Trying to set up my virtual drive

[hsdad]

I've been trying for the past two weeks to set up my virtual drive. I upgraded from Windows 7 and had the virtual drive set u so I could use two specific programs that wouldn't work on Windows 7 even with the compatibility mode. Now having upgraded to Windows 10, I find that it is supposed to be able to create a virtual drive. Difficulty is that I don't want to have to start all over again. I have the drive information on my machine and the programs that I have installed on it. I have attempted to attach the VHD to my machine. I can't open it, - no way to do so. The menu for launching the virtual drive is totally missing from my start menu. Upon further research online, I'm finding that Windows 10 will not support a VHD with Windows XP installed. Furthermore, XP platform cannot be downloaded from Microsoft. After clicking the link, the page changes to verify that the file has downloaded, but it doesn't. You are told, "if your download doesn't start, click here." That just brings you back to the previous page where you choose the file and the loop begins again. What am I to do?

Can I create a virtual drive within a virtual drive; i.e. setting up a virtual drive in Windows 7 and then creating a virtual drive within Windows 7 that will acknowledge XP?

Asking about how to start the virtual drive only gave me a description of how to set up a new one. Since I cannot redownload the programs necessary, that is a moot point.

 

[Trouble]

Do you have Hyper-V up and running on your Windows 10 machine?
Are you using some third party Virtual Machine product?
Was the VHD that you are attempting to use created using another Virtual Machine product"
Is the VHD a product of Windows XP Mode?

 

[hsdad]

Do you have Hyper-V up and running on your Windows 10 machine?
No, just trying to set ip what was once rning on my machine before upgrading

Are you using some third party Virtual Machine product?
No

Was the VHD that you are attempting to use created using another Virtual Machine product"
The VHD was created with Windows 7 Professional and was running constantly in that
Is the VHD a product of Windows XP Mode?

 

[hsdad]

Do you have Hyper-V up and running on your Windows 10 machine?
No, just trying to set ip what was once rning on my machine before upgrading

Are you using some third party Virtual Machine product?
No

Was the VHD that you are attempting to use created using another Virtual Machine product"
The VHD was created with Windows 7 Professional and was running constantly in that platform/

Is the VHD a product of Windows XP Mode?
I had downloaded the windows XP installation files from Microsoft. (I had upgraded to 7 from XP.

I have attempted to attach the VHD through computer Management. It shows the hard drive there and active, but there is no way to launch it.

 

[Trouble]

I had downloaded the windows XP installation files from Microsoft.

If it was the free license XP Mode VHD, then you are probably not going to be able to run it.

If it is a normally configured VHD that was created with a legitimate license key then you should be OK, you'll just need to either use Hyper-V or Virtual Box or VMware Player, or some type of Virtual Machine software to configure a new virtual machine and point it at your VHD (use an existing .vhd file).

As for the free license XP Mode version there is a pretty comprehensive discussion here.
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...7ae23ac1e653/windows-xp-mode-on-windows-8-pro