I have a .ova file(virtual machine export format) containing an XP SP3 VM and imported with VirtualBox 6.1.16 and the VM seems to boot but then hang up taking like 80% of CPU resources. Also it seems never reach the point that populate the host RAM. I need to run a really old program that runs only in 16bit and 32bit OS. The virtualization is enabled in BIOS.
141 Answer
These are my recommendations after a lot of trial and error:
- Make sure VT-x/AMD-V hardware virtualization is enabled in your bios.
- Make sure Hyper-V is not enabled, i.e. through Hyper-V itself, Antivirus like core isolation of Microsoft Defender, Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL2), etc.
- Choose under Settings -> General -> Basic -> Windows XP (32-bit)
- Enable VT-x/AMD-V for your VM, i.e. Settings -> System ->
- Motherboard -> PIIX3 Chipset, I/O APIC enabled
- Processor -> PAE/NX and Nested VT-x/AMD-V enabled
- Acceleration -> Interface: Default, Nested Paging enabled
Please note that if you installed Windows XP using only 1 CPU core, Windows will enable a uni-core kernel (= you can only use 1 core in the future). So you better use 2 or more cores while installing, then you can assign as many cores later as you want.
- Select as graphic card: VBoxVGA. Please note that it does not support 3D acceleration under VirtualBox 6.1 and newer. Use an older Virtualbox version if you need 3D acceleration. Not sure, if it was fixed, but to enable 3d acceleration under older VirtualBox versions, you need to install the VirtualBox guest extensions in safe mode.
- I did the installation of Windows without Sound card and added ICH AC97 later, after installation of VirtualBox guest extensions. If the VM does not really need sound, I disable the audio, since I gain like 8 seconds during boot. Otherwise sound works. I could not figure out the cause for the delay.
The Windows XP installation order that I used, was as follows: Upgrade to SP3, maybe with the help of NTliteVirtualBox guest extensions Updates, e.g. WSUS Offline Updatemanual installation of missing updates (hard to find, since the update function doesn't work any longer, also for IE8 with TLS1.2 upgrade)
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