Video - Creating an Unattended Virtual Install of XP Using Virtualbox

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Windows XP is our victim or target for the labs. Though some of these labs will work using newer operating systems as targets, Windows XP is still relevant in roughly 75% of all networks making it a viable target.

Transcript

Greetings and in this short video presentation we're going to see how we go about creating an unattended virtual install Windows XP using VirtualBox. For this demonstration, I'll be using VirtualBox version 5.2 point six. To see which version of VirtualBox you are currently using you can go to help and you can go to about VirtualBox. If you would like to check for updates for your current version of VirtualBox you can go to File and then you click on Check for update. For this lab we'll need to download the Windows XP SP two unattended ISO image for download link for the ISO file is located within the lab file itself. If we put our mouse over the link and hold down the Control key, we can then click on the link and the download process will begin.

Once the download page for the image does load We can go to the upper right corner, find the three dots, and just click on that and the context menu opens up, giving us the download option. Clicking on the download option, you're then given the option to either open with or save the file, we want to save the file. And we want to save it to location and remember where we save it. So I'm going to say okay, and this is going to be saved over to my folder called ISO image. Once the download has completed, we can return to our VirtualBox and we can begin the creation of the unattended install of Windows XP. To begin the installation process, we're going to go up to new and that opens up the Create Virtual Machine wizard for virtual box, we're going to give the machine a user friendly name.

I'm going to call this Windows XP, and we see that VirtualBox has detected that I'm going to be using Windows XP 32 bit and I can select neck now if it doesn't detect it, just pull down the windows works. says the Type, select Windows. Then on the next window, pull down where it says version and then select Windows XP 32 bit, go ahead and say next. On the next page, we can increase the ram up to 1024. And we can say Next, we're going to leave the default for create a virtual hard disk. Now, we're going to say create.

That opens up another wizard. For the hard disk file type, we're going to accept the default for VDI, we're going to say next, we're going to accept the default for dynamically allocated we're going to select Next, we can leave the 10 gigabyte this size as is because that's plenty of room for the installation of Windows XP. And now we're ready to begin the installation process. To start the installation process. We're going to go up and we're going to click on the start button. On this next window that opens up we have to browse over to the startup disk in this case, that's going to be Are unattended ISO image for Windows XP so I'm going to go ahead and click on the Browse button.

That's going to take me over to where I keep or I downloaded that Windows XP Professional SP two unattended dot ISO image. I'm going to double click it. I'm going to select Start and just a moment the installation for Windows XP unattended will begin. Now I say on attended the unattended part is where it will not prompt you for a installation key and it automatically logs you on to the desktop of Windows x. So the first screen in the installation process wants to go ahead and select the partition. We're going to go ahead and hit enter.

We're now going to format that partition using NTFS. Hit Enter, the formatting process begins. Once the formatting process has completed, the setup starts the copying of files once the copying of files has completed machine will restart, and it comes back up and we'll begin the GUI portion of the setup. You can ignore the time for the setup I know it says 39 minutes, but it's probably closer to 12 maximum probably 15 minutes to set up and create a Windows XP installation. For the date and time it's very important that we set the clock as it is for our callee machine. So whatever time zone and whenever time we have present on our Cali, we need to ensure that Windows XP reflects the same time zone and time.

So I'm gonna go ahead and just say next to this, and the installation continues. Once the installation completes, Windows XP will restart and when it comes up, it will automatically log you onto the desktop. We now have Windows XP loaded and up to the desktop and we're now going to begin the optimization process. The first thing we want to do is go ahead and install the Guest Additions so that we can get Windows XP To go fullscreen. To do this, I'm going to go up to devices. And I'm going to go down to where it says insert Guest Additions CD image that begins the process of installing the Guest Additions.

There's some balloons out of the way. And we're going to click Next. And next, accept all the defaults and just let the installation begin. Once the Guest Additions have completed the installation, you will need to do a reboot. So I'm going to go ahead and click on finish and allow it to reboot now, Windows XP has rebooted I can now go fullscreen. Now next thing we're going to do is stop Windows XP from logging us off after 10 minutes of inactivity.

To do this, I find any space on the screen I right click on go to properties. On the display Properties window. We're going to click on the screensaver tab. And down here where it selects the screensaver. We're going to pull that window down and we're going to select None. We're going to say OK, and we're done.

The next thing we have to ensure is that our windows firewall for Windows XP has been disabled. To do this, we're going to go to the start button, we're going to click on control panel. From here, we're going to change it over to classic. And then we're going to select the Windows Firewall, make sure that the Windows Firewall has the radio button for the off selected, we're going to go ahead and say OK, to that close out the control panel brings us back to our desktop. Now the last thing we need to discuss is how to properly shut down Windows XP. Windows XP is very detrimental, about how it gets shut down and it's very easy to corrupt the installation files, we do not go up to the right corner and click on the box that gives us the option to shut down that is not how we do it.

To shut down or restart Windows XP we go to the start button and we select turn off the computer. And from the next window we select either restart or turn off. That's the only way you can properly shut down Windows XP If you shut it down any other way, it will become corrupted. And when that happens, not a major deal, just go ahead and create yourself another virtual install of Windows XP using the same process. In this short video presentation you got to see how we go about creating an unattended install of Windows XP. If you have any questions or concerns about the content of this video, please do not hesitate to reach out and contact your instructor and I'll see you in my next video.

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