VirtualBox Windows 10 64 Bit Question

[daveyk]

Stupid Question.  As you told me earlier, once it's perfect, create a backup image of it.  What the odds of that backup image working on another Windows 10 machine with VirtualBox on it (i.e., That Area51 laptop I may be purchasing.  Would the Windows XP image know that it's on a different PC hardware platform and either not work or require activation again?

Well, 05:04AM.  I better shut this thing down and get some snoozing in.  With computers, hours go like minutes.

[greenpossum]

Stupid Question.  As you told me earlier, once it's perfect, create a backup image of it.  What the odds of that backup image working on another Windows 10 machine with VirtualBox on it (i.e., That Area51 laptop I may be purchasing.  Would the Windows XP image know that it's on a different PC hardware platform and either not work or require activation again?

It's entirely possible to take a copy of the image on another host and run it there, that's one of the advantages of VMs. However the devil of the move is in the details. There are procedures for activating the image on a new host. You'll find lots of tutes on the Internet.

As for XP (or the software on it), or any other OS or software for that matter, becoming aware of the change in host, it depends. The disk is virtualised, the screen is virtualised. so no change can be detected there. Usually if the software cares, it  tries to use some immutable key, like a NIC MAC address. But even that can be controlled in the host.

I have an activated XP OS which works fine on two machines, although I only use one all the time. At work we once moved a license server that was locked to a NIC MAC address into a VM by cloning the MAC address. The practical consequence of that was the real NIC could no longer be used on the LAN, but the original server was a dual NIC machine so small loss.

[daveyk]

So far, it appears to be working very well.

By default, it set up a 10gB drive for XP.  If I had to do it again, I would change that to 15 or 20 gigabytes.  Drive space is cheap these days.  I put Office 2010 on it under XP and XP complained that it was low on drive space (maybe 500 mbs left).  It does not look like you can change that after the fact, although it shows something like dynamically allocated, so maybe it address a little if needed, but I do not know how much, if any.

I am not sure how much RAM Windows 10 needs to be comfortable.  I know XP, SP3 was 1gbs at minimum.  If I have a Windows 10 machine with only 16gb ram and I allowocate say 3gB to XP, or a Windows 7 32 VM, that probably leaves 11-12gb for Windows 10.  I suspect that should be enough.  I am pricing out an Area 51 machine and they want $200 to go from 16gb to 32gb.  My M6600 has 32gb in it and it does fairly well with GTA-5.  Of course, I would not be using a VM while playing GTA-5 or Civ6.

Now, I have to find a Windows 7 32BIT license or CD to create another VM.  That machine would get used more than the XP one.  I know now to allocate a much larger hard drive space to start with.

Dave

[greenpossum]

By default, it set up a 10gB drive for XP.  If I had to do it again, I would change that to 15 or 20 gigabytes.  Drive space is cheap these days.  I put Office 2010 on it under XP and XP complained that it was low on drive space (maybe 500 mbs left).  It does not look like you can change that after the fact, although it shows something like dynamically allocated, so maybe it address a little if needed, but I do not know how much, if any.

Dynamically allocated means that the file that holds the "disk" isn't the full size on creation and expands as needed for the used "sectors". But the limit is still what you set on creation.

It is possible to extend the hard disk space. In fact it's easier than with physical disks since there is nothing to copy to a larger drive. First you extend the "hard disk":

https://www.howtogeek.com/124622/how-to-enlarge-a-virtual-machines-disk-in-virtualbox-or-vmware/

Then in the XP guest you extend the NTFS partition within the "hard disk". You'll need a third-party tool to do this under XP. I think this can be done with W7 tools, definitely with W10.

[daveyk]

The Windows XP virtual machine does seem to work well, but I tried it practically today.  I can not get it to share a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port.  There are five ports on the M6600 computer.  USB Sharing is setup under the VM configuration (but it shows "0 Active"). So in the XP VM, it can not see even a thumb drive on any of the five USB ports.  With a real XP Boot drive in the machine, it has no problems seeing any of the USB ports.

[edavid]

The Windows XP virtual machine does seem to work well, but I tried it practically today.  I can not get it to share a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port.  There are five ports on the M6600 computer.  USB Sharing is setup under the VM configuration (but it shows "0 Active"). So in the XP VM, it can not see even a thumb drive on any of the five USB ports.  With a real XP Boot drive in the machine, it has no problems seeing any of the USB ports.

I don't think USB 3.0 is going to work.

Did you set up the guest USB controller and create a USB Device Filter?

[daveyk]

USB 2.0 would be perfectly fine.  The VXI chassis that I talk to only due 2.0 anyway.

"Did you set up the guest USB controller and create a USB Device Filter?"

I think so.  It gives you the choice of USB 1.1, 2.0, and 3.0 to share with the VM.  Filter...  You just helped me tremendously; thank you.  No I had not set up a filter.  It seems to be needed on a case-by-case attachment to the port.  I set up a filter for the NI I/O module and the PNY Thumb Drive.   I think that's solved now.  Many thanks.

Dave

[daveyk]

"Did you set up the guest USB controller and create a USB Device Filter?"

I figured out how to get the USB ports to work for a thumb drive.   I am having problems getting the National Instruments Measurement and Automation Control software to see the VXI chassis.  The NI Resource manager is not finding my VXI chassis.   My real XP system on the same bench is seeing the VXI chassis just fine.

The NI software is a pain in the ass to get working to begin with, but I am having more problem that usual in the VM XP Machine.  I was really hoping I could get it working.  The NI software probably needs more direct access to the USB port than what Oracle is giving it.

I will keep experimenting.

[greenpossum]

It's USB packet forwarding so there is no additional access needed for USB protocol compliant devices. But you need to get the IDs right. Some physical devices actually have more than one USB ID.

[daveyk]

The device manager in the XP VM sees the USB-VXI module in the VXI chassis and it is the correct driver version.  LabView Runtime 7.0/7.1 installed (as in a standard XP machine) and the software still can not see the chassis. 

I guess I will not be able to write-off the Area51 laptop - lol.   I do have a very light old Windows 10 dell machine, that I think I will turn in to a Windows XP machine just for this app.  It would even fit in the same computer case as the big laptop.  It's just a slight pain transferring screen shots with a USB Thumb Drive.  Damn, I really was hoping to get the lapview (customer Ultrasonic software) working in a VM.  I guess it was too much of a hope.