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I was able to create a virtual machine and install XP on it. Now I just need to know where to look to figure out what I am doing wrong with NIC settings. When I enable the virtual switch, I soon find that even the Windows 8 loses access. I understand the transient condition when I create the virtual switch. It gets through that fine and I find that the XP system cannot access the network, and then I see that Windows 8 can no longer access the net either. I've tried assigning static IP configuration to the physical NIC, but even that does not help.