It saddens me, as it probably does a lot of you, that today will be our last day with Windows XP. The venerable Operating System from Microsoft has defied odds and still remains a mainstay on a lot of user’s desktop but with Microsoft pulling its support continuing to run Windows XP on your desktop would put you at risk. On the other hand upgrading would cost you a lot of money? Who am I kidding here for most of you upgrading will take up a lot of your time: scouring the internet for the proper Windows 7 torrent, waiting ages for the download to complete and messing with cracks( taking the risk that the torrent has malware to begin with) which will take up most of your time.
But what if you could continue to run Windows XP on your desktop without fear of malware ruining your life? What if there was a way to keep Windows XP despite Microsoft’s conspiracy to force you to upgrade? Turns out there is a way to do that using a special virtualization Linux distro called RoboLinux and before you Windows old timers flee into the woods in fear of Linux you should know that RoboLinux was made especially for this kind of work. The creators of the distro have spent a lot of time and effort to ensure that it is extremely easy to use with Windows XP and other versions of Windows. The best part is that the software is free.
RoboLinux Stealth VM software tools
These tools allow you to create and install a pristine copy of Windows and its associated settings into your machine. You can then install all the software that you use onto the same machine for example if you have an application that can only run in Windows XP. You can also update this copy of Windows with the latest updates, for example if it is Windows XP you can install today’s last updates. This “fresh” installation of Windows is then mirrored and protected in the stealth Virtual Machine partition on your PC. This allows you to use a “clean” unchanging version of Windows every time that you power up your virtual machine. Your data is kept in a separate folder that is also protected.
I am not a security consultant but the folks at RoboLinux make a pretty convincing argument as to why this is a secure setup. By making sure that there is a stable unchanging Operating System, this is likely to make for a secure computing experience because in the unlikely event that your machine is infected by a virus, you can always restore it to its original state by a simple boot and avoiding the infectious source in future. The software can also be used with other versions of Windows, specifically Windows 7 (you would be a nut job to run Windows 8/8.1 in a virtual machine anyway and nobody except you uses Vista) and of course the software is free.
For those who use other Linux distributions the software can be installed without the need to install the entire RoboLinux distribution. For the moment the software can be installed on the Debian family of distros which include Ubuntu and Linux Mint. These and the RoboLinux iso images can be downloaded from Sourceforge here. There is a promise that rpm packages for the Red Hat family but that is still in the works.
NB It is recommended that you use Google Chrome/ Firefox browsers on top of your Windows XP in order to thwart hard to detect keyloggers infections. There are some crazy people I know who still use the Internet Explorer browser that can with Windows XP! So go try RoboLinux and share your experience with us.
Image Credit: RoboLinux
9 comments
Now this really sounds very interesting. I definitely will give it a shot. Thank you techzim, Hope this tool does not chew up my memory and precious HDD space
thats a bunch of crap…. installing ANY copy of windows XP in the next few months is going to be at risk of being hacked regardless of how you run it (except perhaps in an Air Gapped environment).
You shouldn’t be installing XP anywhere new at all regardless of why you think you need it. The only current exception I can think of is if you are a big organisation that has software ONLY supported on XP but that’s no excuse for fixing/updating your software and upgrading OS
Stop recommending or showing people how to install basically dead software that leaves anybody but an expert exposed to huge levels of risk.
Makes no sense at all running Windows XP in a virtual machine because it does not improve its security posture in any way.
Have you used the software?
Answer: “NO you have not”
Have you done more than just post ignorant rhetoric?
Answer: “YES”
I suggest you watch this video which proves it works!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe5-DJa-hMs
I got version 742 just before 751 came out, I paid the mandatory VM softwrae “Donations” and the XP 32 is working fine in VM but the 64 bit Win7 would not install with message that I don’t have 64 bit when indeed I do. So I only got something that worked for XP but not Win 7. Next time I will buy Win7 32 bit to avoid all the “Gee, I can’t run 64 bit” errors. You need to burn up an activation so make sure the system really works before wasting your activation. This is why I think the “C:Drive to VM” software with versin 751 just might be the best thing that ever happened to Linux, unfortunately it does NOT work on all computers.
But now they, for a modest price, they have something great and new (if it works) called “C:Drive to VM” software which basically clones a Win XP or Win 7 installed OS less than 100 gb ot a VXDI fileand runs it in the VM box and it is “portable”. This a nice thing, but i am afraid to pay around fifty only to find out I can’t clone my Win7 64. Running stuff in VM has it’s limitations, but the XP installed into VM is quite secure since you are still running Linux.
The RoboLinix OS runs pretty good but still has a few non working software issues, but seems pretty reliable and stable otherwise.
I have not installed the new 751 version because I just paid for and installed the 742 with all VM software, but you will need the new 751 version to run the new innovative :C:Drive to VM” software and some computer savy. It would be nice have though.
On a final note, don’t complain on the RoboLinux forum too much or you will be kicked as I was, simply because I listed all the bugs I found and never got on single solution there.
Your comments are a pack of lies JBS. Your initials BS are spot on.
1. You do not need to upgrade to 7.5.1 to use c drive to vm.
2. The c drive to vm is a 19.95 Tech support fee. NOT $50
GO SPREAD YOUR LIES SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU FOOL.
If you have only 32-bit capable hardware you can’t run any 64-bit OS on it. It’s your own mistake, not robolinuxes. Also even if you have a 64-bit capable hardware you have to have virtualization support enabled in the BIOS in order to run a 64-bit virtual guest.
The Robolinux promotion has a not-so-subtle aroma of snake-oil. Long-term Linux user running WIndows XP, 7 and 8.1 on VMs, and I can tell you that Robolinuux offers nothing that hassn’t been available in Linux (or Windows) for years, and for free. VirtualBox is a free download from Oracle for Windows or Linux. If you have a copy of whichever Windows with proper license, it’s not rocket science or even high-school science to set up a virtual machine and make copies of it to replace any infected by viruses..
That’s exactly what I thought. Every word. The questions for me –as a noob only about to transition to Linux — are:
1.) Can I figure out how to install Virtualbox or a fully functional equivalent on that free distro? (A: probably — if the distro has that hypervisor in it’s repository.)
2.) What distro is intuitive for a noob (Robolinux seems to have great effort put in for this), a good stable and not too resource hungry host for the hypervisor, safe from corruption via malware or noobish me, and hopefully self-updating with security features? (Linux may be fairly malware-free for now, but it may not stay that way — if the safety promptly came down the chain from those who manage the distro, it would help a lot.)
3.) Where to get good tech support/advice. The snakeoil… I mean Robolinux site promises to go as far as to custom code the driver you need if you need one.
So, I am scratching my nooby head.