XP: Physical to Virtual Machine & Shared Boot Drive w Host?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical-to-Virtual

My Thinkpad X61T with recent 8GB DDR2 Upgrade:

I have an XP Pro 3 instance on a HDD able to use 2.99 GB RAM. I can backup bunch of data files to make size smaller.

I have a Win 7 x64 instance on another HDD that can use most of the 8GB RAM.

Now, I'd like to do two things:

1. Virtualize the XP instance and create a Virtual Disk/ Virtual Machine, with all of the Programs & Settings intact.

2. Run this XP on top of Win 7 x64 Host and "Slowly" Migrate Files/ Settings/ MetaData etc. from GUEST XP to HOST machine.

I'd prefer to be able to SHARE "the C: or Boot Drive" between the GUEST & HOST machines (as it is mounted/ running) and be able to COPY some Specific Files/Folders using ROBOCOPY/ RICHCOPY to maintain attributes that could/ easily get lost with any other copy method.

Thoughts/ suggestions, experiences, comparative reviews on using Software/ Tools out of the above listed page and how could go about ding both things.

Please do let me know. Thanks.

If it were me, I'd use DISK2VHD on the XP hard drive, copy it to the Win7 machine, install XP Mode, and fire it up like that.

An alternative, in some ways better, would be to use VMWare's P2V converter on the XP machine, install VMWare Player on the 7 machine, and load the virtual machine on there.

If you're just worried about docs / settings / etc, I'd suggest skipping virtualization and just use Windows Easy Transfer to make a clean break.

This is exactly what I've done to use my older T60 XP Pro image on my T510 with Win 7 Pro 64-bit. VMWare Standalone Converter and VMWare Player are both free.

You might also consider virtualizing an instance of Win 7, too, and begin migrating to this instance. Then when you're ready to upgrade your ThinkPad again, you just install VMWare Player and copy over the Win 7 virtual machine. Hassle free upgrades.

Thanks for replying. Really appreciate it.

I've used VMWare and Virtual PC a LOT in the past, but not used in a long time. I know some functionality for items 1 & 2 exist but wanted to get a comparative idea between the various options LISTED in the Link. I guess I was a little out of touch when I realized so many products existed just to do P to V. I remember only VMWare had that for a while.

For me the ability to "share" & "copy" these files is critical. PS: Also, I may or may not have enough storage on the Win 7 x64 drive so I'll have to run the guest VM from a USB 2.0 HDD. Would that work okay?

PS: What are the pros vs cons of V2HD vs VMWare? (Given the updated specifics of my scenario)

OK, I took a look at your link. Of those I really only have experience with VMWare and Microsoft products. Several of those are enterprise solutions that probably won't be suitable for a one-off thing. I've played with VirtualBox a little bit, but not enough to make a strong statement on it.

With both products, you'll be able to setup networking to allow the physical and virtual machines to talk to each other over the real, or virtual, network. VMWare does have, I believe a way to share those files a little more directly, but I've never done it that way.

An advantage of VMWare is that you can pass through your real hardware to the VM. For example, if you plug in a USB stick, you can pass that directly to the VM. You can't do that with Hyper-V / VirtualPC / XP Mode.

Your USB HDD should work as a host for your VM, but it will slow it down a fair bit.

Good luck!

Are there any PROs to using Disk2VHD. i.e. Using the .VHD format v/s using VMWare for a VM based on .vmdk ?

No serious pros/cons come to mind for your purposes. In an enterprise environment, my deciding factor would be licensing costs, and what infrastructure you already have. For example, if it was for my employer, I would choose to go vmware so I could just dump the image to one of our vSphere servers. At home, since I study for Microsoft Certification and whatnot, I've been using Hyper-V, so I would choose to go the VHD route.

IMHO, VMware is the more polished product, in general, but either will work for your stated needs. The nice thing is that there's nothing saying that you can only take one image, so if you try one and don't like it, you can always just take an image with the other product and try it.

I know that. I've use VMware and VPC both quite a bit, but in the past. Lately, the VHD thing being and open disk standard is interesting.

Apparently, there are some people who've made interesting Mix.. Using a VHD as the Disk for a new VM in VMWare. Successful Mashup.

Allows you to use VHD and VMware as a Platform

Hmmm... that sounds like something to look into. Saves the trouble of converting disks back and forth if you're running in a mixed environment. Thanks for the tip .

I am still running a bit behind on this. But for your reference. These are the links where they are using VHDs in VMWare VMs.

http://ocpbbc.blogspot.in/2012/04/run-w ... mware.html
http://www.file-extensions.org/article/ ... orkstation
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/396653

Best 3 threads on VHD-VMWare experiences that i was able to find.