Microsoft removes Windows 7 XP Mode restrictions

Windows XP Mode was a fantastic feature that Microsoft introduced in Windows 7 that allowed users to run their legacy application that were not compatible with Windows 7. XP Mode is the term given to running a full copy of the Windows OS (normally XP) in Windows 7 and then redirecting the screen out put of just the running application to the Windows 7 desktop. This give the user the experience of the application running on Windows 7 even thought it is running inside separate virtual copy Windows XP. For many people this has removed the barrier from upgrading away from Windows XP and also is partly the reason why so many business small and large are now looking at rolling out Windows 7. For more information about Windows XP Mode see our other post about it here Windows XP Mode (XPM) – Everything you need to know

One of the requirements of Windows XP Mode was you had to have a CPU that supported hardware assisted virtualisation instruction set and while all AMD CPU’s supported this feature only some Intel CPU’s supported this feature. The main advantage of the hardware assistance was the performance boost it gave virtual computer as it passed through some of the memory instructions to the host computer therefore reducing some a lot of duplicate workload. The lack of consistent support in the Intel CPU’s however lead to lots of confusion as some of the more recent CPU’s did not support the hardware assistance (or Intel VT as they called it) where some of the older model’s did. Let the confusion rain…

Well Microsoft has heard people’s pain and they have now released an update to Windows Virtual PC and XP Mode that removes the requirement of hardware-assisted virtualisation. Keep in mind however that this updated does not get around the fact that running a virtual PC on a computer without the hardware assistance will still run really slow. So while you might be able to run XP Mode now… it ain’t going to be fast.

None the less this is a really great move by Microsoft as now people can run their legacy application on their computer (all be it slowly) no mater what CPU they are using.

TIP: If you are already running Windows XP Mode on another computer and you are going to copy your virtual PC across to a new computer you must also remember to upgrade the Integration Components otherwise you will find your Virtual PC will have MAJOR performance issues.

You can download the updates right now:

• For x86 host operating systems: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=837f12aa-1d37-464e-ae59-20c9ecbebaf6
• For x64 host operating systems: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e70dd043-e262-43c0-a002-446567f1e2b4

You can read the Microsoft support article here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/977206

Related posts:

1. Breaking: Windows 7 to have Windows XP Mode
2. Windows XP Mode (XPM) – Everything you need to know
3. Microsoft goes in depth with Windows 7′s Windows XP Mode