Using Parallels 5, I have found there are some problems installing an XPpro VM even if you have an original disk and have the serial # for such. It seems that there are perhaps two problems that have been identified on threads I searched here that will hang any XPpro installation that is before SP1.
The first to be attended to is the RAM default setting, which will cause failure on install if it is set above 768 megabytes. Default sets it at 1G, so you have to override that before creating the VM, during the VM set-up.
The second problem occurs during the devices installation and will hang up at around the point where the installer estimates 36-39 minutes left. The device that needs to be "disconnected" during install is the network device, if it is an Airport card. You can actually see the virtual drive querying the network icon, and then installation hangs. Virtually disconnect it using the "spider web" icon in the lower bar of the VM window during install. Do not virtually reconnect it until you are up to SP3 installation.
Once you have an installed VM that is up and running you can increase the RAM setting;- sometimes. Take a snapshot before you try it. I was able to give the XPpro VM 4G in my new iMac;- it also detects 2 processors. In my Macbook anything over 768 Megabytes crashes the VM on boot and for some reason the VM only detects one processor with a Core Duo 2.0 as opposed to the Core 2 Duo 3.33 in the iMac. Take snapshots of your successes before you make adjustments.
No guarantees this will work with PD 4;- I had 3 failures on both machines before I got a working VM with PD5. I have mostly a superstitious confidence in the above cited solutions. When I did it that way, I finally got success on both machines, but I can not tell you why. When it first failed on the iMac, I tried it on the Macbook. After much frustration and perseverance, finally I got it working on both almost simultaneously. I guess I should buy second licenses for XP and PD, or delete it all from one machine, but as touchy as installation is, I figure one of the two will just disintegrate spontaneously. If it lasts a month on both, I might be confident enough to pay for second licenses. I can't blame the Parallels people entirely but they should change the maximum default RAM setting for XPpro (original release version) down to 768 megabytes in future PD builds and include warnings about pre-SP3 XP versions' network card hang up potential. Keep in mind that Windows just does stuff on its' own (like trying to reset an IP address when that isn't the problem at all) that generally degrades its' functionality in the long run and every flavor of Windows has unique problems.
As far as how PD functions once it is working, it is nothing short of amazing. Everything is spliced together very well, even devices of all types, printers, scanners, cameras. Any device that worked on my old Win98se PC seems to work fine from the XPpro SP3 VM. And all the programs I have installed so far greatly benefit from being on a big powerful iMac. It is predictably slower on the Macbook, but still much faster than on my old PC. There is a very low penalty for the VM vs. a real machine. Also the snapshots feature allows a very good degree of restoring functionality if something goes wrong.
I was not crazy about Perspasky. I eventually got it all out of there with JV16 and replaced it with Microsoft's own Security Essentials. Persnicky's definitions file became corrupted on the second update. The error messages were at least as alarming as any virus I've actually had on a PC and Perspooky became very difficult to deal with. I tried to repair it and it jammed the VM. On reboot I got a whole new round of alarms so I tried to "completely" remove it, which took out the license and then jammed the VM again. This time on reboot (more alarms) I could not run the program without buying a license from Per-extortion. Of course there was no way to find out anything about bundled licenses at the Perscamsky web-site. This is where snapshots was first valuable;- all the way back, prior Perhapspy corruption. Then I installed JV16 Powertools (from last freeware versions) and brutally removed all Perscrapsky and installed Security Essentials. Much mo' better now, I think. Thank-you Microsoft and JV16.
Good luck with future attempts. It is worth it if you can get a good XP VM going. For a small price and perseverance, Parallels Desktop 5 totally rocks! Windows however, is still Windows. In my opinion, this is the best way to run it. You can barricade it behind the Mac OS and keep it more secure. If it gets corrupted or catches a virus, you can revert to a trouble free snapshot. And it "reboots" while your computer keeps running, so you don't lose ten minutes everytime Windows needs to crank up. Also the "suspend" feature allows you to return the resources the VM was using back to Mac OS without shutting the VM down completely. Automatic updates work, security updates works. I'm able to use my expensive CAD and graphics software that would not otherwise run on my Mac. I don't think it can get better than that.
