Microsoft previously gave Windows 7 users an app to run older programs in Windows XP Mode. With Windows 8, however, that app is no longer officially supported, and if you want to run Windows XP in a virtual machine, you'll need to have a license for it. Below we offer a solution.
Microsoft's tool, WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe, is distributed for free by the company, and inside it is hidden a file containing the VirtualXPVHD of Windows XP that can be run in a virtual machine. This vhd is legal because it is offered by Microsoft, and the best thing is that it does not require an activation key. So you can run it in VirtualBox and have a free operating system. How? Read the procedure below and follow the steps:
Download WindowsXPMode_en – us.exe from Microsoft. You will need to run the validation tool to prove to the company that the copy of Windows you are using is valid.
Then, use 7-Zip, WwinRAR, or any other compression-decompression tool to open the .exe as a file.
Inside the unzipped files, open the sources folder and you will find “xpm.”
Right click on the file and open with WinRAR. You will see as in the image below, a file called VirtualXPVHD. Extract it to your computer and rename it with the extension .VHD.
Use the file in your VirtualBox, opening VirtualXPVHD as a virtual machine, and you're good to go. Now you have Windows XP Professional running inside Windows 8, without needing an XP activation license.
Enjoy them.
