Windows XP, RDC

I built a Windows XP Xen VM for testing Windows software, and found it to be a little trickier than I expected.

The first problem I ran into was getting the system to install off the CD. It worked up until the obligatory "Your system will reboot to continue" but after the boot, it could not recognize the CD. The solution was to install off an image rather than a disk. Of course that means you need an image.

Wrong:
# mkisofs -o win-XP.iso /media/WXPOEM_EN
Right:
# dd if=/dev/sr0 of=/iso/win-XP.img

Next came a problem getting the thing to actually shutdown. Each time I had to reboot the server. Not good. I found that if I disconnected the local console before it reached the power off sequence, it would work.

I also mis-configured the network at install time, so the bridge was set to bridge=virbr0 instead of bridge=eth0. The system could get out, but I could not ping in. The importance of this will be aparent in a moment. To fix the network problem require exporting the XML, editing the code, and importing the change.

Once the XP VM was running, it was time for remote access. Alas, I didn't know how to accomplish this until I found instructions as, of all places, Microsoft:

Enabling Remote Desktop on a Computer Running Windows XP Professional

When you install Windows XP Professional, Remote Desktop is disabled by default. To enable Remote Desktop, follow these steps:

  1. Log on to your Windows XP Professional–based computer using an Administrator account.
  2. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
  3. In the System Properties sheet, click the Remote tab.
  4. Select the Allow users to connect remotely to this computer check box.

Now, I can start the VM, use RDC to connect.