Not able to Install Win XP on VMWare 5 in OSX 10.7.5

[mercutiom]

I'm trying to install Windows XP onto a Mac Pro running OSX 10.7.5.  I'm using VMWare 5.0.2 and I'm getting the following BSOD:

Windows XP Home Edition Setup

=========================

Setup cannot find a previous version of Windows installed on

your computer. To continue, Setup needs to verify that you

qualify to use this upgrade product.

Please insert one of the following Windows product CDs into the

CD-ROM drive: Windows XP Home Edition (full version),

Windows XP Professional (full version), Windows 2000 Professional,

Windows Millennium, Windows 98, Windows NT Workstation 4.0,

Windows 95, or Windows NT Workstation 3.51.

• When the CD is in the drive, press Enter
• To quit Setup, press F3

I have a full version of Home Edition in the CD/DVD drive, yet the installation will not proceed.  Is there a way around this, or some other setting I should be checking to bypass this?  Or do I need to (finally) upgrade to Mountain Lion in order for this to work, which would be acceptable, but doesn't make any sense to me.

HELP!

Thank you

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

I don't think this issue is related to the host OS. For whatever reason the Windows installation "thinks" it is an upgrade!? How do you try to install the OS? Did you select "Easy install" while creating the VM? If yes, try to install the OS without using the "Easy install" feature to see whether this makes a difference.

André

[mercutiom]

I just tried that and got the same result.

Any other suggestions?  If it helps, I'm installing XP from scratch.  I'm not upgrading, I'm not using the Boot Camp option.  It's a brand new computer that I upgraded to Lion last week, and I'm just trying to get XP installed to run a few necessary programs.

Thanks

[a_p_]

The new message looks like the VM is having an issue with reading from the physical CD ROM drive!? I'm not too familiar with MACs, but I guess you should be able to workaround this issue (until somebody else provides a solution) by creating an ISO image from the installation CD and use this for the XP installation.

André

[ColoradoMarmot]

That really looks like upgrade media.

To the OP:  Remember, you'll also need (if I recall properly) at least SP2 or SP3 to install XP.