thanks for the replies guys, i downloaded vmware, i have a product key from xp home, professional, and media center, so i installed my windows xp professional disk, and it WONT accept my product key for it... ive checked and rechecked 20 times, im not entering it wrong, is there any other reason for this? i dont have an XP home disk, and my only XP media center CD is a gateway recovery disk from my old PC, i tried installing with it but it just BSOD'd over n over, restarting too fast for me to even attempt to read it... any ideas on what i can do? as i said, i own a product key to pro, media center edition, and home edition...