TechTips - How to Install and Run Windows XP in Windows 7 for Free with VMware Player

When Windows 7 came out I quickly moved to the newest version of Windows (I practically ran screaming from Vista) and I haven't been disappointed by Windows 7 yet. However, I do have one problem, my laptop is older and doesn't support the Windows XP mode, so some of my older applications don't work in Windows 7 and I can't use the XP mode to make them work. I found the perfect solution in VMware Player, a program that allows you to build and run a virtual machine within Windows 7.

With VMware Player you can quickly and easily build a virtual machine, install your operating system and get working quickly. In my case I installed Windows XP Pro so I could use some of my older games and programs that aren't compatible with Windows 7. I also like the ability to have an XP machine around so if I need to help someone trouble shoot in XP I can look at the OS while trying to help them out.

VMware Player is a FREE piece of software offered by VMware, you simply need to sign up for a free account and request the software. They send you an email with the download link and then you are free to install it and use it as you please. You must also activate the software but you simply do that by clicking the activate button contained in the email they send you with your download link.

Once you have the program downloaded we will first walk through the install, setup and configuration. After we have the software installed and ready we will setup our first VM and talk about the different methods of installing, the configuration of the setup and finally all of the settings you can apply to each of your virtual machines.

To install the software follow these steps:

Double click the installer file (VMware-player-3.1.0-261024.exe)

Click Next (standard welcome screen)

Choose the location you want to install the software by clicking the Change button (default is C:\program files\VMware\VMware Player\ (which is what I used and should be ok for most users))

Click Next

Product updates page, you can choose to update the software when it loads (I choose to do this, if you don't want to uncheck the box that says Check for product updates on startup)

Click Next

Help improve VMware Player page (I choose not to allow this, uncheck the box if you don't want to send them anonymous info and if you don't mind then leave it checked, personal choice really)

Click Next

Icons that will be created on your system (I left all three options, you can pick and choose as you please)

Click Next

Final page telling you all options are set and it's about to install

Click Continue (it will install the software - depending on your system this can take a few minutes)

After installation you will be prompted to reboot (you can do it later if you want but must do it before you use the software)

Click Restart Now

The software will install on your system with your selected options, once the software is installed and your system is rebooted, we will walk through the steps to create our first Virtual Machine (I will be using XP pro as my demo software for this guide). To continue you will need some sort of OS for the setup of a VM, it can be in the form of an ISO or on a CD/DVD. You can also setup a VM without installing the OS, but we will talk about that in the following steps.

Now that your software is loaded you will want to create your first Virtual Machine and install and OS on it so we can test it out. To create your first VM follow these steps:

Double click the VMware Player Icon

Click Yes, I accept the terms (standard license terms page)

Click OK

Click on Create a New Virtual Machine (This is your welcome page you will always start here when opening VMware Player)

The new window that opens allows you to choose how you will install your OS, there are three methods, from a CD/DVD installer disk, from an ISO file, or you can choose to install the OS later. I will explain how to install via two methods, first with an ISO file and second with a CD/DVD installer disk. Now you will want to follow these steps:

Click the Installer disc image file (iso)

Click Browse

Navigate to your ISO file

Highlight the file

Click Open

Set your options (you can enter the product key so you won't have to later, you can enter a user name and password so you don't have to later, if you don't set these settings now you will have to during the installation of Windows XP)

Click Next (if you didn't enter a product key it prompts you that you must enter it during the installation)

Click Yes (or click No and go back and enter a product key)

Name your virtual machine (anything you want I made mine XP Pro Test)

Set the location of the VM (I choose a folder I created in the root of C:\ called VMS)

Click Next

Set the Disk size (this is the amount of disk space you want to allow the VM to use for its virtual hard drive I choose 50GB, this is only limited to the size of your hard drives free space)

You can choose to store you VM hard drive as a single file or many files (in case you need to move it many files is suggested but I am not going to so I left it as single file)

Click Next

In the final window you have some other options but we will set these later

Click Finish (VMware Player will now build your VM and start to install the Windows software)

If you will be installing from an installer disk you will want to follow these instructions:

Click the Installer Disk Option (it will default to your master CD/DVD drive)

If you have more than one CD/DVD drive you will want to click the drop down box

Choose your CD/DVD drive with the disk in it

Click Next

Set your options (you can enter the product key so you won't have to later, you can enter a user name and password so you don't have to later, if you don't set these settings now you will have to during the installation of Windows XP)

Click Next (if you didn't enter a product key it prompts you that you must enter it during the installation)

Click Yes (or click No and go back and enter a product key)

Name your virtual machine (anything you want I made mine XPTEST)

Set the location of the VM (I choose a folder I created in the root of C:\ called VMS)

Click Next

Set the Disk size (this is the amount of disk space you want to allow the VM to use for its virtual hard drive I choose 50GB, this is only limited to the size of your hard drives free space)

You can choose to store you VM hard drive as a single file or many files (in case you need to move it many files is suggested but I am not going to so I left it as single file)

Click Next

In the final window you have some other options but we will set these later

Click Finish (VMware Player will now build your VM and start to install the Windows software)

Once the VMware Player installs XP Pro it will power the machine on and be ready for you to use. There is one last thing we will want to do before using the machine. The top of the Virtual Machine there is a drop down labeled Virtual Machine, click this and choose Virtual Machine Settings (you can also just hit CTRL+ D and it will open this for you as well). This is where we will edit the settings for our virtual machine(s).

There are two tabs Hardware (control what resources your VM can share with your PC) and Options (change settings to the configuration of the OS of the VM). These settings are pretty self explanatory; each one lets you change some portion of the VM and the OS on the Virtual Machine. The only one I am going to mess with is under the Hardware tab, and that option is memory.

I have 4GB of RAM in my machine so I am going to set this to 2GB so my machine runs a little better. The default is 512MB but you can set this to whatever you choose, as long as you have enough RAM on your system to support the amount you allocate for the VM. Check out all the rest of the settings and do some testing to make your Virtual Machine run better.

Well I hope this guide helps you to get a free alternative for building Virtual Machines on your PC so you can run multiple OS's on your machine.