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Objective summary: to have a Windows XP SP3 Hyper-V virtual machine working correctly on a Windows 10 Pro host.

Scope and constraints:

  • The host OS should be Windows 10 Pro. Other hosting operating systems or versions are out of this scope.
  • The virtualization hypervisor should be Microsoft Hyper-V. Other hypervisors like VMWare or Virtual Box are out of this scope.
  • The Windows XP virtual machine is expected to be working correctly. A Windows XP with missing drivers is not acceptable.

This question is not a duplicate in the Super User community.

I started with the recommendations enumerated on the "Get official Windows XP virtual machine for Hyper-V" question. I was able to get a new Windows XP SP3 virtual machine installation. However, there was a problem with this installation, as it could not finish successfully. Several critical drivers were missing, and this makes the virtual machine unusable.

Then, I found the missing software drivers problem in the form of the "No VGA and sound driver installed in XP guest machine in Hyper-v virtualization" question. Unfortunately, this question remains unsolved. The responses provided so far by the community are either incomplete, inconclusive or out of scope.

The more research I conduct on this topic, the closer I get to the conclusion that this is not going to be achievable. I would like feedback from the community to confirm or deny this thesis.

Thank you.

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    Expecting a 17 year old operating to system to work perfectly in Hyper-v windows 10 may also be asking a lot. There is no reason you can’t run a perfectly functional windows xp in hyper-v. Use generation 1, IDE controllers and legacy network adapters. That’s it. Typically nobody cares about high end video or sound in a virtual machine.
    – Appleoddity
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 21:14
  • @Appleoddity: Unfortunately you can't choose the virtual hardware with Hyper-V. I do not care how old or entry level the virtual hardware is, as long as Windows XP SP3 has adequate drivers for them. This is not a problem for hypervisors like VMWare or Virtual Box, but with Hyper-V you are stuck with the virtual hardware provided by the Hyper-V version you work with.
    – Lesair Valmont
    Commented Apr 22, 2018 at 23:45
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    The first thing you are asked when creating a virtual machine is if you want it to be generation 1 or generation 2. You can then go in to the virtual machine settings and ADD hardware and choose legacy network adapters and IDE controllers. You can absolutely choose your hardware exactly the same as other hypervisors, albeit possibly less choices.
    – Appleoddity
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 0:04
  • "as it could not finish successfully"-- what do you mean by that?
    – Biswapriyo
    Commented Apr 23, 2018 at 2:19

1 Answer 1

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Yes. The installation DVD/ISO needs to have SP3 slipstreamed in it. Older versions without SP3 won't install.

  • You'll need to use a Gen 1 VM, the basic hardware will work fine with XP.
  • Disable dynamic memory
  • Home versions will not work under Hyper-V, you'll need the Pro version.
  • Limit you RAM for the install to 1 to 2GB, you can increase to 4GB after the install completes
  • Limit your vCPUs to 1 or 2 for the install.

Integration Components

After the installation completes, you'll need to manually install the Integration Components (IC). (Same as the answer I provided on the other post you linked) You will need to get the IC from an older version of Hyper-V. I have them on my wordpress site here: https://smudj.wordpress.com/2017/03/02/vmguest-iso-for-older-windows-oses-in-win102016/

You can also download Hyper-V server from Microsoft and extract them, if you want them from a trusted source.

The 2012R2 version of the IC should auto-install after you mount the ISO to the dvd drive and install all the necessary drivers.

Unknown Devices You will see 2 unknown devices. Per Microsoft these are expected and can be ignored for OSes earlier than Windows Server 2012 R2. (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2925727/unknown-device-vmbus-in-device-manager-in-virtual-machine-for-avma)

XP on Hyper-V is definitely achievable and generally trivial to install.

One other note, audio will require you to use RDP to connect to XP and the host system must have working audio. enter image description here

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    I confirm this solution is working. I still have two unknown devices as mentioned, but I will overlook them. Thanks.
    – Lesair Valmont
    Commented Apr 25, 2018 at 13:05
  • If I could upvote this twice I would. Your link to the guest additions proved invaluable, thank you
    – Daniel
    Commented Jan 20, 2021 at 15:30
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    An extracted vmguest.iso for Windows XP guest os is available in Internet Archive: archive.org/details/Hyper-V_vmguest
    – Roland Pihlakas
    Commented May 27, 2023 at 2:03

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