Hello, First let me say that I am brand new in the VM world. This is my first post so if I am posting in the wrong place please let me know. I have 2 PC's- one has dual boot Windows 7 and XP, the other Windows 7 and Windows 8. My goal, if possible, is to convert XP and Windows 8 existing installations to VMs. I have spent many many hours and remain unsuccessful. When I tried VMware Converter 5 I was given no option of converting just one partition. After reading around the web I found Converter 3.0 which gave me the option of converting one partition but when I did XP would never boot. ((I didn't try converting Windows 8 because I didn't think that version of Converter was compatible with Win8. Besides, I didn't want to mess with my Windows 8 install until I knew for sure I was doing it right.)
I then attempted converting an XP Acronis backup but could never get the converter to recognize the file. Then I set about setting up XP VM with fresh install which worked but it kept telling me I had to activate Windows (which I expected) but I couldn't because I did not have internet access from the host.
I have read extensively but the more I read the more confused I get. Can anyone tell me if what I want to do is possible and if so tell me how to properly do it. Remember, I'm very new at this so use small words. 
Thanks for any help.