More on Windows 7's 'XP Mode'
Microsoft on Tuesday offered up a few more details on its once-secretive project to use virtualization to offer an "XP Mode" for Windows 7.
As noted on Friday, Microsoft is using its Virtual PC technology to allow Windows 7 users to run programs that work in Windows XP but not in Windows Vista. On Tuesday, it noted some more of the fine print regarding the product.
As far as technical requirements, XP Mode needs a beefier system than that required to just run Windows 7 or XP alone, including at least 2GB of memory and a system that has chip-level virtualization from either Intel or AMD. One of the challenges is that today it is often not that easy to tell whether one's PC has such support.
A screenshot of Windows 7's XP Mode, which allows programs designed for Windows XP to run inside a virtual machine within Windows 7.
(Credit: Microsoft)"Some PCs have it and some don't," said Scott Woodgate, a director in the Windows unit. "It's not as clear as it should be relative to which PCs have (hardware-based virtualization) support and which don't."
At its core, XP mode consists of two things, the Windows Virtual PC engine and a licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 as a packaged virtual machine. Although neither piece will be included in the Windows 7 box, XP Mode will be a free download for those who have a license to Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate.
Microsoft is aiming XP Mode primarily at small businesses, Woodgate said."That's a class of customers that may have Windows XP apps that they may want to run on Windows 7," he said.
Larger businesses may also have need to run older applications, but typically want control over things like who can install programs on their machines and other management issues. For them, he said, Microsoft has a product called MED-V that allows such control. An updated version of MED-V, due to be in beta within 90 days of the launch of Windows 7, will add support for Windows 7's XP Mode, he said.
One of the benefits of XP Mode over Microsoft's existing virtualization products is the fact that, after a setup process, the Windows XP virtual machine runs in the background so users don't have to manage multiple desktops. XP Mode automatically installs shortcuts for XP programs in the Windows 7 start menu. The experience from that point on is similar to the one offered by VMware's Fusion and Parallels in their virtualization products.
Woodgate noted that XP Mode isn't a security solution. Indeed, to protect their systems, users will need antivirus software running both on their Windows 7 desktop as well as a copy running inside their Windows XP virtual machine.
The beta version of XP Mode is debuting alongside the Windows 7 Release Candidate that is going to developers this week and being made publicly available on May 5. Microsoft said a final release will depend on the feedback to the beta, but Woodgate said Microsoft hopes it can be ready for download at the same time Windows 7 is made broadly available.
Microsoft has been working on the XP Mode as long as it has been developing Windows 7, and Woodgate said even he is surprised it stayed secret for so long.
The existence of XP Mode emerged on an enthusiast site on Friday, later confirmed by CNET sources, and then through an official company blog post.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
OK, so give only *some* of your customers the ability to run legacy applications without upgrading hardware, or the applications themselves. Nice move, Microsoft!
Their main issue was compatibility and most workstations these days have 2-4 times that much ram anyways.
For the additional cost of the business versions one could buy a copy of XP and set up a virtual machine themselves. Most people running legacy applications already HAVE a copy of XP so the only added value in this is that unlike the Virtual PC 2007, which is free for download this will be more seemless.
Microsoft has already given away a solution to allow people to run legacy applications, but the whiners on cnet seem to feel like Microsoft owes them something.
It is not for home users.
Notice Ultimate, Professional, Enterprise
I doubt anyone has mission critical tasks with a video game.
Does VirtualPC 2007 require chip-level virtualization? (I don't actually know but suspect not) So why have the requirement for the "built-in" XP Mode solution instead of making it easy for the majority of users to take advantage of their existing software investment?
Because it integrates itself within Windows 7 notice allowing you to launch XP programs from it.
And most home users will just find a new program or never will run into a compatibility issue.
They have saved me time and tears with this move and as a result I'll have absolutely no worries recommending Win7 upgrades for work. I'm actually excited about Windows 7 now, a giant swing from where I was (based on the Win7 beta, I was terrified - I liked the interface, but work software and devices didn't work).
Anyway, I still see some nay-sayers. They're irrelevant. I wish we could cut the 13-year script kiddies out of the conversation.
Amen
Long Live the King!
The sky is falling!
Death to all infidels!
U S A, U S A
Talk to the hand.
Who's yo daddy?
running double antivirus apps? I despised wasting resources on running just one such app, and now in order to do old stuff MS wants people to not only buy & license two such apps but also double drain resources? Would 2GB of memory be enough????
Who said you had to pay for a AV? Plenty of free ones that work the same.
Most likely this loads off of a partition.
@monkey: Well, if it's based off their Virtual PC technology that came out of Microsoft's purchase, not likely. The Virtual PC software still made use of virtual disks that were just huge files on the host machine last time I looked at it. (I don't use Microsoft's VM software so, my information may be out of date. Got too tired of it freezing and freezing my host machine.)
It may not be based on it though.
Perhaps you should read the article, hence why I stated that it sounds slow and buggy... and that it should be included in every copy of win7 is self explanatory
Have you used parallels under the mac? Same caveats apply. Where do you think the memory and cpu cycles for a virtual machine come from anyway?
Except for the seemless nature of this version there is nothing unique about this. The only reason they don't include this is not because this feature is so costly, but because they are throwing in an XP license. I would agree with you 100% that Microsoft should include the updated version of VirtualPC, but give away a free XP license? You are being silly if you seriously believe that. Furthermore, if you already have a copy of XP, which most of us already have the only thing you have to do to run your XP apps on Windows 7 is download VirtualPC or VirtualBox.
"most"
Stopped right there.
Most of them do NOT have the computers, hence not upgrading to VISTA.
Put simply, "You don't need a supercomputer to write a letter."
Sooner or later MS is going to give it up and go back. The longer they wait, the more damage it will cause them.
MS is like those emo kids who hurt themselves on purpose.
XP is a 9 year old OS vista 3 years.
I am stick with XP because of my old games! I really fans of Windows XP gaming. Halo 2 work on Windows XP. Remember Halo 2 is only for Vista? That one! We need report to companies to force Vista out to replace into XP to allow playing old and new games on it without worry about it!
Windows XP is ROCK and AWESOME in the world! I LOVE WINDOWS XP FOREVER!!!
Furthermore, most people didn't buy new computers in the first half of this decade for XP. They often wanted newer hardware (eg. DVD burners, built in ethernet, built in wifi, etc.). Except for 802.11N and Blu-ray nothing notable has really come out. Sure there are always faster processors and bigger HDDs, but for most common users the speed of their internet connection is more important than their CPU and HDD space has became so plentiful that I've encountered a lot of people who can't will a 160GB HDD. The hardware upgrades just haven't been as compelling so even those who did have money to burn haven't been as keen on buying a new computer.
seriously XP is dead by 2010 and rightly so.
A dedicated mac lover,
Doug
I am assuming this will require two sets of drivers, one XP and one Vista. Am I correct?
Drivers will be provided by XP Mode. There are a set of generic drivers that Virtual PC uses for Audio/Video/Etc. You won't be able to drop in a PCI card and install XP drivers though. Remember this is running ON TOP of the host OS. But USB devices "should" work in XP Mode. So a scanner should be able to be installed in XP Mode and run as if its running in Win 7.
the people at Apple's marketing know the powers of the koolaid and are careful to not drink too much of it
:)
Yeah! same me! We need know if PC games work on it!!! If games refuse work on it. People will fill complaint against Microsoft. People want old games to live back again. Like ROLL BACK TO THE FUTURE.
Windows XP is very best and topping in the world for GAMING!
Most highly GPU intensive titles(ie. fairly recent titles) should be able to run without XP mode. Most applications that people run in virtual machines are legacy applications that work well with virtual machines. I think that issue of recent games running well in a virtual machines is getting a bit overblown here since many of the demanding games run under Windows 7 without virtualization.
In fact, most of my Windows 98 games worked just fine on Windows Vista, save for a few that were VERY badly written. and all of the ones for Windows 3.11 or earlier worked fine on Windows Vista with little or no tweaks.
People have to realize that the 'incompatibilities' were not really coming from the changes in Windows Vista.... they were coming from BADLY written XP programs, by and large, that should have never been sold in the first place.
Oh wow, I can't believe that! I suggest stay on Windows XP and save our headaches! Right?
Because Microsoft is very rush to make mistake new operating system! We can keep watch on News.
Did people try out and put old PC game to install on Windows 7? Did it work or not? Example: Starcraft, Age of Empire 1,2,3 , DOOM 1,2,3 , Armies of Exigo, all Ys games(Japan), and much more?
If Windows 7 refuse work on any old games, Many people will fill complaint against Microsoft. I will stay on Windows XP forever because of my many, many old PC games! I wish XP users will force Windows 7 to fix all problems again then upgrade to more powerful like Windows XP SE or something like that. If Windows 7 is failure again. One more last chance warning for Microsoft company will be busted by crowd of people who are complaint on them.
Most people who want to keep playing classic DOS titles discovered DOSBox a long time ago. DOSBox can't play every DOS game, but the list is pretty extensive.
For some of the early Windows 9X games you can just set up a virtual machine and install Windows 98. I've played quite a few older Windows based games this way.
Honestly, most true classic gamers have already figured out how to play their old games because Windows XP already made that an issue years ago. Merely because one fires up Doom every once in a while doesn't preclude you from using Windows 7 for all their other computing.
I think enterprise computing will be a far bigger concern for Microsoft than classic gamers.
We need test on tons of games and see how going! Install millions of games on it! LOL! Let us toss old memories on Windows 7 to bring old life back! Get on and going! Boot old games make us very excite! WHOOOT!!!! :-D
Why continue flogging a dead horse? Windows OS (whatever edition) is a failed OS. Let's implement a Mac OS X or Linux Ubuntu virtualization mode for users, and done over with.
I'm not saying there are not a few XP apps that won't run under Vista/Win7 but they're the exception not the rule. And *** is the reason those pile of an app won't run under Vista/Win7 anyway? Vista has been out for long enough for the app makers to release whatever patch is needed to get their hoebag app to run correctly.
I agree with you that compatibility issues get overblown a bit especially for home consumers whose machines often don't do much beyond browse the web, make a few documents, watch some videos, and edit some photos. For some business users compatibility is a big issue though.
In fact Vista wouldn't play nice with older SMS servers (think Server 2003 not all that old if you ask me). Staff cannot use remote control etc. So now Microsoft wants the enterprise to upgrade all server software just for their new OS... again easier to not migrate.
Think small business... the business buys an expensive piece of specialized hardware that is vital to their business that now needs to be replaced because Microsoft feels it is not important that legacy devices work under their new OS... yup I see replacing 30k+ equipment because the OS on the computer isn't compatible.
The home user does not see these types of issues so of course Vista looks great. It has been something that has always bothered me about Microsoft's Mojave experiment (or whatever it was called). Sure the OS looks great and runs great on a single computer in an isolated room... but put it in a mixed environment and it would be the same problems.
same thing that apple did when they launch os 10.
you had to launch os 9 with in os 10 in order to run older programs, in return slowed the pc down..
nothing new and exiting about this!
What I can't get over is if this was coming from Apple every Mac user would be falling over each other with an excuse. But since its big bad MS...oops sorry M$.....yah they are doing this to stick it to the little guy.
The simple fact is that there are a number of free solutions out there. If you don't like this one go out and get the free one and use your pirated OS...because god knows the people who complain this hard sure as heck aren't using legit copies.
- by gp2792 April 30, 2009 10:43 AM PDT
- People, people. Let's put on our big boy hats and think about what MS is trying to accomplish here. One of the big complaints about vista (and every other os, frankly) was that older apps wouldn't run on it. Companies highlighted that (and other issues of course) as a big reason why they wouldn't move to vista from xp. Microsoft needs those same companies to adopt Win 7 as quickly as possible...unlike the commercial adoption rate of Vista. Why? Because they can't support a 9 year old OS forever. MS supports for 10 years which compares well to ubuntu (5 years) and Redhat (7 years, i think). So all xp mode is trying to accomplish is to put IT decision makers at small and large companies at ease when considering the move to windows 7 regarding compatibility.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (94 Comments)This isn't about joe blow and his copy of <insert old pc game here> that won't run on windows 7. It's about a seamless way for an end user to run an xp app on windows 7.