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After upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 I was troubled to discover that VMware Workstation Pro (12.1.0 build-3272444) will no longer boot my Windows XP Mode virtual machine. It now says:

This system is not allowed to run "Windows XP Mode". The virtual machine will now power off.

So far, the situation is looking pretty bleak as others are saying things like, "XP mode is not supported on Windows 10 but you can go buy an old Windows XP license and install from that if you like." I had some important data on this virtual machine but would really rather not roll-back the upgrade (restore from backup). Is there any way I can modify the VM configuration file to prevent this? If not, is there some way I can mount the virtual hard drive(s) or make this work in another virtualization product like Oracle VirtualBox?

jacobq
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3 Answers3

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I had this same problem and searched all over for a solution that did not require re-installing all the programs I was using in Windows XP Mode. Kevin Keane is correct that the problem is a licensing issue. I had successfully imported my Windows XP Mode virtual machine into VMWare and it ran fine under Windows 7, but gave the "This system is not allowed to run Windows XP Mode. The virtual machine will now power off." error message as soon as I upgraded to Windows 10. Here is a work-around that worked for me. You will need a valid product key for Windows XP (buy a copy if needed).

First save a copy of the .VMDK file from your old Windows XP Mode machine in a safe place. Then in VMWare Workstation Player create a new empty virtual machine, saying that you will install the operating system later, and saying that you want the new virtual hard disk to be stored as one file. Then replace the new (essentially empty) .VMDK file that VMWare has created with your old XP Mode .VMDK file (that is, put a copy of your old file into the folder for the new virtual machine, and re-name it to match the empty file you removed).

When you then start up the new VMWare machine, Windows XP will load but will detect that it isn't activated. Tell it you want to activate via the Internet, give it a valid key, and voila your old XP Mode machine will be runnning under VMWare.

John Philo
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This is a licensing issue (with technological enforcement) more than anything else. Windows 7 Pro and up included a license for Windows XP. This was basically a full copy of XP, except that it was activated through the Windows 7 license.

VMWare and Virtual PC both forward this activation information to the XP client.

Since Windows 8, Microsoft no longer included this XP client, so VMware does not have any license to forward.

Microsoft's official answer is likely going to be "sorry, we can't help you. It can't be done". And if at all possible, your best bet is to migrate off XP, but I know that is often not an option. There were some recent reports about some critical FAA computer systems still running on Windows 3.11!

You say that this suggestion is not acceptable:

XP mode is not supported on Windows 10 but you can go buy an old Windows XP license and install from that if you like.

Unfortunately, you don't have much of a choice, because when you gave up Windows 7, you also gave up your XP-mode license. You must buy an XP license from somewhere - even if you can somehow trick your XP mode copy into running, it would still be considered pirated software.

That said, all is not lost. Here is what I would try:

  • Find a licensed FPP copy of XP, along with the corresponding CD. Don't use an OEM license; that would probably not be legal to use.
  • Copy your XP Mode VM to a safe place (both the VMDK files, and the VMX files, and anything else in the same directory).
  • Create a new VM for this copy. Make sure it has the same hardware configuration as your XP mode version.
  • Install XP. Just a basic install, don't worry about getting any of the settings right, installing updates or so. Also don't activate it at this point.
  • Shut down both the new VM, and the XP mode one.
  • Open both VMX files in a text editor, and compare them. They are simply XML files.

Depending on what you find, you can then either edit the original VMX file, or copy the VMDK files from the XP-mode VM to the newly created one. You will likely need to activate this copy of XP, using the license key for the new license.

If none of these suggestions work, you can also simply install the VMDK files from the XP-mode VM as an additional drive letter into your new XP VM. Of course, you would have to reinstall software at this point, but at least you'd be able to extract the data this way.

I believe you can also mount VMDK files into the host operating system to extract your data, but it's been a while since I used VMware, so I don't know how that is done.

No guarantee that it will work, but it's probably your best bet.

Kevin Keane
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  1. Virtual Box definitely runs XP clients under Windows 10 (I am using it right now)

  2. You do not need to convert even, VirtualBox can natively read VDMK files.

So all you need is to download VirtualBox, install it, and connect your hard disk. I would make a copy of that virtual hard disk, just to be sure, but it should work right away (I did it last three years ago, it was no problem then).

Aganju
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