[SOLVED] Emulate XP in W10. Safe?

[ManOfArc]

Would running XP in a W10 VirtualBox be safe? I mean, would W10 security protect XP because it's now is running under W10?

 

[TerryLaze]

Would running XP in a W10 VirtualBox be safe? I mean, would W10 security protect XP because it's now is running under W10?

No XP would be on itself, if you connect it to the net you would have to protect it, since the whole virtual machine is just a file on your hard drive though you can very easily take a copy of it for safe keeping.

 

[Eximo]

It is recommended to not grant access to the internet to the XP guest. You could take it a step further and not grant it direct access to or from the host drives, only enabling them when you disconnect the host from the internet.

Basically, download files with the host, scan them, disable internet, turn on networking in the VM, copy files over, disable VM networking, re-enable host internet. A bit extreme, but should keep the OS from getting malware or the like. Really depends on how important it is.

I use an XP VM to connect to old hardware using the original tools that need XP, so I don't really mind it having direct access.

 

[TerryLaze]

Basically, download files with the host, scan them, disable internet, turn on networking in the VM, copy files over, disable VM networking, re-enable host internet. A bit extreme, but should keep the OS from getting malware or the like. Really depends on how important it is.

You can create shared folders or just drag and drop files into the virtual system as soon as you installed the vmtools/ guest additions, no need to network the files over, unless you can give us a reason.

 

[Eximo]

You can create shared folders or just drag and drop files into the virtual system as soon as you installed the vmtools/ guest additions, no need to network the files over, unless you can give us a reason.

That is essentially what I was referring to. For absolute security you disable that so that no files sitting on your host that might have malicious code targeted to XP can get there.

 

[ManOfArc]

I use an XP VM to connect to old hardware using the original tools that need XP, so I don't really mind it having direct access.

Exactly...
That's what this setup would be. An older stand-alone machine that I wouldn't care about except for the fact that it would need to be on the same home network my other machines are on. Any issues with that thrown in the mix?

 

[Eximo]

That is what my scenario implicitly tries to avoid.

If it is on the network, then it is exposed to anything on the host machine or other devices. A little harder for stuff to get to it, but anyone trying to actively compromise XP VMs would have accounted for it. But any code programmed to infect the network would get to it as well.

Just general safe internet usage is safe enough for most purposes.

My VM sits on a laptop that I rarely even turn on, and worst case, I can always build out a new copy of that in about an hour, even without backups.

 

[USAFRet]

What would this XP be used for?