4 ms·

What do you mean by "forcing"? I'm running Windows XP on VirtualBox without any problems.

by sljd 13y ago

jsingleton 13y ago
I believe the previous official images were for Virtual PC or Hyper-V only.
JunkDNA 13y ago
If you wanted to legally run multiple versions of IE without having to have multiple Windows licenses for every combination (e.g. IE8/XP, IE8/Win7, IE10 Win7, IE10 Win8, etc...) you had to use the MS-provided virtual machines. However, these were only ever made available as VirtualPC images. So there was no way to run them, even on Windows, without all sorts of machinations (some of which may have violated the ToS).
- rednukleus 13y ago
  I was always impressed that Microsoft let you use Windows in a virtual machine on another platform at all (not all their competitors do). But then I realised that it made business sense for them.
  - runjake 13y ago
    Which competitors don't? The only competitor that comes to mind is Apple and they don't block this either -- though I believe they were the last holdout. Nor does Google, in any capacity, with Android or ChromeOS. Edit: I am dead wrong. Apple only permits the virtualization of OS X on Apple hardware, per the EULA. It does not permit the virtualization of OS X on non-Apple hardware. http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf
    - rednukleus 13y ago
      You still can't run OS X on non-Apple hardware can you? I'd love it if they changed that.
      - fowlerje 13y ago
        Sure you can. They have 10.8 VMs for VMWare Workstation. I'd recommend at least 8gb of RAM for smoother access though.
        btian 13y ago
        That has questionable legality in the United States. I won't want to run it on my corporate PC.
        r0s 13y ago
        I don't know OSX versions, is that a recent one? More important, can I get the most recent versions of browsers? (Safari,Chrome,FireFox)
        freehunter 13y ago
        10.9 was just announced last week at WWDC.
        sluukkonen 13y ago
        The EULA forbids you to run OS X on non-Apple hardware though. "to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use." http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf
        ja27 13y ago
        "They" being someone that posted an image on bittorrent? Apple doesn't license OS X for VMWare anywhere except Apple hardware. You can't even run a 10.8 guest on a 10.7 host per their license, which is really annoying.
        scraplab 13y ago
        VMWare ESXi (and Fusion too, I expect) runs legitimate installations, with no hacks required, as long as it's on Apple hardware. You need the InstallESD.img file from the OS installer.
    - mtdewcmu 13y ago
      It's possible to attempt using OSX on a PC through VMware, but I can attest to the fact that it works very poorly. We tried to do this at one of my jobs, and for development in Xcode, it was for all practical purposes unusable.
- gavinlynch 13y ago
  True. And although there is a process to convert VirtualPC images to work with other formats, which I did (on OSX), however it was a major pain in the ass. Frankly, I love the new model. MS deserves to be denigrated when they do bad, and they certainly have a mountain of web-karma to countermand, but they did good in this respect and deserve to be praised for it.
zzzcpan 13y ago
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1157...
bdcravens 13y ago
You can install Windows XP anywhere, but I think JunkDNA was referring specifically to the distributed VMs for testing IE, which in the past were always VHDs.
- 1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago
  Yes, but all you had to do was rename the `exe` to a `rar` & extract the VHD. Which worked on VirtualBox. The criticism is weak.

What do you mean by "forcing"? I'm running Windows XP on VirtualBox without any problems.

by sljd 13y ago

What do you mean by "forcing"? I'm running Windows XP on VirtualBox without any problems.

jsingleton 13y ago

I believe the previous official images were for Virtual PC or Hyper-V only.

JunkDNA 13y ago

If you wanted to legally run multiple versions of IE without having to have multiple Windows licenses for every combination (e.g. IE8/XP, IE8/Win7, IE10 Win7, IE10 Win8, etc...) you had to use the MS-provided virtual machines. However, these were only ever made available as VirtualPC images. So there was no way to run them, even on Windows, without all sorts of machinations (some of which may have violated the ToS).

rednukleus 13y ago
I was always impressed that Microsoft let you use Windows in a virtual machine on another platform at all (not all their competitors do). But then I realised that it made business sense for them.
- runjake 13y ago
  Which competitors don't? The only competitor that comes to mind is Apple and they don't block this either -- though I believe they were the last holdout. Nor does Google, in any capacity, with Android or ChromeOS. Edit: I am dead wrong. Apple only permits the virtualization of OS X on Apple hardware, per the EULA. It does not permit the virtualization of OS X on non-Apple hardware. http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf
  - rednukleus 13y ago
    You still can't run OS X on non-Apple hardware can you? I'd love it if they changed that.
    - fowlerje 13y ago
      Sure you can. They have 10.8 VMs for VMWare Workstation. I'd recommend at least 8gb of RAM for smoother access though.
      - btian 13y ago
        That has questionable legality in the United States. I won't want to run it on my corporate PC.
      - r0s 13y ago
        I don't know OSX versions, is that a recent one? More important, can I get the most recent versions of browsers? (Safari,Chrome,FireFox)
        freehunter 13y ago
        10.9 was just announced last week at WWDC.
      - sluukkonen 13y ago
        The EULA forbids you to run OS X on non-Apple hardware though. "to install, use and run up to two (2) additional copies or instances of the Apple Software within virtual operating system environments on each Mac Computer you own or control that is already running the Apple Software, for purposes of: (a) software development; (b) testing during software development; (c) using OS X Server; or (d) personal, non-commercial use." http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/OSX1082.pdf
      - ja27 13y ago
        "They" being someone that posted an image on bittorrent? Apple doesn't license OS X for VMWare anywhere except Apple hardware. You can't even run a 10.8 guest on a 10.7 host per their license, which is really annoying.
        scraplab 13y ago
        VMWare ESXi (and Fusion too, I expect) runs legitimate installations, with no hacks required, as long as it's on Apple hardware. You need the InstallESD.img file from the OS installer.
  - mtdewcmu 13y ago
    It's possible to attempt using OSX on a PC through VMware, but I can attest to the fact that it works very poorly. We tried to do this at one of my jobs, and for development in Xcode, it was for all practical purposes unusable.
gavinlynch 13y ago
True. And although there is a process to convert VirtualPC images to work with other formats, which I did (on OSX), however it was a major pain in the ass. Frankly, I love the new model. MS deserves to be denigrated when they do bad, and they certainly have a mountain of web-karma to countermand, but they did good in this respect and deserve to be praised for it.

zzzcpan 13y ago

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11575 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=1157...

bdcravens 13y ago

You can install Windows XP anywhere, but I think JunkDNA was referring specifically to the distributed VMs for testing IE, which in the past were always VHDs.

1qaz2wsx3edc 13y ago
Yes, but all you had to do was rename the `exe` to a `rar` & extract the VHD. Which worked on VirtualBox. The criticism is weak.