VM (virtual machine) for windows xp games

[aaradorn]

I've been trying to replay some of my favourites, bless you myabandonware, but I noticed my system might be a bit too modern for the classics, heroes over europe, heroes of the pacific, and I need a windows XP VM, whats a good VM these days? I never used one for gaming.

I wont dual boot just for 2 games.

btw, if anyone has a fix so heroes over europe can go above 20fps that would be nice. Somehow my 3080ti and 5700x3d are simply too powerful and the game breaks itself.

[YoungBlade]

I'm guessing you already tried running the games in Compatability Mode for older versions of Windows?

 

Virtualbox is still the go-to for me for VMs. It's free and pretty easy to figure out.

 

If you can't get a copy of XP, you can try running the games in Linux with Wine. It's pretty common these days for old programs to actually run better on Linux than Windows. I've been playing Populous The Beginning recently, and the framerate is much more stable on Linux with Wine than Windows 11.

[whispous]

1 minute ago, YoungBlade said:

Virtualbox is still the go-to for me for VMs. It's free and pretty easy to figure out.

Adding a +1 to VirtualBox.

[Needfuldoer]

Another option would be an older OEM machine. Intel platforms up through Ivy Bridge have full official Windows XP support, and you can pick those up for practically the cost of shipping these days. 

 

Support for non-passthrough 3D video acceleration in VMs is hit or miss.

[Kilrah]

Looks like 3D games, so there's a good chance they will not run on a VM like that.

[aaradorn]

Quote

2 hours ago, YoungBlade said:

I'm guessing you already tried running the games in Compatability Mode for older versions of Windows?

 

Virtualbox is still the go-to for me for VMs. It's free and pretty easy to figure out.

 

If you can't get a copy of XP, you can try running the games in Linux with Wine. It's pretty common these days for old programs to actually run better on Linux than Windows. I've been playing Populous The Beginning recently, and the framerate is much more stable on Linux with Wine than Windows 11.

I'll give it ago, I remember it being really sluggish back in the day but who knows, maybe I just used the wrong settings. Ill find my own XP somewhere yoho

2 hours ago, whispous said:

Adding a +1 to VirtualBox.

 

 

[Blue4130]

On 8/25/2025 at 6:56 PM, aaradorn said:

I've been trying to replay some of my favourites, bless you myabandonware, but I noticed my system might be a bit too modern for the classics, heroes over europe, heroes of the pacific, and I need a windows XP VM, whats a good VM these days? I never used one for gaming.

I wont dual boot just for 2 games.

btw, if anyone has a fix so heroes over europe can go above 20fps that would be nice. Somehow my 3080ti and 5700x3d are simply too powerful and the game breaks itself.

The built in Windows one. Hyper V. Works fine, is free.