Hi, I use [
VirtualBox] to run Virtual Machines (VMs) on my Windows 10 system. I've ran Linux Mint, other Linux OSes, Windows XP, and several extra copies of Windows 10 as VMs on my system.
VM = Virtual Machine
Host = Your main operating system (Win 7 in your case)
Guest = OS that runs in a Window (VM). (XP in your case)
VirtualBox supports Windows 7 (Host). It will allow you to run WinXP (Guest) in a VM, I have ran a Win XP (guest) on my Win 10 system. One note though, Windows XP will "expire" in 30 days (if I remember correctly) if you do not purchase a license for it (which I'm not even sure is possible any longer). Just expect it to quit working in 30 days if you try it.
Another important note about VMs, they don't have direct access to
some hardware like graphics cards, therefore you cannot install a graphics card driver for it. If you are looking to run older games in a VM then you'll likely run into trouble. Some may work, most won't due to the lack of a graphics card driver.
I consider VirtualBox to be safe. When installing it, it will ask you install several extra drivers. All of that stuff is scary but they are safe. The drivers allow the guest OS to access some of your hardware such as a sound card and internet.
After VirtualBox is installed you will need to set up a "hard drive" which is basically just a big file on your system, but your guest operating system will see it as a real hard drive. With XP, you could easily go with a 25 GB (or less) and still have plenty of room to install software. After that you will need to install XP in the VM. It's also scary when it asks to format your Drive C. Obviously you want to make sure you are installing XP into the VM and not on your real system, but it's pretty easy to tell the difference. The VM is a Window.
I won't go into too many details on setup here, there are tutorials that can help you better than I can.
So is it possible to run XP as a VM on a Win7 host? Yes.
Is it dangerous: No, not if you know what you are doing and are comfortable installing things and trying things out.
If you don't know what you are doing, get help.
https://forums.virtualbox.org/
Picture of a Windows 10 VM (guest) running on my Windows 10 (host):
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