Windows XP and Vista Testing Images
We all test stuff. Sometimes we'd like to share the test environment, but that becomes complicated because of software license issues. For example, some general instructions on setting up a simple fault testing framework that anyone inside the company can use as a starting point for their project. You can't post your own XP image and you can't expect everyone to have their own MSDN subscription.
The solution is the FDCC images from (http://nvd.nist.gov/fdcc/download_fdcc.cfm). As part of the Federal Desktop Core Configuration, Microsoft provides periodic updates to images and posts them on the FDCC site. The most recent set is from Q1 of 2009, but they work. First download the multi-part zip file of XP or Vista. These must be opened in WinZip, not pkzip, or gzip, or anything else I tried on Mac OS X. Next, download the free Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 SP1 or 2007 SP1. You'll need this because the zip archive contains a single VHD file that will only work with Virtual PC. I don't have a link for the download, but start at http://msdn.microsoft.com and search for Virtual PC. NOTE: Yes, I did try using the vmware-vdiskmanager to convert the VHD image to a vmdk image. But I could not create an IDE disk. And using the SCSI disk image XP will blue screen before getting to the logon screen. Trying to fake the import utility didn't work either. So I fell back on creating a VPC image, then running the converter. Install and run Virtual PC. Create a new image accepting all the defaults, but using the VHD file for the hard disk. You should be able to start this and log onto the FDCC image. The username and password are provided in the FAQs on the FDCC site, but for the impatient use Renamed_Admin and P@ssw0rd123456. Now download and install the free VMware Converter. Again, no link. Go to http://www.vmware.com and search. You'll need to register, get the email, follow the link. Using this utility convert your Virtual PC image to a VMware image suitable for your next free download, the VMware Player. Finally, install and run VMware Player. Open the .vmx file of your converted image. All should be well. For extra credit, manually edit the VMware image to add a serial port by following the instructions on the VMware community help pages at (http://communities.vmware.com/message/1380528#1380528) or reading through (http://sanbarrow.com/vmx.html). Now you can run Windows Debugger (WinDbg) in one virtual machine or on the host, while attaching to a target virtual machine for kernel debugging. After all this effort you'll have a Windows XP or Vista virtual machine which you can pass along to your team, your colleagues, your friends without breaking the rules or risking the loss of your MSDN license. I've just gone through this exercise and can attest that it works. Or at least it did today.
