Windows 7 Virtual XP Mode How to Guide.
Something exciting about the Windows 7 Release Candidate is Virtual XP Mode.
However before you get too excited first check that your CPU supports Virtualisation. You can get advice about this on the link below.
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/support/configure-bios.aspx
Moving on…
For users of Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate you can download Virtual PC 2007 and a fully licensed XP Virtual machine.
Virtual PC is nothing new, the bundling of the Free licensed XP Virtual Machine is and well as the interoperability between the host and guest operating system. Drag and drop and application sharing.
In English in Windows 7 I can use software installed in my Windows XP Virtual machine but outside of the virtual machine itself.
Step1) Download and install the files you need.
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
Step2) Log into your Virtual machine.
From within the environment you have a fully working Windows XP Virtual machine you can run in a Window or full screen.
Step3) Install Applications in your Virtual Machine.
In this example I chose to install an older legacy version of Firefox 2.0.
Step4) If I wanted to run the virtual Firefox 2.0 in my Windows 7 environment I would need to shutdown my Virtual XP. Then in in Windows 7 you click on Start > All Programs > Windows Virtual PC > Virtual Windows XP Applications. The installed applications will be shown here.
When you select an application this then starts the Virtual Machine in the background and your application will run seamlessly on top of Windows 7.
Tip: To access some of the default Virtual XP Windows applications for example IE6 from outside your Virtual machine right lick on Start (in the Virtual Machine) Choose Explore with all users, make a shortcut to IE6 and it will appear in the Windows 7 start menu and IE6 will run on top of Windows 7.
Problems
The only problem I had was when I tried to install Microsoft Office 2000 in my Virtual XP. I got a Windows Protection error that would not allow the install to continue.
Observations
Sometimes the loading of the Virtual XP can be slow but this pretty much delivers what it sets out to do and this kind of approach will allow Microsoft to ditch some of the legacy support holding them back.
Only time will tell how useful and practical this turns out to be, as of today I remote desktop to real Windows XP PC for legacy applications. In theory Virtual XP Mode would allow me using only 1 PC.
