Windows 7 XP Mode requires activation in VMware Player 3.0

[matbeard]

The release note for VMWare Player 3.0 state: "Import a Windows XP Mode virtual machine using VMware Player 3.0 and run the virtual machine without being prompted to enter a Windows XP license key." I've tried this and as soon as the virtual machine has opened in Player, the Windows Activation prompt appears because of all the different hardware.

Is there a different procedure for this? The XP Mode machine runs fine in VMWare Player -- but it's no good if it requires activation.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Tom2k8]

An XP Mode XP VM contains a valid embedded license key already activated for working under Virtual PC.

If you translate this VM using VMWare Converter, then you create a completely new XP VM suited for VMWare. So the virtual hardware gets completely different. Therefore the VM triggers reactivation. This is normal behaviour, but very cumbersome to you. If you don't use the original XP Mode VM further, I think Microsoft must allow you to reactivate your translated VM. Upon succesfull reactivation you should limit the use of this new VM only!

You can also try to run the XP Mode VM directly from VMWare. If this doesn't trigger activation, this is the best way to use XP Mode in VMWare, but you cannot profit from the benefits of VMWare.

IMHO, I find VMWare much better that Virtual PC because of:

1. Availability of USB devices within VM

2. Ability to run other OS'es like Linux

3. Ability to run 64 bit OS'es: both Linux and Windows!

4. Greater performance

I can say this because of my experience with both products.

If you doubt, don't try to re-activate, since you have XP Mode. Although with disadvantages, you have a completely legal XP license for Virtual PC.

You can also contact Microsoft if your Windows is a retail version. If you have an OEM version, you need to contact your computer dealer.

[admin]

I don't think the XP mode VM should require activation if it is used according to the licensing agreement, even if the virtual hardware changes. Are you running this VM on a Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate host? Is this the only XP mode VM running on that host?

[matbeard]

Hi,

I'm actually running Windows 7 Enterprise, which does include the XP Mode license. The only problem is the notebook I'm using doesn't have hardware virtualisation, so I can't use the official Virtual PC-based XP Mode.

I've temporarily installed Windows 7 and XP Mode on a system that does have an appropriate processor and then simply opened the VM in VMWare Player 3. I was planning to then move the VM onto my notebook.

It's not a big deal -- I've got an enterprise license for XP SP3, so I'm just using a fresh install under VMWare now. I just wanted to get the 'included' license working if I could.

Interestingly, the free VMLite Workstation product, which is based on VirtualBox, has a method to convert the official XP Mode install file into a working VM that doesn't require re-activation.

Anyway, I'm happy with the XP VM I've got, so I'm not going to waste any more time on this.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[admin]

How did you do the conversion? Does your XP Mode VM under VMware have the following configuration option:

xpMode.enabled = TRUE

[matbeard]

No, I didn't know about the xpMode.enabled = TRUE parameter. I'll give that a try. Thanks.

[JJoel42 · Accepted solution]

In Player 3.0 there is an option in the file menu "Import Windows XP Mode VM". This will appear if the XP Mode .vhd file has been downloaded and installed on your system.

You must use this method to run the .vhd file. It will automatically setup the .vmx file with the correct parameters and create a linked clone of the original file to run from.

[matbeard]

How stupid do I feel!

I didn't see that import option in the menu. I've just gone through installing XP Mode (without opening it with Virtual PC) and then running the import. Works like a charm.

Thanks a bunch!

Mat

[admin]

Don't feel stupid. Several users have reported making very similar "mistakes" when dealing with XP Mode VMs, which usually indicates a flaw in the design of the software. Ah the wonders of time pressure

Just to clarify: How exactly did you "run the import"?

Thanks for the feedback.

[BartZorn]

I run Windows 7 Ultimate on VMware Fusion 2.0.6 on OS X 10.5.8.

I just downloaded XP mode from Microsoft and VMware player from VMware. Installed first XP mode, then VMware Player. VMware player reports 3.0.0 build-203739.

I used the "Import Windows XP Mode VM" option and I tried to run the VM. It popped the following message:

Could not get vmci driver version: The parameter is incorrect.

You have an incorrect version of driver "vmci.sys". Try reinstalling VMware Player.

Module DevicePowerOn power on failed.

I know, It has nothing to with activation, but I was reading this thread.

TIA,

Bart

[BartZorn]

Some more info:

I tried the repair option from the VMware Player setup. It did not report anything. I rebooted Windows 7.

Now VMware Player says:

Unable to open kernel device "
.\vmci": The operation completed successfully. Did you reboot after installing VMware Player?

Module DevicePowerOn power on failed.

Like I said, I did reboot after the install.

Unable to open kernel device, but still operation completed successfully? That does not sound very convincing.

Bart

[admin]

Ouch. That means the approach I suggested isn't going to work. There's a conflict between the VMCI host-level drivers and the VMCI guest-level drivers. Let me see if I can raise the attention of the VMCI group.

[matbeard]

Hi ckousoulis

It was all very simple really. I just downloaded and installed XP Mode from Microsoft. Didn't bother with the Virtual PC bit, as my notebook doesn't have hardware virtualisation.

After running the XP Mode install I simply opened VMWare Player, which was already installed but I don't think the order of installs matters, then picked Import Windows XP Mode VM from the File menu.

I can't remember whether the VM conversion starts automatically or whether you have to point out the location of the Windows XP Mode base.vhd file (C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode) -- either way it's really simple.

The conversion seemed to take forever on my notebook, but thet's because it was creating the VMWare VM in my My Documents folder across a VPN. After moving it to a folder on my local machine it runs smooth (especially after installing the VMWare Tools).

Final configuration, such as Language, Time Zone, Windows Update and, presumably, some form of activation, all takes place when the VM first opens in Player.

Pretty cool really. Why Microsoft made hardware virtualisation a requirement is a mystery.

[admin]

Bart,

You may be able to work around this problem by adding the following option to the configuration file for the Windows 7 VM:

vmci0.present = "FALSE"

That should prevent the guest-level VMCI drivers from loading. The VMware Player installation may still have to be repaired after making this configuration change.

[BartZorn]

Unfortunately, this does not help.

I changed the vmci0.present option to "FALSE", rebooted Windows 7, did a repair installation of VMware Player, rebooted Windows 7 again, but I still get the "Unable to open kernel device "
.\vmci": The operation completed

successfully." message.

Bart

[BartZorn]

Now I found that setting vmci0.present to "FALSE" in the XP mode VM does help. It seems to be running OK.

I suppose I can undo the change to the Windows 7 VM in Fusion now.

Is it possible to explain in simple terms what vmci is?

Thanks,

Bart

[admin]

Is it possible to explain in simple terms what vmci is?

VMCI is the Virtual Machine Communication Interface. See . It is used by VMware Tools.

Normally, when running nested VMs, we recommend that you restrict the backdoor in the outer guest, which prevents the installation of VMware Tools in the outer guest. See . That approach works fine when ESX is the outer guest, since there are no VMware Tools for ESX as a guest, and it also allows you to install VMware Tools in the inner guest.

Your situation is a little different, in that you probably want VMware Tools to work in the outer guest (the Windows 7 VM). With your configuration, however, you should avoid installing VMware Tools in the inner guest (the XPmode VM). They probably won't work properly, and they could make both VMs unstable.

[BartZorn]

Thanks for the explanation!

Sometimes you have to learn the hard way. Indeed, the whole setup was very unstable. The VMware Player VM often hangs with high CPU utilization. The Fusion VM (Windows 7) does not recognize the VMware tools installation anymore, although, for instance, mouse integration still works.

Reinstall of Tools in the W7 VM does not work, because it says that Tools should only be installed inside a VM. Uninstall Tools does not work because it says that it cannot determine which instance of VMware Tools to uninstall.

I have removed VMware Player completely, but that does not solve the uninstall problem. I have done a Registry cleanup, but that also does not help.

Maybe it is time to do a clean reinstall of Windows. That is, after all, what we are used to!

Regards,

Bart

[admin]

I'm sorry to hear that things were so unstable. Did you have VMware Tools installed in both the outer VM (Windows 7) and the inner VM (Windows XP)?

[BartZorn]

Yes, I did. I was unaware that that would raise conflicts.

I will continue my exploration of XP mode on a "real" PC. It has "only" 1 GB memory, but I should be able to get it working. I need VMware player because that PC does not support MS Virtual PC.

But I am not sad about it. I have downloaded Fusion 3 and installed Windows 7 64 bit on my Mac. It seems to run much better then my previous setup.

Regards,

Bart