Friday, September 17, 2010

Running Windows XP-only apps on Windows 7

How to run Windows XP-only applications on Windows 7 (particular steps necessary for Windows 7 Home are described here):

Scott Hanselman describes how to run Windows XP apps nicely in Windows 7:
Windows 7 - Seamless Apps in Windows Virtual PC (Virtual XP) and Application Compatibility

However, Hanselman does not cover when you have no access to the Windows XP Mode download.

This article describes how to install Windows Virtual PC, install a new virtual machine with Windows XP, install your Windows XP-only application, and run it from Windows 7:

1) Download and install Windows Virtual PC:
Windows Virtual PC

2) If you are running a machine without hardware virtualization, Windows Virtual PC will not run, so install this fix from Microsoft, either:
a) on 32 bit systems: 32 bit fix
b) on 64 bit systems: 64 bit fix

3) Run Windows Virtual PC and create a new virtual machine.

4) Install and start Windows XP on the virtual machine.

5) Install Integration Functions via the built-in disk.

6) Install the Windows XP application that you want to run on Windows 7.

7) Close the virtual machine by clicking the X, which will make the machine hibernate.

8) In Windows 7 Start menu you can find the name of your application and click it. The Windows XP virtual machine will start in the background and bring your application up as if it was running on Windows 7.

For more details behind some of the steps, see Hanselman's article:
Windows 7 - Seamless Apps in Windows Virtual PC (Virtual XP) and Application Compatibility

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