Resolved Can You Run XP In A Virtual Enviroment Without A License

I was playing around with XP on VirtualBox recently, and the operating system did not ask me for a product key. That is unusual, because XP has always asked for the key after a fresh install in a non-virtual setting.

 

I have two Win 8s and a Win 2008 server in VBox and they both required licenses to install, so that might be a new interesting fact if licenses are'nt required for XP

BTW, when you run vbox with XP are you able to access a USB?

Thanks

 

I deleted the virtual XP setup before I could try any USB connections.

I've been mainly tinkering with NAS4Free in a virtual environment in case I decide to convert the old XP computer into network attached storage.

 

I noticed that VBox had no built-in operating systems available beyond XP. Maybe that means that no license is needed anymore for XP (and other legacy operating systems).

For what it's worth, XP never connected to the web. You have to configure the VBox Host Only Network, and I haven't quite figured that part out yet.


EDIT: Oops, I meant to put a question mark at the end of my thread title.

 

Confirmed.

I just saw the popup asking for activation.


Anyone know how to get XP to access the web on Virtual Box? I have bridged the network adapter, but in Windows 7 Network & Sharing Center, it sees the Virtual Box Host-Only Network but it says "no network access ".

 

Thanks, Tony, I'll check it out.

 

I still can't get virtual XP to access the web.

I changed the settings from bridged to NAT, but nothing seems to work. I'm searching the Virtual Box forum, too, but can't seem to find anything that works yet.

I'm sure there is probably a simple fix that I am overlooking.

EDIT: I assume the only networking changes I need to make is within the virtual machine? For what it's worth, I did change Internet Connection Sharing in the LAN properties of the host machine. I checked the first box and selected VirtualBox Host-Only Network from the drop-down menu.

 

I reset the LAN properties of the host machine back to their original settings.

I ain't quite sure how I did it, but XP is finally connected to the web. I changed the bridged adapter setting back to NAT, and I added a NAT network under global network settings and rebooted.