Can I do this with a disc partition?

[PCH]

Hey guys,

you've helped me with technical problems in the past so I thought I might run this past you before dashing out and buying the wrong stuff.

I have an XP PC which, since it's quite old, has become very slow. I don't have the original discs with me, so a reformat and reinstall is out of the question.

The main thing I use the PC for is MYOB which is a version from waaaay before all the new mega expensive annual subscription options they have today. So I'm keen to stick with it as it does what I want perfectly.

So that's why I have to stick with XP, one of the limitations of which is a max of 4GB of ram.

I was wondering - if I were to get a new faster PC, could I easily create a partition on which to put my XP o/s along with the stuff I have on this PC?

Is that something that's fairly easily do-able?

Appreciate any tips or thoughts guys :)

[AstralTraveller]

Paul,

Yes, partitioning is easy but I'm not sure I understand what you plan to do.

If you don't have install disks and so can't do a reinstall how will a new machine help?

Can't you run the old version of MYOB on a newer OS? Windows 7 (at least) has a compatibility mode that should allow you to run XP-based software.

[PCH]

Hi David,

You've highlighted the very reason why I ask others before leaping in, lol.

You're right of course, I wasn't thinking clearly, so the partition idea seems a non starter.

I hadn't thought of using win 7. I don't have a copy but I dare say I found find one somewhere.

So that could be one solution.

I should have said, the whole point of this is to move away from XP which as you'll know is no longer supported, and has that limiting memory restriction, without having to upgrade my myob. It may turn out to be not possible, but the guys on here often come up with things I hadn't thought of.


And you're exactly right, my MYOB won't run on anything more recent than XP so l have to check first to find out if the windows XP emulation in win 7 will work.

[sil]

Surely you can export the database from myob and import into a newer version or alternate package?you can usually import/export common data formats of most popular "business" programs? plus most popular programs have freeware "clones" out there that may cover what you need. do a search for "MYOB alternatives".

[RickS]

Assuming you can find an installable copy of Windows XP and still have the install media for MYOB then you could run XP and MYOB in a VM on a new computer with a modern version of Windows.

It's a complicated solution, but hey, I'm an old school computer geek and complexity is its own reward :lol: Might be worth investigating if Windows 7 doesn't work out.

[multiweb]

I have two XP legacy machines running in VMware on a Windows 7 Host. You might be asked to reactivate windows XP the first time you run it in the VM though, so if it's an OEM version... :bashcomp:

[PCH]

Hi Marc,

thanks for your thoughts. Your response set me searching thru my disc box and to my surprise I do actually have the original XP/SP3 CD

I don't understand all that jargon about VMware on your Win 7 host though. can you put that in another way for me please?

[PCH]

Hi Rick,

bingo, that's exactly what I was thinking of but didn't know how to put the thought together ;)

I have located the XP/SP3 cd AND the MYOB cd too. Backups have been taken religiously so a fresh install might be the go on a newer faster PC.

I've already asked Marc in the next post, but maybe you could tell me in as simple terms as possible how to get the VMware thing going.

Appreciate your thoughts Rick :)

[PCH]

Hi Sil,

those things would be possible of course, but I have a lot of expense in other areas atm, so if at all possible I was trying to avoid having to shell out for another version of MYOB. I don't need any more functionality from my current MYOB, - I wouldn't be doing anything extra with the newer version, plus it's way more costly than it used to be.

And I don't really want to go down the track of learning another package if I'm honest. I consider doing the little bit I do as a absolute ball-ache that I would happily not do at all if it weren't strictly necessary ;)

[multiweb]

If you have the original CD you'll be ok to reactivate it.

First step is to virtualize your old computer. So if you use VMware you'll end up with a *.vmx file. Then you install VMware on your new computer. Start VMware, open the *.vmx file and run the old computer on your new hardware. First time over it will boot and connect to the drives, graphic card, internet, may (or may not) ask you to activate Windows XP, then it will reboot (the VM). Then you're good to go. Best thing about a VM is that you can snapshot it and go back to a previous working version. (like a system restore). If you need any specifics ask Trevor Gerdes. He's the VMware rep :)

[RickS]

Paul,

Here's a description of how to run XP in a VirtualBox VM: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2139983/compatibility-with-security-how-to-run-windows-xp-in-a-virtual-machine.html

If you search around you'll find plenty of other info and options.

As Marc noted we have a VMWare expert on IIS so it might be worth sending him a PM.

Cheers,
Rick.

[ZeroID]

Use WinPE to take an image of the old PC then reimage to the VM complete.
Or Ghost maybe ( Norton ) ..

[PCH]

Hi Rick,

thanks so much for that additional information. I have been in touch with TG about this and he's very kindly offered to do the honours with VMware.

He provided links to the download screen as well as some instructions on how to go about it. I'll take a look at his links and yours over the weekend and see how I go.

I'm not the world's most techie guy, but hopefully i'm not the thickest either so fingers crossed that it's not beyond me ;)

Thanks again Rick for your help with this

[PCH]

Hi Brent,

thanks for the tip. Does VMware include everything needed 'after' the stage where I've made a system image?

[ZeroID]

Sorry, can't help there, I'm no VM Ware expert but I use WinPE a lot to reimage PC's at work. It's very old school software, all DOS commands and may need a Win7 32 bit disk to repair start up ( any Win install disk will do, it's doesn't require a license to repair ). Not sure how well it would work to a VM Instance but worth a try.
The other more GUI friendly is Norton Ghost but that needs a license to run but it uses WinPE as it's engine anyway.
There are heaps of other disk cloning apps out there if you want to look around. Or disk migration software as it is also called. Some are even free.

[gary]

Hi Paul,

Yes it does.

If you happen to have a second networked computer, you can run
VMware on it and use the "Virtualize physical machine ..." wizard
from the pulldown menu.

https://pubs.vmware.com/workstation-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.ws.us ing.doc%2FGUID-87B43C18-06A0-4055-B82D-EA0E81047B45.html

On your old XP machine you will load a small piece of software
called the VMWare vCenter Converter Standalone, which you simply
download from VMware over the net.

Once the wizard starts, it will ask you for the network name of the
machine you want to virtualize and your account name and password.

The wizard will then create a folder on your machine which you can
basically treat as a blackbox but it contains the virtualization of your
old XP machine. It has files inside that are a clone of your entire old
file system.

You don't need to horse with low level utilities like Norton Ghost.

The folder that contains your new virtual machine can now be run
on VMware. It will boot like a real computer within a VMware workstation
program. You can select fullscreen mode and it will be like sitting in front
of the original XP machine again.

You can copy the folder to another physical computer and run it there.
You can archive it on a removable USB hard drive if you don't plan on
using it often. It can basically go on living forever.

You can upgrade your underlying physical machine to the latest and
greatest operating system without worrying about upsetting any
legacy apps on your virtualized XP machine.

Best Regards

Gary

[PCH]

Hi Gary,

Thanks so much indeed for taking the time to put together this comprehensive description of the process from start to finish.

It's certainly appreciated and I now have much more of an understanding of whats required.

And thanks so much once again to all who contributed their thoughts to this issue. It was/is something that I will have to address very soon and I now know it can be achieved for very little cost. A perfect result!

All the best folks :)

[PCH]

Hi Gary et al,

ok, so now I have an idea how VMware works.

Regarding my MYOB specifically, I currently do backups to MYOB weekly as fresh data is input. This typically goes to the MYOB\data directory which is mirrored daily to a NAS configured as a RAID array.

Operating from within the VMware environment on a second networked PC, would I be able to continue backups as normal?

This may sound like a bit of a daft question, but there are still a couple of uncertainties floating around in my mind.

For instance, - so far the backups go by default to the MYOB\data directory, which (after installing VMware) would be contained within the virtual VMware folder sat on the new computer. I'm thinking that this folder probably can't be edited or added to in any way once it's been created. So any future MYOB backups would probably not go to where they used to go.

Have I got that right?

Thanks for your patience ;)

[gary]

Hi Paul,

You will be able to backup your MYOB exactly as you did in the past.
If you had a MYOB\data directory on your previous machine, that
is where the backups will go on the virtual machine.

Think of the virtual machine being exactly like a real physical machine.
It has networking interfaces, it can map network drives, and so on.

So the mirror of your backup can go to the NAS drive as before.

Windows and your apps don't even 'know' they are running on a virtual
machine.

As more files, such as the backups in your MYOB\data directory, are
created, the files inside the virtual machine folder simply grow in size.

The virtual file system is a real file system itself.

If you so choose, you can even backup the entire folder that constitutes
the virtual machine. This has the advantage that should the physical
machine on which it is running one day have a failure, you can be up
and going again with your entire virtual machine running on a different
physical computer.

Best Regards

Gary

[PCH]

Thanks so much Gary - your thoughts and help are very much appreciated.

Best wishes,

Paul

[PCH]

Hey guys,

time to resurrect this thread as the time has come actually get this job done.

To recap, - what I'm hoping to do is use VMware to make a virtual copy of my old XP PC. The virtual drive folder will be created on the local XP PC although once I've confirmed everything works my plan is to move it to a newer faster PC.

Needless to say, I didn't get far before I ran into problems :)

The very first issue I have is that, on page 19 of the manual, the minimum OS supported by VMware is Vista.

Can anyone tell me positively that this works with XP? In earlier discussions, neither Gary nor Trevor seemed concerned when I mentioned my machine was XP, so I think I maybe worrying unnecessarily. However, it would be nice to have it confirmed before I land in the poop.

Thanks in advance :)

[gary]

Hi Paul,

There is the host OS and the guest OS.

You can run XP as a guest.

However, in more recent editions of VMWare Workstation (e.g. 12.X)
the oldest host OS supported is Windows 7 and you need to have
a 64-bit CPU.

If you already have the newer, faster machine and it and the older XP machine are networked,
you can run VMware on the newer machine and clone the XP machine onto it.

Older versions of VMware, such as 10.x, could run on XP as the host.
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/info?slug=desktop_end_user_computin g/vmware_workstation/10_0

Best Regards

Gary

[joe_smith]

I have the latest version of Oracle Virtual box and it runs XP out of the box. Just load the Guest Additions from the Devices menu to make it run better.

I just loaded up a copy of my old XP and it works under windows 10.

Virtual box is a pretty cool program :) I use it to test the latest Linux Distros and have no problems with it at all.

[Regulus]

If you have the MYOB disks, then you can instal it on Win7 having exported the DB to a backup disk, that you can then import.
Or do a Win7 upgrade, and that shouldn't effect your MYOB.
You could then use this Win7 drive as the C: drive in another PC, or do a mirror backup of it as an ISO on a DVD, and put it on the C: drive of your new PC.

Trev

[Tandum]

Is imaging XP to an SSD drive an option for you. That'll make the box about 10 times faster. You image the existing drive to an ssd disk and just swap them over. It brings an old PC back to life.

[Renato1]

Might it not be easier to just speed up your old PC with the XP on it?
It shouldn't be any slower than when you first got it.

Go to Uninstall Programs, and uninstall any programs you don't recognise. or which you may remember slowed down your PC after you installed them.

Download the free Winpatrol program, and install it without activating protections(or deactivate them in the Prefernces menu, imcluding its own autoamtic Start-up). Then go to its list of Start-Up programs, and stop all but the essential ones from starting up on Start-Up. Look at the active services, and change the priority on those associated with programs that you aren't actually using when just started up, but which have started up anyway.

Download Spybot Search and Destroy, install it without advanced features, load updates, and scan the computer for annoying bits of adware that may be on your machine.

Finally, if you have complex anti-virus/internet security on the computer, uninstall it and don't use the internet on that computer - or if you must - install small free antivirus programs like AVG or Avast.

As for transferring XP, I don't know VM Ware, but Oracle VM Virtual box certainly supports XP.
Regards,
Renato

[PCH]

Hi Renato, Robin, Joe, Trevor -

Thanks so much for your thoughts on this predicament of mine. Those suggestions are certainly something I can consider following up on.

I have to say I didn't have much luck with the VMware option yesterday as it fell over immediately, but at least now I have options, so thanks again.

Renato, i can do those things easily enough. Robin, what program would you use to clone the drive onto an ssd? It needs to be able to make it bootable obviously.

Thanks again anyway guys, your help is much appreciated :)

[Renato1]

I just remembered one thing. You'll probably see lots of programs saying to speed up your PC by cleaning the redundant Registry entries. I haven't had much luck with those programs, as they usually stuffed something up on the computer.

You can attempt them and see if they work on your computer, but only do so if you first set a Sytsem Restore point and, just in case, do a back-up of the Registry (from memory, Spy-bot Search and Destroy lets you do such a back-up) so that you can fix any stuff-up which makes things worse rather than better.
Regards,
Renato

[Tandum]

Paragon Drive Copy 11 installs/runs on WinXP. It will make an exact copy of the existing disk to an SSD. The SSD needs to be big enough to hold everything from the existing disk. If you decide to go that way, PM me and I'll point you at a copy. Your pc would need to have SATA ports and SATA power plugs to install an SSD.

If you need an XP disk, I still have copies of all the versions they made. You'd need a product key to suit the version though.

[PCH]

A big shout out to all those who offered help and suggestions with this issue.

In the end I tried, in order, VMWare and Oracle Virtual Box, neither of which seemed to want to install easily. Probs me doing something wrong - I totally get that.

But not wanting to drag it out forever, I then went the SSD way as suggested by Tandum to just speed up the machine. That worked a treat and Robin's (Tandum) help with the cloning software and advice ensured it went flawlessly.

So I'm a happy camper once again and hopefully the PC will last a while longer.

Cheers :)