Windows XP Mode is a free pre-installed virtual machine running on Virtual PC in Windows 7. See the tutorial on our sister site Seven Forums: Windows XP Mode - Install and Setup - Windows 7 Help Forums In this tutorial, I will show how to use Windows XP Mode virtual hard disk to create a virtual machine in Windows 10 using Hyper-V. Microsoft Launches VHD Evaluation Program. This means that you can download virtual machines and try out complex server software without the need to set up anything. Virtual PC Windows 7 Windows 8 Windows 8.1 Windows 10 Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2016 Windows XP Windows XP Mode.
In this article, you learn how to download a Windows virtual hard disk (VHD) file from Azure using the Azure portal.
Optional: Generalize the VM
If you want to use the VHD as an image to create other VMs, you should use Sysprep to generalize the operating system.
To use the VHD as an image to create other VMs, generalize the VM.
If you haven't already done so, sign in to the Azure portal.
Connect to the VM.
On the VM, open the Command Prompt window as an administrator.
Change the directory to %windir%system32sysprep and run sysprep.exe.
In the System Preparation Tool dialog box, select Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE), and make sure that Generalize is selected.
In Shutdown Options, select Shutdown, and then click OK.
Stop the VM
A VHD can’t be downloaded from Azure if it's attached to a running VM. You need to stop the VM to download a VHD.
On the Hub menu in the Azure portal, click Virtual Machines.
Select the VM from the list.
On the blade for the VM, click Stop.
Generate download URL
To download the VHD file, you need to generate a shared access signature (SAS) URL. When the URL is generated, an expiration time is assigned to the URL.
On the page for the VM, click Disks in the left menu.
Select the operating system disk for the VM.
On the page for the disk, select Disk Export from the left menu.
The default expiration time of the URL is 3600 seconds. Increase this to 36000 for Windows OS disks.
Click Generate URL.
Note
The expiration time is increased from the default to provide enough time to download the large VHD file for a Windows Server operating system. You can expect a VHD file that contains the Windows Server operating system to take several hours to download depending on your connection. If you are downloading a VHD for a data disk, the default time is sufficient.
Download VHD
Under the URL that was generated, click Download the VHD file.
You may need to click Save in your browser to start the download. The default name for the VHD file is abcd.
Next steps
Learn how to upload a VHD file to Azure.
Create managed disks from unmanaged disks in a storage account.