Nowadays, new programs and new operating systems, such as Windows 7, are increasingly being installed on computers. There is nothing wrong with this, except for one BUT! Some of your favorite games, or necessary programs may stop working. To solve this issue, there is special software that allows you to work, say, in Windows 98, directly in windows window 7, it’s the same as if you had some Internet explorer running. This miracle allows you to do - What is it?
Virtual PC virtual machine
this is a program that emulates physical computer. A great variety of virtual machines have already been created; in our article we will consider one of the best - Virtual PC. It's no surprise that virtual machine, like the physical one it emulates, has:
- Bios
- CD- Rom – could be simple iso image, or your real CD-Rom
- HDD – for a place hard drive there will be allocated space on your actual disk.
Just like on a real PC, you can install any operating system, any programs on a virtual machine, in general, conduct any tests and tests. Even in case of unforeseen situations, the most that can happen is that your virtual machine will stop working. It’s all about reinstalling...
Installing and starting a virtual machine
Installing a Virtual PC virtual machine is no different from other various programs. It's simple: download, unpack, run the setup file, reboot the PC. If everything was done correctly, then in the lower right corner of the screen there should be such an icon:
Double-click on it with the left mouse button, and the following picture appears:
In the picture above, 2 operating systems are already installed in the Virtual PC virtual machine. And so let's move on directly to installing some operating system to a virtual machine.
We are going to install some operating system. To do this, we need to first configure the virtual machine. Let's show with an example how this is done.
We launch our Virtual PC virtual machine and click on the new button.
Click next and see the following picture:
Select the Create virtual machines item and move on. On the next screen we will be asked to enter a name, for example, I enter the name of the operating system that I am going to install. In our example, Windows 98.
Then a list of operating systems appears before us, with pre-installed settings. In general, you need to select one from the list, the one you are going to install (in our case, win98) and click next.
Don't change anything in the next picture, just click next.
We indicate the storage location of the disk and its size.
Finish. This is how we finished the preliminary setup of Virtual PC, before further installing Windows 98.
The first thing you need to do is download the operating system image, or have installation disk. In our example, I will show how Windows 98 is installed from an image, which can’t even be counted on various torrent trackers. So…
Select a pre-configured system (read above) and press start.
Then click on CD/Capture CD Image. Here you need to select your image, which you downloaded (in advance) to install the system on a virtual machine.
Many people at this stage experience at least difficulties. Here's the thing. Before installing windows 98 they forget that they need to format the disk, even if it is virtual. Let's show it with an example.
The program will be used Partition magic 8.02. Loading it...
After loading the program, click right click mouse to the disk and select formatting. Next, enter everything as in the screenshot above. Click OK. Next, click on apply, wait for the operation to complete successfully, and reboot.
Next, we start the installation (on the windows ME screen, there is no difference during installation with Windows 98). There is no point in describing the installation, because... then you just need to select the time, enter serial number, in general, everything is in Russian and everything is simple. As a rule, installing Windows 98 lasts about 10-15 minutes, sometimes faster, sometimes slower - it all depends on the settings, computer, programs and the location of the stars... =)
Well, you've installed it virtual machine, launched it, saw the desktop, and... And necessary files then no. What to do? You start frantically rummaging through the machine’s settings, searching in Goggle, Yandex. I suggest the easiest way to transfer a file to HDD virtual machine, or copy any file from the virtual machine’s hard disk to a real physical disk. In general, any exchange of information from a real operating system to a virtual one.
Click start/control panel. Further system and security/administration/computer management/disk management. Here's a picture:
Then on the right click on additional actions and select attach virtual hard disk.
vhd files, which are images (in which the virtual machine is installed) of the Virtual PC program - can be easily opened and connected to Windows 7, like a regular hard drive. Thus, you can easily transfer any file or upload a game to a virtual machine. Next, launch the virtual machine, and voila... you have the necessary files in front of you.
Running games on a Virtual PC virtual machine
Many old games no longer run on new operating systems. This makes me a little sad. Well, really, don’t keep it at home old computer, for the sake of one 10MB game, even if it’s your favorite and the only one you play. This problem can be easily solved through a virtual machine, as mentioned earlier. Let's look at launching the game from A to Z, using the following example: popular game, How.
And now you are happy as a boa constrictor, because... downloaded your favorite worms. We launched the installation, it’s already 99%, you’re waiting, you launch it and bang... you see the following picture:
And no emulators or checkboxes in Windows, such as running in win 98 compatibility mode, help. What to do?
- Install a virtual machine (read above)
- Tune.
- Install the system in which the worms are running on the virtual machine
- Run the game in a virtual machine
We have already done the first 3 points, they are described in detail (see above). Now we do this:
- We copy the fully downloaded game to the hard drive of the Virtual PC virtual machine. How to do this is written in the section above ).
- Launch Virtual PC, and already there install the game.
- Do not forget install directx in a virtual machine, It is not always there by default.
- Remains only start the game, and again enjoy that unforgettable atmosphere.
That's all. This is enough to be able to play old game, or run a program that suddenly refused to work on new windows. Let's end here...
By the way, you can download Virtual PC from the following link:
PS To exit the virtual machine window, press right alt. And in order to launch the virtual operating system in full screen, press alt+enter.
P.P.S. All the best.
If before installation VMware systems If you already have two or more operating systems installed on your computer (such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000) and you used one of the multi-option boot loaders to select the OS when starting the computer, then after installing VMware, the desire naturally arises do not install the OS on virtual disks, but run an already installed OS from a physical disk on a virtual computer. This feature was not available in the first versions of VMware, but is now available. The VMware system can even use boot loaders that were previously installed on the computer. The boot loader will run inside VMware and allow the user to select the operating system to run on the virtual computer. You can reinstall, for example, Windows 98 on a physical disk, and then run it in a virtual machine.
VMware currently only supports the use of real disks for IDE devices (while a file simulating a virtual disk can be located on either an IDE or a SCSI disk). When working with physical disks, you can use all three modes of working with disks: “with writing”, “without writing” and “with lazy writing” (see the section on configuring a virtual machine). However, using an OS installed on a physical disk comes with some features that must be taken into account when setting up. In particular, in the operating system you need to create two different hardware profiles, one for the OS running on real computer, the second - for virtual computer.
Each virtual machine consists of the following set of virtual devices:
- Virtual CD-ROM
- Virtual IDE and SCSI hard drives
- Standard PCI graphics adapter
- Standard floppy drive
- Intel 82371 PCI Bus Master IDE controller
(includes primary and secondary IDE controllers) - BusLogic BT-958 compatible SCSI host adapter
- Standard 101/102-key keyboard
- PS/2-compatible mouse
- AMD PCNET Family Ethernet adapter (PCI-ISA)
- Serial ports COM1-COM4
- Parallel ports LPT1-LPT2
- Sound card compatible with Sound Blaster 16
This set of virtual devices differs from the set of devices of a real computer (with the exception of some devices, for example, the processor) and does not depend on the latter. If the operating system is installed directly inside a virtual computer, then during the installation process all these devices are correctly detected. If the OS is preinstalled on a real computer, it was configured based on the set of devices that actually existed on this computer.
Microsoft operating systems (including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0) use the concept of a “hardware profile”. Each profile defines a certain set known to the system devices. If two or more profiles are specified, the user in boot process you are asked to choose one of them.
Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows 2000 OS thanks to Plug mechanism and Play Compliance is checked during the loading process real devices the specified equipment profile. A mismatch causes the mechanism to detect devices and install drivers to start again. Although this process completes successfully in most cases, it will significantly slow down your download.
Windows NT does not support Plug and Play and uses a hardware profile to initialize devices. The discrepancy between the actual dialing and what is specified in the profile causes an error message to be displayed and the device to be disconnected (more precisely, not connected).
From the above it follows that in order to run one of Microsoft’s operating systems inside a virtual machine, you need to create a separate hardware profile to simplify the boot process. Therefore, the process of creating and configuring a virtual machine that uses an operating system installed on one of the physical disk partitions has some differences from the process of creating a virtual machine that works with virtual disks.
- First, install the operating system that you want to run on the virtual computer on the physical IDE disk of the real computer (of course, this is not necessary if the OS has already been installed previously).
- Before starting the VMware system, boot this OS (meaning one of the OS Windows family) on a real computer and create two hardware profiles. To do this, open the "Control Panel", go to the "System" item and switch to the "Hardware Profile" tab. There is already at least one profile there, which is called “Current (Original configuration)”. Click the "Copy" button and name the new profile, for example, "Virtual Machine".
- For Windows NT only:
Disable some devices in the newly created profile. To do this, open the "Devices" item in the "Control Panel", select the device to be disabled and press the "Stop" softkey. You need to disable the audio card, MIDI, joystick, Ethernet card and other network, as well as USB devices(you only need to disable them in a newly created profile, don’t miss it).
If you have installed and intend to run Windows 95 or Windows 98, then you do not need to disconnect the devices. They will be disabled automatically at the OS boot stage.
- Reboot your computer and start Linux (if you are using VMware for Linux).
- Make sure that the physical disk partition that is allocated for use by the virtual desktop operating system is not mounted on Linux. Delete or comment out the corresponding line in the file /etc/fstab, and in this session, unmount this partition from the command line.
- Set access rights sections of hard disk.
Partitions of the hard drive from which operating systems are launched in virtual machines, must be both readable and writable by users running the VMware system. On most Linux distributions, physical disks (such as /dev/hda, /dev/hdb) belong to the group disk. If this is the case, then you can simply add VMware system users to this group. You can also simply change the owner of the device. Please carefully consider security issues when choosing how to share disks.The simplest and most acceptable way is to give VMware system users access to all physical devices/dev/hd , which contain operating systems or a bootloader, and rely on configuration files VMware. This provides the boot loader with access to the files needed to run the operating systems (for example, LILO requires read access to the /boot file on the Linux partition to run non-Linux operating systems, which may be located on other partitions or other disks).
- Configure the virtual machine for the newly installed operating system (using the Configuration Wizard or Configuration Editor). When performing the configuration procedure for real disks, consider the following points:
- When choosing a type virtual disk select "Existing Partition".
- For the disk partition in which the corresponding operating system is located, set the "read/write" option (to do this, click on the "Partitions..." softkey in the Configuration Editor window corresponding to the desired hard drive). For the Master boot record (MBR) and for other partitions of the disk(s), it is recommended to give read only permission, since, for example, the LILO boot loader must be able to read the file to boot the operating system /boot from the Linux partition.
Note: Let us remind you once again that if you allow a virtual machine to write to a partition that is simultaneously mounted on file system Linux, there may be unintended consequences (see section Cautions. Therefore, before allowing the virtual machine to write to a partition, make sure that the partition is not mounted in Linux on the host computer.
- Launch VMware and check the created configuration.
To do this you can give the command vmwareOpen the menu item "Settings > Configuration Editor" and make sure that at least one raw disk description file is specified in the IDE disk configuration. The names of these files are of the form
.hda ,.hdb , etc.VMware uses a special description file for each physical IDE device. This description file contains permissions information that controls the virtual machine's access to each partition on the physical disk. This mechanism helps prevent accidental attempts to run an operating system already running on the host computer inside a virtual machine, or to run an OS inside a virtual machine for which the VM was not configured. This same description file also prevents accidental writes to the physical disk by malfunctioning OS or applications.
You can check other configuration options, especially those for which you have accepted default values - for example, you can change the amount of memory allocated to the virtual machine.
- Turn on the power of the virtual machine (the "Power On" button).
The VMware system starts the Phoenix BIOS and then reads the master boot record boot disk (master boot record - MBR).If you have configured your system using multiple IDE drives, VMware BIOS will try to boot the OS from these disks in the following sequence:
- Primary Master
- Primary Slave
- Secondary Master
- Secondary Slave
If you have multiple SCSI drives, VMware BIOS boots in order of SCSI device numbers.
If your system is configured with both SCSI and IDE drives, VMware BIOS first tries to boot the OS from SCSI devices, then from IDE disks. Devices are polled in the same sequence as mentioned above.
The order in which disks are accessed during the boot process can be changed through the "Boot" menu item in the Phoenix BIOS of the virtual machine. To do this, after powering on VMware, press the F2 key to get to the BIOS menu.
- If you have several operating systems installed (multiple boot), then select the desired OS in the same way as you did before installing the VMware system (from the menu offered at boot).
- During the OS boot process, a configuration selection menu should appear (if, of course, you have created a separate hardware profile for the virtual computer):
Rice. 18.70 Enter the number corresponding to the virtual computer configuration (in the situation shown in the figure, it will be 2) and press the key. As you continue to load the OS, you will receive some error messages and additional delays in the boot process, but this is normal.
- For Windows 2000 only:
After you start Windows 2000 (as an OS on a virtual computer), you will see a Found New Hardware dialog box asking you to install new driver for video controller. There is no need to do this. Click the "Cancel" button to close the dialog box and refuse the proposed restart of the computer. Windows 2000 will automatically detect and install the driver for network card AMD PCnet PCI Ethernet.
After this, you must install the VMware Tools for Windows package (on a virtual computer). After the SVGA driver from VMware, Inc. is installed. (included with VMware Tools for Windows), reboot Windows 2000 in the virtual machine. After the reboot, you can change the screen resolution of the virtual machine ("Display Properties/Options").
If you want to use sound card When working with Windows 2000 on a virtual computer, read the instructions for connecting it on the company’s website: VMware and Sound.
For Windows 95/98 only: You will see the New Hardware Found dialog box. Windows will prompt you to search for drivers for it. For most devices, drivers are already installed when you install the system, but in some cases you may need an installation CD-ROM disk. Windows will ask you to reboot several times while installing new drivers.
In some Windows cases may not recognize the CD-ROM drive when prompted to search for drivers. In this case, it is recommended to try to specify the directory as the path to the driver C:\windows\system\ or refuse to install the driver for this specific device. Connecting such devices can be done later, after the system begins to recognize the CD-ROM correctly.
After Windows installs virtual devices and drivers for them, you need to remove non-working devices from the system that correspond to real hardware. To do this, use the "Control Panel > System > Devices" tab. Select the non-working device and click on the "Delete" button. Just keep in mind that you must first select the hardware profile that matches the virtual computer so as not to remove devices that work when the OS starts from the physical disk.
For Windows NT only: After the OS boot completes, review the boot log to identify any devices that did not connect. You can disable them in the "Virtual Computer" profile using the device manager ("Control Panel > Devices").
- Make sure all virtual devices are working correctly, especially network adapters. Remember that the hardware composition of a virtual computer differs significantly from the set of devices actually available on your physical computer.
For Windows 95/98 only: If some virtual device is missing, use the "Control Panel > Add new hardware" option.
- Install VMware Tools (if you haven't already done so). VMware tools will run on both hardware configurations, but will have some impact only on the Virtual Desktop configuration.
Notes: 1. The next time you boot Windows on a real computer using a hardware profile that matches the actual hardware configuration, some virtual devices may appear in the device list. You can remove or disable them using the same method described above for disabling real devices from the hardware profile corresponding to the virtual computer.
2. If, when configuring a virtual computer, you set the real disk to “undoable” mode, then when you reboot the OS, you will either have to agree that all disk operations performed inside the virtual machine will be saved on the disk, or refuse to save changes. The fact is that in this mode, all operations with the disk were actually only stored in a special .redo file, and no actual writing to the disk was carried out. For more information about disk operating modes, see the section "Configuring a virtual machine".
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I somehow needed Windows 98, but it’s almost impossible to find drivers for this OS on modern computers. The solution turned out to be quite simple - install the operating system on a virtual machine. The choice fell on VirtualBox, since I needed access to usb connectors from the guest system (so that you can download information from the flash drive).
The article itself turned out to be quite long, so I had to break it into 4 parts:
- Creating and configuring a virtual machine
VirtualBox - quite simple program, and preparing it for installing Windows 98 is not difficult. To do this, launch the program and click the “Create” button. In a new window, enter the name of our virtual machine, select the type ( Microsoft Windows), version (Windows 98) and click the “Next” button. The next step is to select the volume random access memory. For experiments and just trying, 64 Megabytes is enough. But since most modern computers have much more RAM, and I don’t have a particularly greedy nature, I allocated 512 Megabytes for this system. And again click the “Next” button.
Technical digression:
Although in modern computers There is more than enough RAM; for a virtual machine with Windows 98, it is not recommended to allocate more than 512 megabytes, as this can lead to various floating and not very easily solvable problems.
The next step is to select a hard drive. But since a hard drive was not created for this virtual machine, we will create it now. Click the familiar “Next” button. I left the disk type as default, since this is the native format of the VirtualBox machine. The next step is to select a storage format. I chose dynamic because this format takes up less space when stored.
The last step in creating a machine is to specify the hard drive size. For Windows 98, two gigabytes is enough, but I need it for work, so I allocated a little more - 15 gigabytes.
All that remains is a fairly simple step - setting up a ready-made virtual machine. To be precise, you don’t need to configure anything here - you just need to specify the image of the boot disk with Windows 98, saved in iso format.
To do this, select the newly created virtual machine and click the “Configure” button. In the settings menu, go to the “Media” item, select the optical drive (it says “Empty”) and look at the “Attributes” panel. Click the icon there optical drive and choose our image.
Once upon a time, I tried to install Windows 2000 for myself and see what it was like. Now I just want to show you how to install it. Naturally, I will not install it on my PC or laptop; there is a cool invention for this - a virtual machine. I'll show you with an example. Well, let's find out how to install windows 2000?
So, let's say you started the installation. Before our eyes we see a blue window where we are offered:
- Proceed with installing Windows 2000 (press Enter);
- Restore Windows 2000 (press R);
- Exit the installer. If you change your mind, then press F3.
We need the first option. Click Enter.
We agree to the license agreement by clicking the button F8.
A partition appears where you need to partition the disk. If the area is unmarked, press "C".
Select the volume for system disk. I think 10 GB would be more than enough. This is Windows 2000. But I have a lot of memory, I’ll leave it at 20 GB. Press Enter.
An unformatted “C:” section appeared in the disk management window. To format it, press Enter.
Select an option "Format partition in NTFS system".
The formatting process has begun.
The process of copying files to disk begins immediately. This is not yet an installation.
The computer restarts.
Windows 2000 installation progress
Launching Windows 2000, or rather installing this operating system. Wait a bit while everything initializes.
Finally a window appeared with a choice of language. Since the window interface is Russian, I won’t change anything. I'll just click Next.
Set the name and organization. Name required.
Enter the product key. I already had it in my archive as a document. You should have it there too. If you downloaded from there. You can try to rewrite the key from the screenshot, like mine.
Here are the keys:
W3P8R-TQW69-YX2KY-M4GR8-6WFHJ
GTH3Q-2MKP3-DPK7B-X4PB7-GX99J
In the next window, enter the computer name, and if you want, the password.
We indicate the date and time, as well as the time zone. You can check the box “Automatic transition to daylight saving time and back.”
The installation of network components has begun.
Window network parameters asks to indicate typical parameters or special. In our case, we choose the first option.
Mark the first point "No, this computer is not on the network or the network does not have domains".
The installation of components has begun, or rather, complete installation Windows installation 2000.
End of installation.
Finally, after rebooting, the desktop appears. In short, everything is according to the standard - Trash, My Documents, My Computer and Start. What else do you need for comfortable work? Well, of course not a browser Internet Explorer who knows what version.
Now you know how to install Windows 2000 on your PC. Good luck to everyone in general. If you have any questions please ask. I think we won't install Windows 95. This version is edge. Nobody uses it anyway, but you can just look at the installation progress.
Virtualbox is an intuitive virtual machine, that is, a program with which you can run additional operating systems as part of the main one installed on your hard drive or SSD. Windows XP is an old, but time-tested and, in a sense, still relevant, lightweight and familiar operating system. By installing it on a virtual machine, you can solve a variety of problems.
What is it for
First, a little terminology. The operating system you are currently running and reading this text on is called the host. The OS installed and running within the host system is called a guest OS. Installing “ex-pi” on Virtualbox can serve different purposes. Even if your working Windows system XP, a guest “copy” can also be useful. Here are some popular uses for this feature:
- Installing and launching Windows programs in a different environment (Ubuntu, Debian, etc.).
- Using old applications and games that do not work on new systems (7, 8.1 or 10).
- Testing potentially dangerous applications (the guest OS is isolated from the host system unless shared folders are created).
Here are at least three reasons why installing Windows XP in a virtual machine is not a fool's errand. In the end, you can simply practice for the sake of self-education. Virtualbox program cross-platform and runs on most operating systems. The only rule for its correct operation is to have a good supply system resources. That is for Windows startup XP as a guest system must have at least 500 MB of unused RAM and a more or less unloaded processor.
Step-by-step deployment of the guest OS
First of all, you need to download Virtualbox from the official website. Let's assume that your host system is one of the latest Microsoft operating systems, 8 or 10. Installing Virtualbox is no different from installing any other program, except that during the process it may display a message stating that the software has not been tested with this version of the operating system. Don't pay any attention to him. It may appear up to 3-5 times, just continue with the installation.
The program interface on different OSes is slightly different, but in general it looks something like this:
You must have a CD or image Windows disk XP in ISO format. But first you need to create the virtual machine itself. For this:
- Click the “Create” button.
- In the drop-down menus, select the OS type and version, and also give the machine a custom name (nothing depends on it except the name in the window title).
- Click the “Forward” button.
- Now specify the amount of RAM available to the guest system. The default value is enough to run Windows XP itself, but not enough to run programs. If your amount of RAM allows, move the slider to at least 512 MB, and preferably to 1024 (the green zone is the most comfortable value for joint operation of the host and guest systems).
- Click Forward.
- Create a virtual hard disk for the guest system. Everything is indicated in the screenshots.
Important to note: By selecting a fixed hard drive, you will automatically create a file of the specified size on your real hard drive. The dynamic hard disk will grow in proportion to the Windows XP installed on it (with the installation of new programs and so on).
- After clicking on the “Create” button, the virtual machine will be ready.
You can look into the settings by clicking on the “Configure” button.
For example, in the Display section of the Display tab, you can add video memory to the virtual machine or enable 2D or 3D acceleration to improve video quality or use 3D applications. But usually the default settings are enough to run Windows XP.
Now make sure that the OS disk is in the drive or the disk image is in some folder. Click the “Run” button. The following windows will open:
If you are using a disc in your drive, just click Continue. If the image is in .iso format, then go to the folder icon and select your image and also click the “Continue” button. The installation of the operating system will begin. It is no different from what can be produced using real hardware. For those who have forgotten, here are the highlights.
Formatting will begin next. virtual hard disk, copying installation files and reboot, during which you SHOULD NOT press any buttons. This is the only way to guarantee that the actual installation of the OS on Virtualbox will open, and the preparation for installation will not begin again, as in the screenshots. Ideally, after rebooting, you will see something like this:
Entering the key, computer owner name, time zone and other information varies depending on which Windows XP you have, so this question will not be considered.
There is only one point worth noting. The Virtualbox window may capture the mouse cursor (not always) and it becomes unavailable for other actions. To “return” it, hold down the right Ctrl on the keyboard and click the left mouse button.
After the installation of the system on Virtualbox is completed and you see the desktop, install the guest OS additions for better resolution screen and full operation of the “guest” operating system.
Install and reboot.
Also, if you need shared folders between the host and guest system, do the following:
Select the desired folder. For example, this is a folder called Downloads, located in Documents. Save the result and open command line in the guest system. Enter the command:
net use x:\\vboxsvr\Downloads
where x is the drive letter and Downloads is the name of the folder created in the previous step. Press Enter. If successful, network drive X will appear in the “My Computer” section, through which files located in the Downloads folder of the host system will be available.
This completes the installation. You can use Windows XP in parallel with your main operating system.
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