How to retrieve data from a Windows XP Mode VM on Windows 10

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When you upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 or Windows 10, Windows XP Mode is installed on your machine, however, Windows Virtual PC is not present anymore. This issue occurs because Windows Virtual PC is not supported on Windows 8 and above. In this post, we will show you how to retrieve data from a Windows XP Mode VM on Windows 10/8.



XP Mode is a complete, licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 contained in a virtual hard disk (VHD) that runs under Windows Virtual PC. XP Mode enables you to run Windows XP from within Windows 7. You can add USB devices and seamlessly access the drives on the host Windows 7 system. Most importantly, Windows XP-mode lets you use Windows 7, while still providing a platform for you to use legacy hardware that is not compatible with Windows 7.

Retrieve data from a Windows XP Mode VM on Windows 10

With the end of extended support for Windows XP in April 2014, Microsoft has decided not to develop Windows XP Mode for Windows 8 and above.  If you’re a Windows 7 customer who uses Windows XP Mode and is planning a move to Windows 10, you can follow the instructions outlined below to successfully retrieve data from a Windows XP Mode VM on Windows 10.

Use one of the following methods:

1] Mount the virtual hard disk that was attached to the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, and then extract the data from the mounted drive.

Here’s how:

On the Windows 10 machine, locate your Windows XP Mode virtual hard disk

The default location is:

%LocalAppData%/Microsoft/Windows Virtual PC/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Mode.vhd

   • Right-click the virtual hard disk and click Mount.

   • The contents of the virtual hard disk will appear as a local drive on the Windows 10/8 PC, (e.g., G:\).

   • Locate data that needs to be extracted, and copy the data to another location.

   • To unmount the virtual hard disk, right-click the new local drive, (e.g., G:\) and click Eject.

   • Uninstall Windows XP Mode when all data has been retrieved.

2] Copy the Windows XP Mode virtual hard disks to another Windows 7 machine, and use Windows Virtual PC to run the virtual machine and extract the data from the virtual machine.

Here’s how:

• Copy your Windows XP Mode virtual hard disk (Default location: %LocalAppData%/Microsoft/Windows Virtual PC/Virtual Machines/Windows XP Mode.vhd), and the base virtual hard disk (default location: %ProgramFiles%\Windows XP Mode\Windows XP Mode base.vhd) from the Windows 10/8 PC to another Windows 7 PC.

   • Ensure the base disk is copied to the exact same location as it existed on the previous Windows 7 PC,
     (e.g., C:\Program Files\Windows XP Mode\Windows XP Mode base.vhd)

   • Create a new virtual machine with Windows Virtual PC and point to your Windows XP Mode virtual hard
     disk as the disk for the new virtual machine. Get the details on Technet.

   • Start the virtual machine, log in, and copy any required data from the virtual machine to another location.

   • Delete the virtual machine, and uninstall Windows XP Mode when all data is retrieved.

Hope this helps!

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