Ideas for an effective Windows XP VM on Apple Silicon

[baptisteplace]

Hello everyone,

I have been using VMware Fusion on my old Intel iMac for a while, as I need to run Windows XP few times a week, to launch old software, usually on ISO files. The process was smooth, mounting images directly from the Mac filesystem.

I switched to an MacMini M2 Pro recently, and expected to be unable to emulate x86 systems. I have tried UTM but it's far from the features offered by Fusion.

I'm thinking about a new setup with a dedicated computer, maybe a small laptop with Windows 10 or 11 so I can take direct control easily, but I'd like to work as much as possible from my Mac. Would it be possible to remotely connect to a WinXP VM on the Windows computer ?

Thanks for any feedback

[ColoradoMarmot]

It's essentially impossible to get one to work with any sort of performance.

I'm not sure if there's any remotely (pun intended) secure method of remote access for XP these days.  If at all possible, you should just mount everything once on your existing intel hardware and migrate to a more modern solution.

If that really isn't an option, then I'd shy away from remote access unless you're on a very private and secure network and just work directly on the XP machine.

[Technogeezer · Accepted solution]

A couple of thoughts....

Enable VNC connectivity to a VM's console through VMware Workstation. That way VNC client software on the Mac can be used to access the remote VM.s. However, VNC may not perform well and might be insecure.

Enable Remote Desktop connectivity within Windows XP Professional running on the VM. You may be able to use the Microsoft Remote Desktop app (free install from the Mac App Store) to connect to the VM. This'll work best if the VM is configured with Bridged networking. (I'm not sure if the Remote Desktop app on the Mac considers Windows XP to be too old and insecure to talk to, but it's worth a try).

Either one of these solutions may require that firewall settings be tweaked on the Windows 10 or 11 host operating system.

Another thought is to ditch the laptop idea, get a small Intel NUC with sufficient memory and SSD, and run VMware's free version of ESXi on it. Then use the VMware Remote Console app (also available in the Mac App Store) to connect to the ESXi server and VM.

[baptisteplace]

WinXP is not really an option, as I have to run unmaintained software for late 90s or early 2000.

Thanks a lot for your answer

[baptisteplace]

Great ideas to try, I do have a NUC (NUCC7CJYSN) with Debian running, I could easily kill the Deb and install Win10 (or 11?), then try your solution.

Awesome help Technogeezer‎, thanks a lot!