How will this be possible, should one need XP for some specific purpose?
One can get a winXP + SP3 install CD, but once M$ shut down their update servers there will be no way to bring the installation up to date, and there have been many fixes since SP3.
I think there is some way to produce an install CD with all the updates, but how?
I suppose an alternative will be to install from the SP3 CD and then copy over the c:\windows directory from a machine which had all the latest updates applied, over the one in the just-built machine. Providing there is no driver conflict which bricks the machine, this should work.
Any suggestions?
I recently installed Windows 2000. It was possible, but was a huge hassle. It needed stuff from non-MS download sites (newer IE, which is required for windows update) and some hacks (due to expired certificates).
So it might be a good idea to install windows XP into a virtual machine with all the updates and keep that machine safe (and clone it when necessary).
I can send a copy of Windows 3.1 !! :-)
Look, I completely understand.
In the retro world of flying, where airframe technology age is measured in generations, and avionics in decades, using something more modern than MS-DOS 1.0 does not sit well. It spoils the overall “period” experience we all cherish so much.
…but…
why on Earth? And does the virtual XP mode in Windows 7 / 8 not run the one application that is not compatible?
Why “build a machine” in 2015? Just get a two or three year old PC with Win XP from eBay (they should cost less than 100 Euros), wrap it in blister foil and put it in a corner of the garage…
As far as I know, Microsoft is not going to shut the update servers down, it will merely stop releasing new updates. So, you can simply install XP SP3 and then update it to the latest level. Alternatively, you can have updates integrated into your distribution, but you don’t need to do it yourself – there are kind souls who do it every month or two and release the repackaged distribution via Bittorrent. Most of these are also crippled by “creative approach” (some rarely needed features removed, or something weird added), but with a minor effort you can find just a stock distribution with updates. You can either use it as is, or integrate extra software you know you will need and set it up for a fully unattended installation – personally, I keep a couple of such XP distributions packaged for my own needs. For detailed instructions on producing custom XP distributions see unattended.msfn.org .
Win2k (SP4 I think) is easy. The same key can be used over and over (there is no WGA) but you won’t get the updates (unless somebody has archived them somewhere). I often install win2k on a machine I build for running say unix, just to make sure the hardware works (I don’t understand unix). But any such machine is not used for internet access – in fact the win2k browser (IE5?) can’t even download any M$ updates (it’s too old).
I have WFWG3.11 too so that’s no problem, but there isn’t any software which I used back then which doesn’t work under XP. I do still use some of it e.g. Protel PCB 2.8 (1995).
DOS 6.2 is no problem either but the partition size is limited to FAT16/2GB so is a hassle. I would use it only for a specific machine that needs to run DOS s/w e.g. Viewlogic 4 / LCA (Xilinx FPGA design software from c. 1996) whose designs were not compatible with later Xilinx tools! The software (cost £20k in 1996 and dongled, but a Russian programmer cracked it) needs DOS and an 8514 emulating 1024×768 PCI graphics card (which I also have). Some people have to maintain FPGA designs from back then, after getting shafted on the design tools not being backwards compatible. I gave up FPGA design after that…
The winXP mode of win7 has loads of issues, given that the most likely reason for doing it is hardware related. Same with a VM – I have a VM on win8 doing XP and it works but there are loads of little issues.
Thanks for that site, Ultranomad. I will have read. It appears less than trivial 
I wonder why somebody has not simply produced a DVD with all the updates? This isn’t like doing custom firmware for a Nokia Symbian phone which doesn’t contain garbage like the National Geographic app.
I wonder why somebody has not simply produced a DVD with all the updates?
That’s exactly what I’m saying – people do produce fully updated XP distributions, but unofficially, distributing them via Bittorrent. In fact, a CD would suffice. As to customising one yourself, it’s not trivial but worth it if you need to roll it out multiple times or minimise your recovery time. It saved my bacon once when a power spike fried my hard disk and I had an urgent job in the pipeline.
Is there a reason you’re not looking at running these as virtual machines?
At least that way you don’t need to worry about the hardware and you can lock your software configuration in right now.
A lot of stuff doesn’t work on VMs.
A VM has to virtualise stuff like COM port hardware, and a lot of the software I use makes use of COM ports. And then you get the really weird stuff like bluetooth, which is a bit flakey at the best of times.
Is there a DVD on torrent which is simply XP SP3 with all the updates? I may be missing something but AIUI there should be just the one combination of updates.
It’s not relevant right now because you can still download them, but this may change soon.
Yes I could put XP on some little laptop and store that away but the XP image on that HD may not even start up with some specific hardware combination. For example loads of SATA controllers (and I don’t even mean RAID) need the “F6 + 3.5” diskette" route to get the installation to complete. I keep a 3.5" USB diskette drive for that purpose. Some current motherboards don’t have a basic IDE compatible HD controller (the “IDE” BIOS option doesn’t actually work) so the F6 route is always required for XP.
It’s easy to image a working XP machine with say Trueimage, but restoring that onto a different motherboard probably won’t boot, and there is no way to trigger the F6 feature on an existing install. The only time you get the chance to install some weird new SATA driver is on a fresh XP install. I am sure there is a way to replace the HD driver on an existing install but I don’t know what it is. I have never been successful is making such a thing work.
