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Windows 7 XP Mode RC


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"Before you download

Windows Virtual PC requires a CPU with the Intel® Virtualization Technology or AMD-V™ feature turned on."

That sucks, especially for most people with Intel CPUs i.e. anything pre-Core 2, and even in that era, there's a lot of them that don't support it e.g. the entire E2xx line, most of the E5xx line (only the versions introduced a month ago do), most of the E7xxx line (only the versions introduced a month ago or so do), the entire Core 2 Quad Q8xxx series seemingly, a LOT mobile C2D's too, all the Pentium D 8xx series, all P4's (save for like 2 specific models), all Celeron and Celeron D series, and all Pentium M's. That's not exactly great (and that's half the reason my next box is going to be AMD as well).

I'm definitely not buying a new CPU for that -- doubly so when it has to be a "premium" CPU (read: more expensive than what I really need) to support it. I'd have to spend like $200 for something that has it and that matches the performance of my old CPU. And at that point, I might as well get a quad instead, but then it has to be a Q9xx to get VT, which basically costs as much as a i7, only, you're still stuck with the old crappy architecture (Socket 775, FSB, etc). And going i7 also means a new expensive motherboard and DDR3 (more $$$ I don't have). Thanks Intel for the price gouging and crippling your affordable CPUs!

That means my kids (who don't need it) can use it on their AMD boxes, but not me on our fastest box (C2D w/o VT)... That's a pretty big deal breaker for many. None of our computers at work that are a year old or less support it either (nevermind the older ones and laptops).

Edit: Similar story for VMWare. You can't have 64 bit guest OS'es even if your host CPU is 64 bit and you also run a x64 OS, unless your CPU also has VT. Thanks Intel!

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im wondering, would i be better off running virtualbox with xp in it?

That's more or less what came across my mind: "I guess I'll just keep running XP in vmware for such things" (until I get my next box that'll run Hyper-V, which also requires VT/AMD-V, so it'll be AMD too)

However, your Q6700 supports VT. You're lucky.

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heh Q6700, that's in my file server now.

im running an i7 920 in my main rig, i should prolly update my sig.

running virtualbox in ubuntu on my server works pretty well too.

i don't even need XP though since all of my programs work with win7, but i see no benefit in this XP mode except that it is "free".

vmware or virtualbox probably run it faster unless MS is really trying to optimize their virtual pc.

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Vmware is faster. The main advantage of XP mode is that it includes the XP software. It seemed really slow to me I dumped it pretty fast and stuck with my VMware that I already have. I also think it will only run on the Pro and Ultimate editions.

Joe

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"Before you download

Windows Virtual PC requires a CPU with the Intel® Virtualization Technology or AMD-V™ feature turned on."

Darn it! My E7300 does not support hardware virtualization...oh well, I hope everything I need works when I upgrade to Windows 7.

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I hadn't heard much about "XP Mode" so dummy me, I was hoping it was going to be similar to Apple's Parrallel program.

But I see it's no different than what I've been doing for the past year or so ever since I installed Vista on my laptop....plain ol' Virtual PC...

blah!

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I hadn't heard much about "XP Mode" so dummy me, I was hoping it was going to be similar to Apple's Parrallel program.

But I see it's no different than what I've been doing for the past year or so ever since I installed Vista on my laptop....plain ol' Virtual PC...

blah!

exactly, blah!

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plain ol' Virtual PC...
Not quite - it leverages hardware assisted virtualization, has "RAIL-like" seamless application support (i.e. run apps inside the VM but have them behave as if they are directly running on the host) and supports USB devices in the VM.
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