vbox and xp

so i've recently migrated to windows 7 home premium from xp, but i find that i still need xp for a couple of legacy software that i've been using. i decided to try vbox but so far it's been pretty disappointing as far as xp is concerned. the first piece of software would not successfully install (it got farther than when i tried to install using windows 7). the second was kinda curious in that i put the install file for the software as an exe file on a cd but in the vbox xp explorer the exe file did not even appear (other files on the cd did appear). so i thought i'd try using a usb flash drive, and i installed the vbox extension pack to allow usb 2.0, but when i tried using the usb flash drive the vbox xp would not even recognize it.

so is there something else to try? is the windows 7 professional basically the same as vbox on top of windows 7 home premium, or is it much better? if so, an upgrade to professional might be worth looking at.

 

I personally think that the built in windows 7 virtual machine is much better than vbox and stuff. It integrates much nicer into the rest of your system.

 

As you migrated why not just dual-boot the laptop so it is XP and Win 7?

I found the built-in solutions gave too many hassles so went the dual-boot route and it's the best solution for me.

 

I tried Virtual PC and XP Mode that is included in Win 7 Pro and it's really fantastic. Eliminates the need to reboot and dual boot and allows you to run your XP programs side by side.

 

your 'disappointing' experience with VirtualBox is easily remedied with a little more experience. In particular research how to 'mount' the external/hardware drives including optical and USB.

It's all in the documentation. There is even a how-to on the virtualbox support forums.