Running XP as a virtual machine - suggestions wanted

I want to run a Windows XP virtual machine, and not pay for any licenses (I already have a valid XP license for installing on the VM). What software would you recommend? Tips on performance and installing are also welcome.

Solution 1:

VirtualBox is just fine, and free.

The latest release offers:

• 3D acceleration;
• SMP support;
• USB pass-through;
• Shared folders;
• Remote Desktop Protocol;
• USB over RDP;
• Seamless mode.

You can find installations instructions in the user manual.

Solution 2:

For the best performance I would recommend keeping the VM on a separate hard disk or at least a another partition. Also when creating the VM select the option to use fixed-size storage as using dynamically expanding storage can cause slow down as the VM file can fragment.

If possible use a computer with the Intel or AMD hardware virtualization extensions. SecurAble from http://www.grc.com/ (Windows only) can tell you if your computer has the virtualization extensions.

AS for memory XP works well with 256mb of memory but I would recommend using 512mb or more.