Retiring Windows XP to VMware Virtual Machine

Background:

After many years of working with Windows XP OS, I recently (and finally) upgraded my OS system to Windows 7. I liked the XP system quite a lot, however, with so many recent software applications that were only working under newer OSs (e.g., Adobe Lightroom 4), I realized that it was the time to move on. I did a “clean” install on my current C: partition, which obviously meant that I lost all my programs and settings as installation went through the partition formatting. Another challenge was to maintain my disk partitioning scheme as I am used to have four partitions:

  1. Drive C: the main and boot partition with system maintenance software
  2. Drive D: productivity software (Photoshop, Lightroom, Office, …)
  3. Drive E: web and internet software
  4. Drive F: data only

Since C: partition contains Windows registry, links and registration info for the remaining software on those other partitions is lost. Having so many customizations and applications working well on my XP machine, I did not feel like losing them all at once. This is where the virtual machine comes in.

A little bit of background – virtual machine is a software implementation of a computer system (real physical computer) that runs programs like a physical machine. It can be thought of as a computer in another computer. It comes handy when one wants to test a software outside of the main computer system or wants to keep older computer setup (or operating system), like in this case.

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mpatek April 15, 2012 Filed in: → Computer, Software ‹No Responses ›