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Does anyone know where I can get windows images for vmware.
I know Microsoft gives away the images for Virtual PC. These images work pretty well, but when I try to import them in VMware I need to activate the copies again, because the virtual hardware they use is just to different.
I want Images of different versions of windows 2000, xp, vista. Does anyone where I can download them, or do I need to build them from CD.
Saif Bechan
Posted 2010-04-21T07:35:11.410
Reputation: 2 835
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Windows images for VMware have no legal existence.
Microsoft doesn't actively market XP any more, so no trial downloads exist.
In fact, no downloads exist at all for XP except for service packs or for floppy setup diskettes! (go figure...)
Your best bets are:
harrymc
Posted 2010-04-21T07:35:11.410
Reputation: 306 093
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I realize this is a pretty old thread, but I recently came across it. Although the images aren't listed for download "officially" from the following link. I was able to get a copy of IE8 WinXP image for VMWare workstation. I don't have access to MSDN so had no other recourse to download the xp images.
adam
Posted 2010-04-21T07:35:11.410
Reputation: 21
These images are licensed for 90 days of use for testing purposes. Using them beyond 90 days, regardless of the method, is illegal and a violation of the terms of service of usage of the product. – acejavelin – 2017-02-28T21:33:53.783
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Microsoft specifically documented that you should archive the VMs or set up a rollback so that when the 90 day expiration occurred you could recreate the VM from scratch without redownloading it. See http://modernievirt.blob.core.windows.net/vhd/release_notes_license_terms_1_5_15.pdf where it says things like "implement a rollback strategy for any virtual machines that you download. This could be as simple as holding onto the original archive that you downloaded, or ... take advantage of your virtualization platform’s snapshotting capability".
– Michael Burr – 2017-11-16T09:07:28.1231unfortunately 404 now :( (2017-12-27) – hanshenrik – 2017-12-27T00:49:41.377
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I faced the same problem around one year ago. I found out, that it is possible to import virtualpc images to vmware. So, you could download the WinXP image from Microsoft and then try this tutorial.
It helped me verry well.
Diskilla
Posted 2010-04-21T07:35:11.410
Reputation: 1 516
I tried a lot of tutorials like this one, but none of them could help me out. Maybe it is because I have a newer version of VMware, but it really complains when I import the virtualpc image. – Saif Bechan – 2010-04-21T14:13:22.320
Which version of VMWare are you using? – Diskilla – 2010-04-21T15:52:33.450
I use vmware 7. When I convert the image I can only use it for 3 days, I have to register my copy after that time. It also keeps asking me for the original windows CD to add certain drivers or something. – Saif Bechan – 2010-04-21T16:00:35.007
Alright. I guess harrymc´s answer would be the best solution then. I never worked with VMWare 7. Yet... :-) I´m going to try this tomorrow at work. Maybe I can figure out another solution. Just for interest... ^^ – Diskilla – 2010-04-21T16:30:20.287
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If such an official would ever exist it could only be given by Microsoft itself because of license issues. Microsoft hates Vmware and Vmware hates Microsoft. So I don't think that you can find any official prebuilt Windows OS images for VMware workstation. Even if they existed they would only be on trial licenses. The best solution is to download trial iso's from Microsoft and do a clean install. After that use the base snapshot to copy this base installation. (Until the end of trial date if you're going to set your Guest OS' system date to the real date)
Montag451
Posted 2010-04-21T07:35:11.410
Reputation: 672
Thank you for mentioning the MSDN subscription. I forget all about this, I have one myself. I will download them from there and do a clean install. Too bad there are no pre-installed images though, it is going to take some time to set this all up. – Saif Bechan – 2010-04-21T14:10:14.617