Server Questions

I'd like some answers to a few questions about server config changes.
First let me explain my current unsafe config.
First off i'm running win xp mce sp3 with xampp. I've set the passwords in xampp so no one can get into that.
What I want to do is use Free bsd. The thing is I don't want too much downtime if any. The install if I remember took over an hour and took a lot of user input. This would be too much downtime. So what I want to know is:
1. Is freebsd a good choice?
2. Can I set this up with little or no downtime or do I need to pull the extra hd out and install it on another machine?
3. Any other stuff to point out?

Average install time for nearly all OS's is about 40-90 minutes. Then to configure the OS to run the options you want to have takes another 0-30 minutes. More often than not you cannot install an OS on another machine and take it to the new computer unless they are of the same build.

I've decided to install it in a vm now. I took a look and it seems like the best option.

What is it you want to do with FreeBSD, just run a web server?

VirtualBox is a great way to run it virtually