QEMU Windows XP SP3 Retro Gaming VM From Scratch to 3D Acceleration in 15 mins
60**NOTE** Changing Windows XP HAL from "ACPI Uniprocessor" to "ACPI PC" is unnecessary for Guest images that would solely be used with Linux KVM. This is only required for Guest images that are shared among Linux KVM and Windows 10/11 WHPX. Such enables one to play the games on dual-boot Linux/Windows PC/laptops regardless of which OS was booted.
This is a real-time video. The VM literally breezed through the OS installation faster than any real retro WinXP machines circa 2003 period. The 3DMark 2003 scores also wiped the floor with retro GPUs in the same period. [ Reference https://techreport.com/review/4736/examining-graphics-card-performance-in-3dmark03/ ] The OS had long been EOL'ed and no longer considered secured for daily computing. For retro gaming though, it is well, alive & kicking. And it would be even more enjoyable to play those games on modern machines, on laptops and at much higher quality than it was possible in period-correctness Windows XP PC setup and paying for the inflated price for old PCs.
The setup is literally simple and straight-forward with no tricks at all, similar to typical Windows XP installation on RAID setup that RAID storage drivers are to be provided on floppy. For VM, this is even simpler with just a mounted floppy image. No messing with media formatting, drive head cleaning & mechanical parts breakdown due to aging.
Another great advantage of Windows XP VM is the more robust and modernized SAMBA implementation that enables the Guest to map host network shares on the same Windows/Linux host machine with simple user-mode networking setup. Windows 98 Guest requires a more complicated TUNTAP networking setup that necessitates privilege escalation and may not work reliably on wireless connection. The accessibility of Host network shares from Guest removes the waste duplication of CD-ripped CUE/BIN images for games that need them. For those love to play on laptops on-the-go, just make sure to get a bigger NVME SSDs without the worry of bandwidth consumption from the cloud.
So just 3 simple QEMU command lines, no point & click GUI fuss and Have FUN with Retro Gaming on Windows 10/11 & modern Linux!