Windows XP in Qemu (or other emulator)

[RJPugh]

Greetings! I don't know if this is the correct sub-forum for this, so I apologize if it isn't.

Has anyone in here managed to run Windows XP within Qemu, or some other emulator? If so, what was your experience?

I recently acquired a new computer with Windows 8 - which I now officially dislike. I'm seriously thinking of purging it in favor of PC-BSD (which is FreeBSD in fancy clothes). My new computer is far above anything that was around during WXP's heyday, so even with the performance hit of an emulator it should still run okay. The goal is to make my old WXP software at least semi-useable. A few of my favorite games require WXP, for example.

Now for another question, and this is a long shot. Can an existing Windows XP instillation be converted into a disc image that an emulator can use? If I can take the hard drive from my old computer, turn it into a disc image, and then run that image from within an emulator, I would be very happy!

I understand that this isn't very likely, and even if it is it may be tricky. But it would certainly be cool.

Thanks folks,

RJPugh
(If this is covered in a document somewhere, I just haven't found it, so please don't chomp my head off.)

[roddierod]

I use VirtualBox on FreeBSD and it runs XP extremely well. Only "issue" I've ever had accessing the full 3D capability of my graphic card, but that only really effects games in my case.