We have mostly Macs and a few older PCs due to software/equipment limitations.
We have been using Fusion to run XP on the Macs and have just added a couple additional Windows 7 virtual machines.
My question is, can we run Workstation Player on a Fusion virtual machine hosted on a Mac? I want to be able to open XP inside a Windows 7, 8 or 10 virtual machine.
Technically, yes, it is possible - assuming your host hardware can support the resources to run it. You may need to read posts in the Workstation forum for "nested virtualization". Realize that the VMs will run *much* slower than if they were not nested. Is there any particular reason you would not want to keep running the XP guests the way you currently do, and merely add the additional Win7 and newer guests to run along side them?
We have a single piece of software that only runs in XP or earlier Windows OS. It does what we need flawlessly and is "bulletproof". Replacements that would run in newer Windows OS start around $3500 and are not as stable.
I understand that. I'm saying you already have that existing Windows XP virtual machine which you are running on Fusion now. Why would you not continue to do so, instead of nesting it under a different Windows VM?
Hi,
If not completely clear. You can take the Windows XP virtual machine that you now run under VMware Player and run it directly under VMware Fusion.
No need to install VMware Player within your Windows 7/8/10 VM for that.
Virtual Machines from VMware Player work perfectly fine under Fusion.
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Wil
Wil, from the OP's original post
"we are currently using Fusion to run Windows XP virtual machine"
So, they are ALREADY doing it! That's why I asked in the first place.
Gotcha, missed that.
Guess I do not understand OP's use case then.
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Wil
I am wanting to try the "nested" machine on my Mac to test it before we implement on the PC's. We have a lot of experience using Fusion on Macs. I want to mimic using Workstation Player to run a virtual XP machine in a Win 7,8,10 environment to work through all the learning curves before we actually use it on a PC.
Hi,
That works fine for testing.
I use this same scenario quite a bit myself, but expect it to be a bit slow, so OK for testing, not when you actually want to do much in the Windows XP guest.
Also note that you might want to enable virtualisation on the outer guest (your Windows 7/8/10 VM)
With the Windows 7 (8/10) guest shut down, not suspended, go to settings -> Processors -> Advanced Options and put a checkbox in "enable hypervisor applications"
That way you can even start 64 bits nested guests, not only 32 bits ones.
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Wil
If your Win 7 VM's are Pro or higher, you can install XPMode within the Win 7 VM and have XP Pro running quite nicely. I'm surprised they still have the links up but you can get the installer from Microsoft here.
