Is it possible to get a Windows XP SP3 Hyper-V virtual machine properly working on Windows 10 Pro?

Question

Objective summary: to have a Windows XP SP3 Hyper-V virtual machine working correctly on a Windows 10 Pro host.

Scope and constraints:

• The host OS should be Windows 10 Pro. Other hosting operating systems or versions are out of this scope.
• The virtualization hypervisor should be Microsoft Hyper-V. Other hypervisors like VMWare or Virtual Box are out of this scope.
• The Windows XP virtual machine is expected to be working correctly. A Windows XP with missing drivers is not acceptable.

This question is not a duplicate in the Super User community.

I started with the recommendations enumerated on the "Get official Windows XP virtual machine for Hyper-V" question. I was able to get a new Windows XP SP3 virtual machine installation. However, there was a problem with this installation, as it could not finish successfully. Several critical drivers were missing, and this makes the virtual machine unusable.

Then, I found the missing software drivers problem in the form of the "No VGA and sound driver installed in XP guest machine in Hyper-v virtualization" question. Unfortunately, this question remains unsolved. The responses provided so far by the community are either incomplete, inconclusive or out of scope.

The more research I conduct on this topic, the closer I get to the conclusion that this is not going to be achievable. I would like feedback from the community to confirm or deny this thesis.

Thank you.

Solution

Yes. The installation DVD/ISO needs to have SP3 slipstreamed in it. Older versions without SP3 won't install.

• You'll need to use a Gen 1 VM, the basic hardware will work fine with XP.
• Disable dynamic memory
• Home versions will not work under Hyper-V, you'll need the Pro version.
• Limit you RAM for the install to 1 to 2GB, you can increase to 4GB after the install completes
• Limit your vCPUs to 1 or 2 for the install.

Integration Components

After the installation completes, you'll need to manually install the Integration Components (IC). (Same as the answer I provided on the other post you linked) You will need to get the IC from an older version of Hyper-V. I have them on my wordpress site here: https://smudj.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/vmguest-iso-for-older-windows-oses-in-win102016/

You can also download Hyper-V server from Microsoft and extract them, if you want them from a trusted source.

The 2012R2 version of the IC should auto-install after you mount the ISO to the dvd drive and install all the necessary drivers.

Unknown Devices You will see 2 unknown devices. Per Microsoft these are expected and can be ignored for OSes earlier than Windows Server 2012 R2. (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2925727/unknown-device-vmbus-in-device-manager-in-virtual-machine-for-avma)

XP on Hyper-V is definitely achievable and generally trivial to install.

One other note, audio will require you to use RDP to connect to XP and the host system must have working audio.

Comments

[Lesair Valmont]

I confirm this solution is working. I still have two unknown devices as mentioned, but I will overlook them. Thanks.

[Daniel]

If I could upvote this twice I would. Your link to the guest additions proved invaluable, thank you