WinXP on Qemu

My experience with using Qemu to run Windows XP. Please read all notes below before trying any of this.

The result is a working installation of Windows XP, including sound and network. The graphics is more than 1024x768@24bits. No 3D acceleration. The performance is good enough for desktop use and simple games, may not be good enough for gamers. Doom Shareware for DOS works at default settings.

Host used:

Xubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
QEMU emulator version 6.2.0 (Debian 1:6.2+dfsg-2ubuntu6.8)
Host CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-11900F
Host mainboard: Asus PRIME Z590-A
Host graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

Command to create disks:

  qemu-img create -f qcow2 winXP.img 3G
  qemu-img create -f qcow2 data.qcow2 1G

Command to run qemu:

  qemu-system-i386 -nodefaults -hda winXP.img -drive file=../WinXPproSP2.iso,if=ide,index=1,media=cdrom -boot d -cpu Broadwell -m 1G -vga std -net nic,model=pcnet  -net user,smb=/tmp -rtc base=localtime -accel kvm -no-hpet -device AC97 -serial none -parallel none

if you got KVM or

  qemu-system-i386 -nodefaults -hda winXP.img -drive file=../WinXPproSP2.iso,if=ide,index=1,media=cdrom -boot d -cpu coreduo -m 1G -vga std -net nic,model=pcnet  -net user,smb=/tmp -rtc base=localtime -accel tcg -no-hpet -device AC97 -serial none -parallel none

for systems without KVM.

Command to mount disk in Linux, to transfer files and data in/out:

  sudo modprobe nbd max_part=8
  sudo qemu-nbd --connect=/dev/nbd0 ./data.qcow2 
  sudo fdisk /dev/nbd0 -l
  sudo mount /dev/nbd0p1 /mnt/foo
  -- do stuff
  sudo umount /mnt/foo
  sudo qemu-nbd --disconnect /dev/nbd0
  sudo rmmod nbd

Others use a FTP-client in Windows XP and a FTP-server somewhere.

Notes

Assumes the Windows CD is bootable.
For network set DNS server to 10.0.2.3 in controlpanel/network. Run Internet tools/Internet Connection Wizard, select LAN, no mail account and connect now. Most web sites won't allow connecting in Internet Explorer since modern https is not supported. Qemu won't allow incoming connections.
The -drive file=... for the cdrom should be the same as a simple -cdrom file.iso. But I kept it for reference.
So far I have not been able to access the smb-server started by Qemu. Possibly because of old (SMB1) version in Windows XP, or maybe samba server is disabled in host?

References

lysweb3@jonass.user.lysator.liu.se

Home Senast ändrad maj 2023.
This page was last modified May 2023.