In this video, I go over how to revive a dead Windows XP machine by turning it into a virtual machine. This process is possible if the hard drive from the PC still functions.

Video script: TBD

Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
0:45 – Hardware and Software required
1:44 – BIOS/UEFI Setting to turn on for Intel & AMD Systems
2:43 – Using Disk2VHD
4:19 – Using Starwind v2v Converter
5:29 – Organizing VM images into folders
5:52 – Creating a VMX file with VMware Workstation Player
8:00 – Adding boot delay line to VMX file: bios.bootdelay = 5000
8:28 – Mounting the VMDK image to VMware Workstation Player
9:18 – Process of temporarily removing the product activation using safe mode and entering OOBE command: rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk
11:07 – Installing VMWare Tools in virtual machine
13:16 – Limitation 1: VM will eventually need a product key
14:30 – Limitation 2: Possible File and/or Program Corruption
15:18 – Limitation 3: Possible Activation Issues for Programs
15:50 – Ending

Software:
-SysInternals Disk2VHD: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/disk2vhd
-Starwind v2v Converter (have to sign-up for download): https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter
-VMware Workstation Player (Version 16 was used in the video, may have to create a free account to download software): https://customerconnect.vmware.com/en/downloads/details?downloadGroup=WKST-PLAYER-1623-NEW&productId=1039&rPId=85399

Articles + Videos:
-How to enter BIOs and UEFI Modes: https://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-10/how-to-enter-bios-in-windows-10-and-older-versions/
-Video of user performing Windows XP Phone product activation in 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1LQP0hgsDk
-Where I found an ISO of Windows XP Home Edition: https://archive.org/details/WinXPHomeEditionSP1OEMEnglish
-Podcast where I first learned this was possible (Security Now Episode 669 starting around 1:26:04 in the video): https://youtu.be/p6FUiMEq6pA?t=5164
-VMware Boot Screen Delay: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16876/how-to-increase-the-vmware-boot-screen-delay/#:~:text=Fortunately%2C%20there%20is%20a%20way%20to%20introduce%20a,that%20contains%20the%20settings%20for%20your%20virtual%20machine.

We Always Thought the Future Would Be Kind of Fun by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/darkglow/
Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/

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