# bet way to virtulaize an old PC



## Moawia (Aug 14, 2016)

we have an old PC , running windows xp , contains very dusty accounting software , the device is under my desk , the Accounting Manger use remote Desktop to login and do his stuff , one time per month , but ,if this device somehow disconnected by any reason , he will make a scene out of it , So , what is the best way to visualize this system , and get rid of the PC , without any kind of interruptions ?


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## zx10guy (Mar 30, 2008)

You can take a look at this and see if the tools are still available for you to do a P2V migration. There are tools out there that do P2V type migrations but the oldest OS I've seen support for currently is Vista. Are you able to install the software on a more current OS?

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us...tware-assurance-beta-with-jeremy-chapman.aspx


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## lochlomonder (Jul 24, 2015)

As an addendum to zx10guy's post, I've actually virtualized a physical XP machine, which was running some crusty accounting program for a user. I used VMware vCenter Converter to create the virtual machine, and then hosted it on a Win 7 x64 Pro PC by using VMware Workstation Player.


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## zx10guy (Mar 30, 2008)

lochlomonder,

I was going to recommend vCenter Converter but when I looked at the recent user's guide, it doesn't list XP as a supported OS any more. It may still work but officially it looks like VMware dropped support for XP.


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## lochlomonder (Jul 24, 2015)

Yes, I stand corrected, zx10guy. There is a version, but not the newest, which still supports XP. The one I used is V5.5.3. Thanks for pointing that out, since I don't want to confuse Moawia. This link leads to the version in question, which should work.


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## Moawia (Aug 14, 2016)

Thank you very much guys , I manage to virtualize the xp machine and it working like a charm ,

this how I did it :

-converted the machine to VHD using -disktovhd- "free tool" .

-then converted the VHD disk to VDI using -clone VDI- "free tool" .

-run the machine on oracle VirtualBox "free software"

For future readers : pay attention to hardisk interface "SATA , IDE" .


thanks again guys I really appreciated all your suggestions .


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