DMI BIOS settings (information taken from this thread) If you have an OEM version of Windows XP you should set these additional parameters as follows so your copy of Windows does not have to be reactivated. In total there are 13 such parameters (which you can set, see section 9.13 in the manual). To determine them use the below commands.

First use dmidecode -t0:

  vt@vt:~$ sudo dmidecode -t0
  # dmidecode 2.9
  SMBIOS 2.3 present.
  Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 20 bytes
  BIOS Information
          Vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
          Version: A12
          Release Date: 08/26/2004
          Address: 0xF0000
          Runtime Size: 64 kB
          ROM Size: 512 kB
          Characteristics:
                  PCI is supported
                  PNP is supported
                  [...]
          Bios Revision: 2.3
          Firmware Revision: 2.3

This determines: DmiBIOSVendor (Dell Computer Corporation), DmiBIOSVersion (A12), DmiBIOSReleaseDate (08/26/2004), DmiBIOSReleaseMajor (2), DmiBIOSReleaseMinor (3), DmiBIOSFirmwareMajor (2) and DmiBIOSFirmwareMinor (3).

If Bios and Firmware Revisions are not listed, set them both to the version of SMBIOS.

Subsequently run dmidecode -t1:

  vt@vt:~$ sudo dmidecode -t1
  # dmidecode 2.9
  SMBIOS 2.3 present.
  Handle 0x0100, DMI type 1, 25 bytes
  System Information
          Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
          Product Name: Dimension 4600i             
          Version: Not Specified
          Serial Number: JTGL999
          UUID: 99999C9C-9999-9999-999C-CAC99F999999
          Wake-up Type: Power Switch
          Family: X86-based PC

This determines: DmiSystemVendor (Dell Computer Corporation), DmiSystemProduct (Dimension 4600i), DmiSystemVersion (Not Specified), DmiSystemSerial (JTGL999), DmiSystemUuid (99999C9C-9999-9999-999C-CAC99F999999) and DmiSystemFamily (X86-based PC).

If a field is not shown or indicates “Not Specified” fill it in as “<EMPTY>” (see below).

Now you can use the VBoxManage setextradata command to set these fields. The easiest way is to do this with a script:

  #! /bin/bash
  VM_NAME="xpraw" # Name of your Virtual Machine
  VSETED="VBoxManage setextradata $VM_NAME"
  CFG_PATH="VBoxInternal/Devices/pcbios/0/Config"
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSVendor       "Dell Computer Corporation"
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSVersion      "A12"
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseDate  "08/26/2004"
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseMajor  2
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseMinor  3
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSFirmwareMajor 2
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSFirmwareMinor 3
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiSystemVendor     "Dell Computer Corporation"
  $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiSystemProduct    "Dimension 4600i"