Win7 to XP compatibility mode?

Is there any way to get my win 7 home premium 64 bit to use the XP compatibility mode? The windows 7 web site said no !!

 

It's not possible with that version of Win 7, but if you have an XP CD you may be able to use the free VMWare Player to run XP (and/or other operating systems such as Linux). There is a step-by-step guide HERE.

http://majorgeeks.com/VMware_Player_d4891.html

 

Thx again Earthling (as alwas) ;

pls clear up the howto scenario, I need to install both of these apps from the links??

Download VMware Player 3

Download Windows Virtual PC if you wish to run XP in it

And Please---- one other question;
Can I backup the win 7 partition (I use Acronis true image 2010) as I normally do ??

MTIA
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You can use either VMWare or Windows Virtual PC to set up the virtual machine in which you then install XP, you don't need both. VMWare is superior imo. However whichever you choose you have to have an XP installation disk and a valid key, you can't just use a recovery CD from a different box. If you don't have XP then you might want to risk getting one from one of the torrents, which could carry risks of course, but if you first take an Acronis image of your Win 7 partition you could always revert. Do be sure your Acronis rescue CD is working first!

Virtual machines do need their own resources which they take from those Win 7 would otherwise use, so a bit of info on your hardware would help, primarily how much RAM and your CPU speed rating, and how much free disk space.

 

I have the full install XP pro cd.

I run a Q9450 quad, 4 ram and lots gigs of space.

I'm new to win 7 but have been running XP pro (32bit) since it's release in 2002 and have slip streamed xp to sp3.

I'm preasently running a dual boot xp & 7 ---- but would like to remove the XP HD sometime in the future. I did a fresh install of win 7 on an different HD by itself.

 

You can also run W7's XPMode(free from MS) if you'd like a cleaner solution that won't slow you down like a VM could. You've got plenty of hardware to support either scenario.

 

@ augiedoggie;
Humm, I tried to get the DL from MS and they said my win7 home premium didn't allow !!!

 

Home premium doesn't, pro and ultimate do.

 

Yep, that's what I found out.

I have win 7 home premium

 

Sorry about that man, I guess the only option left is VPC or VMWare then, both are good but I lean towards VPC as it's done by MS, for your situation. It's not a bad compromise though, too bad the compat mode didn't work for you.

 

There are a couple of relevant issues that I'll raise, though I'm not sure if I'm correct. Perhaps someone else here can help clarify these two issues.

1) I think there were a lot of unhappy Acronis TI 2010 users when Win 7 was first released. Lots of problems trying to use TI 2010 with Win 7. Not sure if Acronis has resolved most of those problems or not. The Acronis website does say that Acronis 2010 is compatible with Win 7. Anyone here know how frequent and serious such problems may be or have they pretty much been taken care of with patches/updates by Acronis for TI 2010?

2) I think in this discussion we are confusing two rather different Win 7 options for attempting to run Win XP software. Even in Win 7 Home Premium I believe there is a compatibility setting for software designed to run under previous versions of Windows, including XP. These OS compatibility choices can be selected/turned on in the file properties section for a given program to see if that will suffice to run an installed XP (or Vista, Win ME, 98, and maybe even Win 95?) program under Windows 7.

But in addition, Win 7 Pro and Ultimate users may also download special Win XP mode software which can be installed and used with Microsoft's own Virtual PC software (or other 3rd party virtual machine software for Windows) to run an XP installation as a virtual machine. Running XP this way, as a virtual machine, will add an additional load onto the computer's hardware, but may allow you to successfully run some XP software that will not run under the "built-in" compatibility mode selection available in Win 7.

I haven't expressed this as clearly as I'd like, but MS hasn't helped matters by giving these two distinct options rather similar names -- compatibility mode, included, I think, in all versions of Win 7 to allow you, with minimal fuss, to choose XP or Vista or Win 98, for example, from the list of compatibility options and XP mode which is only available as a free download to Win 7 Pro and Ultimate users. The MS Virtual PC software is also free to download for Win 7 Pro and Ultimate users and needs to be installed in order to run the XP mode software.

I trust I make myself obscure!?

I'm about to make the jump from XP to Win 7 myself and have been doing some reading about the various options for running XP software, but if I'm mistaken in what I've written above someone please correct me.

Currently I'm thinking I'll get Win 7 Home Premium and dual boot with XP until I have enough experience with the new OS to decide whether I need to stick with the dual boot setup. But I'm treading awfully close to hijacking this thread so I'll stop now! :-D

 

1) New ATI releases regularly cause problems for some, but not for all users. I have long used ATI2010 on an Acer Vista 32bit system and on a Medion Win 7 64bit system and it works well on both. On past experience though I know there will still be some ppl out there for whom it does not.

2) That's a fair summary of the present position. I have always done as you intend doing - keeping a full XP installation and a Win 7x64 Ult in dual boot config, but I also have VMWare Player in Win 7 with W98, XP, Vista, and Ubuntu for rapid access to any of them, mainly as an aide memoir and test bed when trying to help others. VMWare takes some beating as a VM imo.