows xp copies

[ahlolan]

Dear all,
I have 2 SATA HD with Windows XP SP3 installed on each of them. I would like to know if it is possible to connect both HD on the same computer. Then start one copy of WinXP and within this running XP, start the second XP at the same time. I saw a tutorial from TeraByte website using Image for Windows that I could do this by making an image of one HD and then run Virtual PC software. But I would like to do is starting both XP on the same machine without making any image file which will use some HD space.

Cheers,
ls.

[Paul T]

I'd use VMware player or MS Virtual PC to run the other copy.

cheers, Paul

[cafed00d]

You cannot run two OSes at the same time on the same hardware (I'm not sure about mainframes though, I think that some of them can do this, but that is with very specialized hardware). The closest you can come on a PC is to run a Hypervisor, such as Hyper-V from Microsoft, vSphere from VMWare or the XEN hypervisor. But in that case it is the hypervisor that runs on the bare metal and all of the OSes run in virtual machines.

But Paul's suggestion is really the best - run one of them as a VM inside the other (but then you already knew that based on your comments on the TeraByte tutorial).

[ahlolan]

Hello again,
thanks again for your replies. I am very new to VM and I did not figure out yet how to link a physical disk with Virtual PC or VMware. The tutorial I saw was to restore an image then select the file as virtual drive. I would like to avoid this and point directly to my second drive and run it as VM as Paul suggested.

"merci"

[Paul T]

I don't think you can run directly from a hard disk using a VM. You will need to create an image of the drive for the VM to use.
This site shows how to use a Microsoft utility called Disk2vhd.

cheers, Paul

[Just Plain Fred]

I don't think you can run directly from a hard disk using a VM. You will need to create an image of the drive for the VM to use.
This site shows how to use a Microsoft utility called Disk2vhd.

cheers, Paul

Hello all,
Just wanted to add to the discussion... About a week or so ago i tried every "combo" of "VMware" and most ( StarWind, VirtualBox, img 2VHD, Paragon, etc. ) of all i could try, to get a working Virtual Machine created from a "Image" both "Macrium and Acronis" ..The results were total failure. The "VM's" that i did manage to get going ..however briefly were unresponsive and really "buggy", having a small screen about a fourth of my normal monitor size, with full size "icons" Hope you have better outcome than i . Regards Fred

[Paul T]

Fred, on VMware this is "fixed" by loading the VMware tools, which includes new drivers for disk. network and video. I expect other VMs are similar.

cheers, Paul

[Just Plain Fred]

Dear all,
I have 2 SATA HD with Windows XP SP3 installed on each of them. I would like to know if it is possible to connect both HD on the same computer. Then start one copy of WinXP and within this running XP, start the second XP at the same time. I saw a tutorial from TeraByte website using Image for Windows that I could do this by making an image of one HD and then run Virtual PC software. But I would like to do is starting both XP on the same machine without making any image file which will use some HD space.

Cheers,
ls.

Laurent,
Hello... I'm not sure of why you would want to do this, but have a couple of suggestions. (other than the VM route)
1. Dual boot both systems...
2. Use Acronis 2010 v 7046 "Try& Decide" to surf the web, or do otherwise "dangerous things". Using 2010 "T&D" will survive re-booting to let you load any program or "update". If security is your aim.
3. Switch easily back and forth from one to the other, ,choosing at boot time which one you are in the mood to run. However.......
4. Personally i would "Image" one or the other and use the redundant drive as a "Data Drive" to store backups and other things.But we each have our own reasons to do things ... My overall experience with "VM" has been a total frustrating failure. Regards Fred
PS: Yes i do realize it's my lack of expertise.

[mercyh]

I am at the opposite end of Freds experience with VM.

However, I would reccomend that you clean install the OS on the VM instead of trying to convert a current machine (I have spent plenty of time doing conversions and invaribly it takes ten times as long as it should). You can share space between the physical and virtual machines either by using a network share or by setting up a shared folder within the vm that maps to space on the physical drive.

Here is the original tutorial that Fred and I worked on for this.

http://lounge.windowssecrets.com/ind...owtopic=777169

(Don't let Fred convince you he is tech challenged. Find the thread with the picture of his machine........ )

[ahlolan]

Dear all,
thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I just want to let you know that I finally created an image and run it with MS Virtual PC.

[TheGadgetFixer]

I would love to be able to plug a hard drive from another machine into mine and run it in a virtual environment without the conversion process. I could accomplish tons of tasks.

If added browsing security is your goal, you could just run a browser in a sandbox. I'm sure there are plenty of how-to's here in this forum. I do it with browsers and other programs to check them before committing to an install. Sandboxie is really cool, you should try it, and it's free!

[JoeP517]

I would love to be able to plug a hard drive from another machine into mine and run it in a virtual environment without the conversion process. I could accomplish tons of tasks.

If you are looking for a way to migrate to a VM see Disk2VHD.

Joe