Transfer T43 XP image to VMware Workstation

[pjk]

I always struggle forever with computer upgrades because I never seem to have the time to re-install every app and utility and re-tweak them all for the new system, and I'm loath to attempt to "automagically transfer" them with various utilities because those utilities seem to either break the apps or mess up the new OS install in various ways, or just don't transfer what I need to be transferred.

So I hit upon the idea of just virtualizing my trusty T43's factory XP image and running it under VMware Workstation 8 on my T400 (Running Win7 Ultimate x64) until I can get around to transferring the important stuff. Sure beats carrying two laptops around.

Which all seemed to be progressing smoothly until I tried to boot the new VM and discovered that the "hardware change" is causing it to want to be re-activated. I tried the commonly referred "virtual bios" workaround in the .VMX file: "smbios.reflectHost = "true"", but this didn't seem to help.

I don't even care about buying another XP license if I have to, I just want it to work. Can anyone give me some hints on this?

TIA,

Phil

[K0LO]

Phil:

Download VMWare's VCenter Converter here: http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ and use it to convert your physical XP machine to a VMWare virtual machine.

[pjk]

Phil:

Download VMWare's VCenter Converter here: http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ and use it to convert your physical XP machine to a VMWare virtual machine.

Converting to a VM isn't the issue. The issue is the fact that the OS running in the converted VM detects a different hardware environment and then needs to be re-activated. (and won't work at all until that happens)

From what I have researched, this is a common problem for "OEM" XP installs, which are locked to particular characteristics of a hardware vendor's BIOS. Apparently there are some "How-To's" out there for some virtual environments (ie VirtualBox) about how to emulate a particular manufacturer's BIOS within the VM, to address that issue.

I was going to try an XP "repair install" to see if that works (hoping it doesn't lose a bunch of my OS/app settings), just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[crashnburn]

Phil:

Download VMWare's VCenter Converter here: http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ and use it to convert your physical XP machine to a VMWare virtual machine.

Converting to a VM isn't the issue. The issue is the fact that the OS running in the converted VM detects a different hardware environment and then needs to be re-activated. (and won't work at all until that happens)

From what I have researched, this is a common problem for "OEM" XP installs, which are locked to particular characteristics of a hardware vendor's BIOS. Apparently there are some "How-To's" out there for some virtual environments (ie VirtualBox) about how to emulate a particular manufacturer's BIOS within the VM, to address that issue.

I was going to try an XP "repair install" to see if that works (hoping it doesn't lose a bunch of my OS/app settings), just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I am trying to do something similar. Did you have any luck getting this done in the right fashion? If so, how?

[EasyMac308]

I don't think reactivating it should be a problem. If you have to call in, just say you had a hardware failure and had to replace the motherboard.

[pjk]

I don't think reactivating it should be a problem. If you have to call in, just say you had a hardware failure and had to replace the motherboard.

I don't think you understand the problem.

The reason this is an issue is that the OEM XP installation on Thinkpads is customized and checks specific characteristics of the system BIOS before it allows you to login. If those hardware characteristics are not present, it remains unactivated and you cannot login.

I found some documents on how to emulate a Thinkpad BIOS within VirtualBox to address that issue in that environment, but I don't believe that's possible with VMware Workstation.

I also tried an XP repair install, which didn't work either. (Can't remember details now, it was a while back)

I had a very positive experience installing/running VirtualBox on another Win7-x64 machine here recently, the guest OS in that case was Windows 2000. I may put that on my T400 too rather than screwing-around with VMware trying to get the XP VM from my T43 to work - I don't have time for that nonsense.