Running Windows XP partition directly in VMWare

[nuguns101]

Hello, I have looked around the internet to see if this was possible, but couldn't get any information.

I'm currently running Windows 7 and my Hard drive also has a working Windows XP Professional Partition. Is there a way I could run this XP partition in vmware while booted to Windows 7? I've learned that I can make the partition into a VM file, but I prefer to keep it as a partition if i was to choose to boot to XP.

Thanks for the advice.

[devzero]

it should be possible.

i used a Windows2000 partition from vmware on linux for example. that was years ago....

first you need to make sure that Windows7 won`t use the XP partition, as you would screw up ntfs filesystem on ntfs partition if it`s being used twice at the same time

then you need to make sure, that XP won`t use the Windows7 partition when bootet.

then you need to configure a virtual XP VM and point to the disk where the XP install resides.

then you need to make XP bootable in VMWare. This could be a little bit tricky. It`s the same as if you pull the disk and put into anther system. You may have that "inaccessible bootdevice", so you need to install the appropriate drivers in XP so it can boot in VMware.

be careful when booting the XP, as you may boot into Windows7 twice - and that would corrupt the Windows7 related partitions, as they get mounted twice at the same time.

[continuum]

the physical disk feature is broken with Windows 7 as well as with any Windows after Vista.

In other words - you can't run a Windows-system from a physical disk when the host is NT 6 or higher

There exists a nasty workaround but this should only be used by advanced users - search the forum here.

Also complain at VMware if you have a support contract - this should at least be added to the release notes

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[nuguns101]

Thanks for your help guys. I'm not a strictly speaking computer person, so in my mind, a feature like this would have made a lot of sense. Are you aware of any other software that would have this ability?

[continuum]

Hi - many new users think that running a guest from a real partition is the BIG thing.

But - actually a VM which uses a phyical disk behaves exactly like a regular VM with a virtual disk.

You will NOT be able to use the 3d graphics of your original XP for example ... even when booting from a physical disk this VM still uses regular virtual hardware.

This means your Video or Soundcard - which may be hi-end products when running natively are replaced by the low-end virtual hardware.

Multiboot setups with running a XP natively and then next time running it as a VM was really nice with Windows 2000.

But with newer Windows and product activation it is no fun anymore.

Though I personally use physical disks in a VM a lot I do not have any dualboot-setup - I use this feature only to access data directly to do repair work or things like that.

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VMX-parameters- VMware-liveCD - VM-Sickbay

[devzero]

>Hi - many new users think that running a guest from a real partition is the BIG thing.

when i used such setup years ago, i think i was really proud of it. it was a big thing at least for me

>But with newer Windows and product activation it is no fun anymore.

that´s true, but mind that in companies, often WPA free XP is being used.