How to run the Microsoft Windows XP VHD, for testing with IE 6.0, with a valid/un-expired date?

Question

I just downloaded the VHD for windows xp: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11575

But when I start the virtual pc it says that \"th

Answer 1

Microsoft usually posts new ones when the old ones expire. I sent an e-mail.

The response I got was:

It's being worked on and first batch should be ready today. Apologies to anyone for the inconvenience.

So... try again later today.

Answer 2

This answer by in this thread is working as of today: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprovirt/thread/aca326fd-8e37-49f3-8b90-4eda93a11cd6

Quoting the answer that matters:

1) I found out that .vmc and .vmcx files are NOT the same. If you found your .vmcx files, don't bother opening them up in a text editor for this issue. Instead, find the .vmc files (in Windows 7, they are found under C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines).

2) Shut down your virtual PC environment (I was using XP Mode). This was the step that I thought I could get around. I kept hibernating and making changes to the vmc file, but the changes did not work until after I completely shut down, made the changes to the .vmc file and booted back up.

3) As for what changes are necessary: If you are able to run the VBS script provided by SANDY.WADHWA [MSFT], good for you. If not, you can make the changes manually.

In the .vmc file, find the section:

 <integration>
  <microsoft>
   <mouse>
    <allow type="boolean">true</allow>
   </mouse>

I made the changes manually by first adding the section:

<components>
  <host_time_sync>
    <enabled type="boolean">false</enabled>
  </host_time_sync>
</components>

This was wrong for my XP Mode (it may work on a VPC 2007 environment, though, so give it a try). Then, I removed the tags (NOTE: I did this as well, and this worked - you probably want to do this option):

<host_time_sync>
  <enabled type="boolean">false</enabled>
</host_time_sync>

That allowed me to make a change to the time and date without it automatically reverting back every 5-10 seconds.

4) If you would like to prevent the VPC environment from synchronizing upon bootup, do put the following inside the tag:

<time_sync_at_boot type="boolean">false</time_sync_at_boot>

Again, keep in mind that you must SHUT DOWN the VPC in order for the changes in the .vmc file to take effect.

5) One last thing, if you go into the Date and Time Properties and click the Internet Time tab, uncheck the "Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server" checkbox.

Answer 3

Note 1: I'm running the XP IE6 VHD which expires today, 4/4/12 (this VHD can also be upgraded to IE7 and IE8 - I use all three in three separate VMs) under the Windows 7 version of Virtual PC - your mileage may vary.

Note 2: As of today (the expiration date of the VHD), this VHD tells me it's expired upon login, and won't even get me to the desktop. If I simply reset the date and disable time syncing as follows, there is still an "expired" flag set somewhere in the VHD's Windows install and it's still unusable. You must either:

• discard your undo disk to a point prior to the expiration (if you already had Undo Disks enabled, which I always recommend when creating a VM for testing to "lock down" your setup once you have it the way you like),

  or

• reinstall a fresh VHD dated prior to the expiration date, then make the following changes to the .VMC file before booting the VHD for the first time.

How I got my working XP IE VHD back:

1. You need to change the date in the .VMC file per step 1B in the link @William mentioned. This value may not exist in a new, unbooted .VMC file - it should go under preferences/hardware/bios like this example for Dec 31, 2011 @ 12:00am:

   <preferences>
     <hardware>
       <bios>
         <time_bytes type="bytes">00000000000000311211</time_bytes>
   

   If you do not set this to some valid date before booting the VHD for the first time (in which case this value won't exist yet), it will force a time sync (even if you disable time syncing as in step 2 below), which may completely foil your efforts.

2. But you also need to disable time syncing in the .VMC file per the information in this TechNet thread (scroll down to karonwu's 2nd post, 7/16/09 7:41am).

   Disable time syncing at boot (this value didn't exist by default in my .VMC file):

   <preferences>
     <hardware>
       <bios>
         <time_sync_at_boot type="boolean">false</time_sync_at_boot>
   

   Disable repeated time syncing while VHD is running (this value was already present and set to "true"):

   <preferences>
     <integration>
       <microsoft>
         <host_time_sync>
           <enabled type="boolean">false</enabled>
   

You may want to go into Control Panel -> Date and Time -> Internet Time, and uncheck "Automatically synchronize". Although this didn't seem necessary in my case - I forgot on one of my VMs and it said it synchronized successfully, yet the date and time remained as I had set them in the .VMC file.

As recommended by @Leonid below, you should also disable Automatic Updates to prevent an older version of Internet Explorer (such as 6 or 7) from upgrading itself (note that IE8 is the last version supported by XP).

Good luck!

Answer 4

Here is a solution for running Internet Explorer 6 on Windows 10 in a Windows XP VM using Hyper-V:

1. Install Hyper-V
2. Install 7-Zip
3. Download XP Mode
4. Right-click WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe > 7-Zip > Open Archive
5. Sources > xpm > Extract
6. Right-click xpm > 7-Zip > Open Archive
7. VirtualXPVHD > Extract
8. Append .vhd to the filename
9. Create the VM in Hyper-V with an existing VHD
10. Remove the default Network Adapter in the VM's settings and add a Legacy Network Adapter connected to the Default Switch
11. Start the VM and install Windows XP