Inside the XP VM, zero out free space (e.g., using sdelete -z ), then:
Ready-to-use QCOW2 images can sometimes be found on platforms like SourceForge or community forums, though creating your own is safer for security. Convert from VDI/VMDK: windows xpqcow2
qemu-img create -f qcow2 windows_xp.qcow2 10G Inside the XP VM, zero out free space (e
Create a blank QCOW2 image and install Windows XP from an ISO file: qemu-img create -f qcow2 winxp.qcow2 20G Running Windows XP in QEMU (Recommended Setup) Inside the XP VM
To achieve usable performance rather than a very slow system, use QEMU with modern machine settings. Windows 10 rather slow under UTM #4241 - GitHub