Windows 7 XP Mode
Windows 7 will use desktop virtualization so you can run Windows-XP-compatible applications.
The planned Windows XP Mode will, theoretically, let you keep on running your existing applications on a brand-new Windows 7 machine, even if the applications themselves don't yet run natively on Windows 7.
Windows XP Mode is an add-on for Windows 7 Professional and higher that comes in two parts, each of which has its own setup.
The first is Windows Virtual PC, a new version of Microsoft's free desktop virtualization platform, and the second is Virtual Windows XP itself, which is a virtual hard drive pre-loaded and licensed with Windows XP Service Pack 3.
Microsoft has now delivered an RC version of Windows 7 XP Mode.
Fresh off the presses from Mary Jo Foley:
This August 4th, Microsoft is making available to any and all interested testers the Release Candidate (RC) test build of Windows 7’s XP Mode add-on.
XP Mode is aimed primarily at small/mid-size business users (SMBs), and is designed to allow them to run legacy Windows XP applications on Windows 7 using virtualization technologies.
The release candidate of XP Mode will work on the Windows 7 Release Candidate and the final Windows 7 RTM bits.The XP Mode RC is available for download from Microsoft’s Web site and consists of two components: A 5 MB Virtual PC file and a 450 MB copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3.
The final version of XP Mode will be available to Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate users on or around October 22, the day that Microsoft plans to make Windows 7 generally available.XP Mode, unlike some of Microsoft’s other virtualization offerings, does not require users to have a Software Assurance (SA) annuity license in order to get the bits.
Microsoft released the beta of XP Mode in April of this year. Since that time, the company has made a few tweaks to the XP Mode product.According to Scott Woodgate, Director of Windows Enterprise and Virtualization Strategy, these tweaks include:
A new and simpler way of adding and accessing devices, like printers and USB sticks, from XP Mode. Microsoft has removed a number of the steps required to add these devices. With the RC, they’ll be able to add them by right clicking on the Windows 7 icon.
A new way of enabling and disabling file sharing between Windows 7 and XP Mode. With the RC, Microsoft has more clearly delineated which files are where and made the process of sharing them simpler and more explicit.
The inclusion of a virtualization tutorial, which will run while XP Mode is installing. Microsoft realized that many XP Mode users are new to virtualization and decided to embed the tutorial, starting with the RC, directly in the product to acquaint them with how it works.
Tighter integration with Windows 7. With the RC, users will be able to add applications from their Windows 7 Jump Lists.
Better support for shared PCs. As of the RC, XP Mode will allow different users to store their Windows apps in different locations.
“We don’t expect XP Mode to be deployed on every Windows 7 PC,” said Woodgate. “Should users run every (legacy) application they have in XP Mode? The answer is no.”
Woodgate described the XP Mode add-on as a “last-mile compatibility solution” that is designed for use when Microsoft’s Application Compatibility Toolkit and other means don’t result in older apps working on Windows 7.
Microsoft is working with various hardware makers, some of which will be bundling XP Mode on new Windows 7 PCs later this year.As of October 22, however, users who want Windows 7 XP Mode right away will be able to download it from Microsoft, Woodgate said.
Download
the RC version of XP Mode for Windows 7
Updates:
8-11-2009
Windows 7’s XP Mode will not work on all Sony laptops that have hardware virtualization capability, despite being equipped with fully capable Intel Core 2 Duos.
According to
Gizmodo, this move was made after Sony faced much
negative criticism from its original decision to disable
virtualization across all its current Vaio model laptops.
Xavier Lauwaert, Senior Manager Product Marketing at Sony,
stated two primary reasons for disabling VT in a comment
over at the Windows Team Blog:
Contrary to perceived opinion, we have received very little if any requests to enable VT technology up until very recently. In addition, our engineers and QA people were very concerned that enabling VT would expose our systems to malicious code that could go very deep in the Operating System structure of the PC and completely disable the latter.
More XP Mode articles...
 New! Pros and Cons of XP Mode for Windows 7 |
