[SOLVED] To run an XP VM in 7 with a caveat.

[punkncat]

Straight up no idea what I am doing or if it's possible, so any help is appreciated.

A buddy of mine had an ancient machine, like Pentium 2 maybe 3 running XP. He used it to play a specific game that he just LOVES. No internet, no other real need aside from occasionally (previously) loading some pictures into it. I went into it some time back and saved all the valuable information, built him a newer machine out of spare parts running 7 because (as mentioned) no internet, so he doesn't want it popping up bugging him about it. It's stripped out and works well for the purpose EXCEPT....

The game he wants to play is legacy Civ 3. I have been unable to find a disk version that was the same game and/or would run properly. Steam has it, different version but it runs....but of course Steam needs internet. So....

The old XP machine kicked the bucket yesterday. In spite of some recent cleaning efforts, maybe because of removing it's protective blanket of dust (lol)...but yeah it popped the breaker and that has been that. I am NOT going to attempt to fix or even make an offer to.
What I do want to know is if I create an image of the disk and use it to run VM in order to utilize that computer as it stood, will the pre-installed drivers and such from the legacy parts cause issue outside of an actual install within the VM? (I hope I worded that in an understandable way)

I have very limited experience with that specific VM 'app' and haven't tried to install anything older than 7 with it.

 

[TerryLaze]

The game he wants to play is legacy Civ 3. I have been unable to find a disk version that was the same game and/or would run properly. Steam has it, different version but it runs....but of course Steam needs internet. So....

If the only issue is Civ3 then just find out which version it is he was playing and install that under 7.
Gog has civ 3 dirt cheap right now due to the sale and they don't need internet,you download the whole game copy it to a dvd as backup if you like and have at it,no checks and no nothing, play anywhere without drm checks.
https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_civilization_iii_complete

I'm not 100% sure about civ 3 but a lot of old games that never had any DRM continue to not have any DRM on steam you can play them without steam even running.


Using the old disk image is not going to cause windows 7 any problems but it will probably also not run in the VM,you would have to use a cloning software that has a dissimilar feature it's a bootable cd that will rip all the non default drivers out of a disk image so you can clone it to a dissimilar machine.

 

[punkncat]

snip
I'm not 100% sure about civ 3 but a lot of old games that never had any DRM continue to not have any DRM on steam you can play them without steam even running.


Using the old disk image is not going to cause windows 7 any problems but it will probably also not run in the VM,you would have to use a cloning software that has a dissimilar feature it's a bootable cd that will rip all the non default drivers out of a disk image so you can clone it to a dissimilar machine.

As to the game, yes, Steam DOES require DRM for the game. It's been an ongoing problem on the "new" platform. The version of the game he has was installed so long ago that the media is lost and no idea what exact version it is. I found the same title through various methods and all are different and/or refuse to work on a modern computer (as above). This has been an ongoing issue with the guy. I had suggested that he just tether his phone from time to time to keep the Steam client happy but it appears that his plan doesn't have it and he is uninclined to learn how...we even tried using my hotspot login for him to utilize but after about two weeks it wants to see his computer come to my house. It's unavoidable.

As to the bottom aspect, I figured that a straight clone would cause issue that way. Not sure how to perform the other aspects as I certainly am not going to attempt to dig into code or black magic, whichever it was you were inferring. Looks to me like buddy is just going to have to let go of his 20 something year old game version.

 

[TerryLaze]

As to the bottom aspect, I figured that a straight clone would cause issue that way. Not sure how to perform the other aspects as I certainly am not going to attempt to dig into code or black magic, whichever it was you were inferring. Looks to me like buddy is just going to have to let go of his 20 something year old game version.

It's pretty basic stuff that is supported from the softwares themselves,for example.
https://kb.acronis.com/ati2019/aur

 

[punkncat]

boop

Side note, I attempted to use Gog to purchase Civ 3 and 4 (thanks for the link) and it had some technical issue with payment. Sort of a bummer.

 

[SamirD]

I'd just fix the old system--probably a simple motherboard swap and he's back to being happy for another 10 years.

 

[punkncat]

I'd just fix the old system--probably a simple motherboard swap and he's back to being happy for another 10 years.

It turned out to be that P3 I was asking about. DED, dead.

I was able to locate the game CD that he wanted and a far newer potato system that I don't anticipate living nearly as long has taken over the Civ 3 task. It also does pretty well with Warcraft 3 and CSGO, which really surprised me given the donated hardware.

 

[SamirD]

Gotcha. Yeah, almost anything p4 and higher will be a huge upgrade to the p3. Glad you found a solution!