Is there a step-by-step guide that would copy a Windows XP machine over to a Windows 10 system and run it inside a virtual machine?
Not sure about a step by step guide. It can be done though. I've done this quite many years ago. The Windows XP I had was installed using volume licensing media and I'm not sure this will work with an oem installed computer. I don't have a step by step tutorial but I can outline what is needed and how I recall doing it.You need an USB drive with enough space to hold the c drive of your XP computer. You also need to find a copy of windows PE and install that onto a USB drive (can be the same as above if big enough). You need to find a tool called disk2vhd from Microsoft. You need to add the tool to the Windows PE image. Windows PE used to be a free download in the MDT toolkit. Use google to find them.For this to work you also need to prepare your Windows XP computer to only have Windows drivers. This means going through all devices in the device manager and change to a generic Microsoft driver wherever possible. This is an intrusive step and it might affect performance and stability. It might be good to have a ghost image or simular done beforehand or actually I recommend it.When all devices have been changed boot your XP computer using the PE USB and run the disk2vhd tool. The resulting vhd should boot in Windows 10 hyperV. If not you have missed a devicedriver or you may need to run sysprep on your Windows XP before creating the vhd, if that is the case you should read up on sysprep before playing around with that. There is, I think, a command that resets plug and play.Good luck!
Which Windows is best?
I will compare my answer between windows 7 and 8.1In terms of boot time - windows 8.1 is much faster compared to windows 7.In terms of security - windows 8.1 is much better than windows 7 and it also allows user more control over the applications and process through improved task manager and other important settings have been categorized under PC settings.In terms of interface also windows 8.1 is more advanced than windows 7In terms of start menu search functionality - I prefer windows 7 over windows 8.1 because start menu was better categorized in 7 than 8.1 i.e. it was easier to locate items and programs in windows 7.In terms of speed - windows 8.1 is far better than windows 7Also windows 8 has touch capability and works way better with touch screen.So overall windows 8.1 is better than windows 7.Initially it will take some time to get accustomed to windows 8.1 but after that it will be much easier.
What are advantages to using Ubuntu on Windows instead of a pure (Whatever) Linux distro on computer?
By “Ubuntu on Windows”, I suppose you refer to some sort of virtual machine like VirtualPC, or VMware, or QEmu. The advantages of running an OS in such a virtual machine (you can make the same point for running a Windows VM on Ubuntu, or any other combination of host or guest OSes) are several:Convenience of setup. You don’t have to (re)partition your disk(s) to accomodate the new OSConvenience of use. You have the guest and host OS running in parallel on the same machine. If you use mostly one platform but depend on another for a few non-portable applications, a VM may be the way to go.Flexibility. Machine images are basically files. You can copy them, backup them, share them, or get not just a generic Ubuntu (or other) system but an image that has already been tailored and configured for what you want to do.Security. It is an oversimplification and needs some configuration to make it actually work, but in general, whatever evil (malware, buggy software, etc.) affects the guest OS won’t affect the host OS.Drawbacks are:Performance. VMs tend to be slow, and regardless of their merit, you are effectively running two OSes. You have two kernels, two filesystems, likely two desktop environments, etc. That’s twice the bloat and twice the memory footprint.Compatibility issues. The guest OS is running on a simulated computer that has not the same access to your hardware than your real computer. You can often configure some passthroughs to make a specific piece of equipment connect ”directly” to the guest OS, but it’s often buggy and tricky (it requires the host OS to play nice, which it often won’t), and for some devices that are used by the host OS (like a video card) it is often practically impossible.
How do I use Vmlite's VBoot to boot from VMware's .VMDK file physically?
VBoot allows you to boot a physical computer from a single virtual disk file in VHD/VMDK/VDI/Raw format. Each file contains a single operating system. It supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, 2003 Server, 2008 Server and Linux 2.6, 32- and 64-bit. VBoot makes multiple boots extremly simple. You simply copy a single file to a physical computer, and it can boot to the OS contained inside that file. VBoot provides native XP VHD boot, Vista VHD boot, Windows 7 VHD boot, Linux VHD boot, 2003 server VHD boot and 2008 server VHD boot.VBoot is very easy to use, you can install a new operating system to the virtual disk file from OS cd/dvd or .iso files, then boot the computer using the generated virtual disk file.VBoot for the first time also enables you to install Windows from an iso file, instead of using a physical cdrom drive.VBoot supports differencing disks and very easy to use. You can easily recover to a prior state, or make the session immutable where all system changes will be discarded after reboot, and thus making it ideal to deal with any computer virus or spyware.You can use our MyOldPCs software to convert your physical machine to a virtual disk file, you can either run the virtual disk file as a virtual machine using VMLite Workstation, or use this same file to boot your new physical PC directly to achieve even better performance.
Where can I get a virtual machine with Windows XP Service Pack 3?
Legally?Let's assume that you have Windows 7 and for some reason you don't want to use official XP mode - you still have a license to use it any other way.The steps here would work with VirtualBox under any other system(windows 8, osx, linux) but would be illegal, so don't do that if you don't have windows 7!I assume you have basic knowledge how to use VirtualBox, so I won't go step by step with creating VM.1. Install latest VB2. Download XP mode: Download Windows XP Mode from Official Microsoft Download Center - but don't install it!3. unpack it using your fav program(I prefer 7zip)4. copy the vhd file(the largest one, without extension) to your VM's dir and create new VM using it, with suggested XP settings for ram and cpu.I can't really remember which settings are required and which aren't, so I'll just write what I would have set:Chipset: PIIX2Extended features:[enabled] Enable I/O APIC[disabled] Enable EFI[disabled] Hardware clock in UTC[enabled] Enable PAE/NXHardware Virtualization: all enabledStorage controller: IDE, Type:PIIX4, enabled 'use host i/o cacheaudio: ich ac97network:NATserial ports disabledusb ports enabledYou can tweak and play with settings later, after it works, every time trying for a day or so that it won't break activation5. Install BIOS file that will work with out-of-the-box activation from here:VMLite XP Mode Plugin for VirtualBox and Virtutal Box 4.0 (if the link would stop working, just google "virtualbox xp mode activated bios" and find another one, most likely from vmlite. Unpack it into VM dir and run the command:VBoxManage.exe setextradata your-vm-name "VBoxInternal/Devices/pcbios/0/Config/BiosRom" "c:\vmlite-bios\pcbios.bin"where your-vm-name is name of the VM and c:\vmlite-bios\pcbios.bin is path to the bios file6. Run the VM and install VB guest additionsThat's all! Go and enjoy fully activated and legal XP mode!Just remember, doing so under anything other than Win7 is illegal.
What is the benefit of having two partitions on an SSD, one for Windows 10 and the other for personal data?
Except for a recovery image, I can see no good reason for partitioning any drive, much less an ssd.Those who claim it’s easier to backup, neglect the fact, that with modern files systems, you can easily create “virtual partitions”_ (a term I personally made up) just by making a file and putting all the data you think you need to back up into that file.Thise files can have sub files and will for most practical purposes, do the same thing as a partition.I suppose a case could be made, if your os is on a separate drive, you can clone the image of that to save your operating system settings.I’m not certain saving your settings is a good idea on a new install, but there is at least that consideration, though for most, that’s really not an issue
My new HP laptop (1TB) has 2 partitions. C is 900 GB and D (recovery) 100 GB. Is there any way to split the C drive into multiple partitions without losing files and windows?
What you should do is resize partition. If your OS is windows 7.Click here Free Partition Magic Windows 7 to resize partition.Windows 8: How to resize partition Windows 8/10 with free partition magic?Shrinking a basic volume you can also Using the Windows interface In Disk Manager, right-click the basic volume you want to shrink.Click Shrink Volume.Follow the instructions on your screen.Using a command line Open a command prompt and type diskpart.At the DISKPART prompt, type list volume. Make note of the number of the simple volume you want to shrink.At the DISKPART prompt, type select volume