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Re: [LUG] 20140828 help please to visualise XP on bricked laptop

 

The are 2 issues. 

The hardware and OS Issues / solutions : 

Unfortunately that laptop won’t support a usable virtual machine, it uses an older 
Celeron chip and only has 1GB of ram. 

You need at least a 2nd generation Core 2 Duo with 2GB to run a usable VM. (even 
then there is a lot of variation in processor features) 

If you buy a new laptop it should be something with an i5 or better, 4GB, an SSD and 
nvidia or intel HD 4000 graphics, with this he will have happy computing for some 
time and will be able to run a VM or 3 using Virtual box.  (do not buy an i3! )

also re choice of OS, Linux :) … and re windows : Win9 will surprise people (Beta 
available late sept, Full RTM in March 2015) and you will be able to dual boot or 
run a vm as you have done before. Win8.1 is also usable, but win8 is avoid like 
Vista. Win7 reaches End of life in October this year but feels like xp if you turn 
off the desktop effects. (but turn font smoothing back on)   - also you do want to 
use the 64bit versions! MS Money will work as expected as 32bit and 16bit software 
is compatible unto win8.1 … Note - its rumoured that win9 will remove support for 
16bit and some old 32bit api’s/libs needed for programs like MS Money.  so really 
the problem is MS Money! 

Another choice would be to put the desktop in to the cloud and just turn it on and 
off as needed, I run such a box on Azure for about £3/month! I know others that use 
AWS but personally i haven’t used it.

Creating the VM from the old box can range from impossible to point and click .. it 
all comes down to the actual hardware and the target VM technology…. personally I’d 
Install a new image and move the data to cloud service such as drop box or google 
drive. (fyi never keep you data on the vm itself - they can and do corrupt/ get 
deleted by accident etc. so remember to treat them as disposable) 

if you do decide to virtualise the PC - My personal experience is use the VMware 
conversion tool to create the image. Its free. 

MS Money: 
 
really you ought to look for an online service, where you can just upload the 
datafiles.  

http://alternativeto.net/software/microsoft-money/


On 28 Aug 2014, at 10:01, Eion MacDonald <eionmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> To DCLUG,
> Dear folk,
> 20140828 help please to visualise XP on bricked laptop.
> 1.A colleague wants to get rid of old desktop due space ( dump monitor,
> desktop etc) and use a laptop HP Compaq 7620s from his son.
> 2. The colleague's son 'bricked' his laptop by trying to wipe data from
> his Windows Vista Business (CoA) laptop (running XP) and return to
> factory install, before giving to my colleague. The machine would not
> then boot or show any disc. GParted showed a completely blank disc. It
> appears his old firm (it was a redundant machine used by his son when in
> his old firm) had locked the BIOS so attempt to return to factory
> install  was successful, not permitted by BIOS lock, and then ((F10?) he
> blanked the disc. I could not load any Windows systems or reformat
> inside a Windows DVD.
> 
> 3. I reformatted and installed a) OpenSUSE, it works ok. b) Dual boots
> with other Linux Distros as well.
> However as colleague needs a copy of MS Money to run (he has 18 years
> records in MS Money) or I suggested use MS's sunset MoneyPlus.
> I would like to virtualise colleague's MS XP from his old desktop and
> transfer to a virtual machine in one of the Linux systems on laptop.
> Use one Linux off line with virtual MS Money , and other on line as
> normal Linux OS.
> 4 Any hints as to how to do this?
> 5. I looked at RoboLinux but this is a commercial method to make the
> virtual copy which can then run in any linux.
> Any experience of RoboLinux?
> 
> 6. Ultimate way out is to buy another laptop with a MS Windows system
> and load MS Money or MS Money plus, and not to connect this MS OS to
> internet but use off line, and  dual boot with an up to date Linux for
> his email and internet browsing etc.
> 
> 7 This is first time I have had a machine with BIOS Locked by a
> forgotten or unobtainable BIOS password, and disassembly to remove CMOS
> battery is a very long and complex job, I would not want to do.



> 
> Any comments or help.
> -- 
> regards
> Eion MacDonald
> 
> -- 
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