Windows 7 Compatibility

Hey guys, just logged into the Windows 7 forums. I just downloaded the Beta today (After an hour with tech support only to find out the i had to download it from IE, though it never says that ANYWHERE).

My first question being, does Windows 7 have the ability to run applications made for Vista? I know that the downloads availible now will not have a 7 option, just xp or Vista, so if i choose the Vista version, can 7 run it? The same for the Hardware.

I have no idea if anyone has asked this yet, but i searched for it and found nothing. Sorry if this is a repeat post.

~Lordbob

Welcome to the Se7en Forums

So far every Vista application I've tested works with Windows 7 Beta.

Lordbob75 said:

Hey guys, just logged into the Windows 7 forums. I just downloaded the Beta today (After an hour with tech support only to find out the i had to download it from IE, though it never says that ANYWHERE).

My first question being, does Windows 7 have the ability to run applications made for Vista? I know that the downloads availible now will not have a 7 option, just xp or Vista, so if i choose the Vista version, can 7 run it? The same for the Hardware.

I have no idea if anyone has asked this yet, but i searched for it and found nothing. Sorry if this is a repeat post.

~Lordbob

well, I've tried to run a few apps which have not worked.
I have not been abble to get a single virtual dvd drive to work. Poweriso came closest though, it will mount iso's, but no other images. I want to mount an mds/mdf...

also, each time I start firefox, I can only do so if I disable add-ons. Not that I've installed any, but still.
Chrome by google also does not work.

My experience is that even programs that didn't work with Vista now work with Win7. gl!

Every program I've tried for Vista works, except some very rare drivers (If some drivers for Vista don't work for you, windows update may do the job, if not, you are very, VERY unlucky)

Also, every game I've tried runs too, even those old Windows XP ones, like SNES emulators, Warcraft, Starcraft, etc etc.

Most XP apps runs for me, I didn't expected that, so I'm very, very glad.

Vista was the bridge between XP and 7. The one that take all the damage and did the way for this: today we will have a great compatibility for Windows 7. People WILL BE happy, IMHO.

Day24 said:

well, I've tried to run a few apps which have not worked.
I have not been abble to get a single virtual dvd drive to work. Poweriso came closest though, it will mount iso's, but no other images. I want to mount an mds/mdf...

also, each time I start firefox, I can only do so if I disable add-ons. Not that I've installed any, but still.
Chrome by google also does not work.

Weird, Firefox works outstanding here, however, I remember having issues when mounting ISO's.

---> Don't ever, never, use Magic ISO with Win 7 <---

xD

renthor said:

For virtual drives, use Virtual CloneDrive. It does not use SPTD, which is what does not work in Windows 7 yet.

Other than that, pretty much everything I've tried that worked for Vista, works on 7. Though sometimes I have to enable compatibility mode (right-click, properties, compatibility tab) for either Windows XP mode or Vista mode.

Reallyyyyyyyy? OMG if that's true, you're a genious.

A lot of people it's having problems there.

thanks for the tip with virtul clone drive....but that still doesn't open mds/mdf files. Opens pretty much everything else though, so I'm set for most things....

And I did figure out my firefox problem.....pinned the wrong shortcut to the superbar.... doy, stupid me....

I have tried a couple of Virtual drives software - UltraISO, Rocket Division Starburn, Magic ISO, Alcohol 120 - they will not work, but they will not harm the system. As for virtual clone????? - that tiny piece of software will kill your windows 7 beta - it will not shutdown. So for the time being lay-off your hand on virtual drives (Remember it's still beta version)

Take heed of this news:

May 23rd, 2008 by Long Zheng
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Out of what little we know of the next version of Windows, this feature might just be the most interesting yet. A team at Microsoft is hiring developers to work on adding native support in Windows 7 for Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) - Microsoft’s semi-proprietary specification for single-file virtual machine hard disks. Their job posting reads,

Do you want to join the team that is bringing virtualization into the mainstream? In Windows 7, our team will be responsible for creating, mounting, performing I/O on, and dismounting VHDs (virtual hard disks) natively. Imagine being able to mount a VHD on any Windows machine, do some offline servicing and then boot from that same VHD. Or perhaps, taking an existing VHD you currently use within Virtual Server and boost performance by booting natively from it.
Do you want to have the opportunity to work on a great Core OS team at the heart of Windows? If you have big ideas and want to implement them, if you love writing code, if you love delving into operating system internals, if you want to work on high visibility projects with direct consumer and customer impact and still work in a very technical environment, then you will feel right at home in this team.
Virtualization technology has been a great success with Virtual Server and Hyper-V. With native OS support on the horizon it will become an even greater hit. Our team is making this a reality in Windows 7. Consider the simplicity of backup using a VHD, or the portability of a virtual disk backed by a single file. These are a few reasons why this technology is poised to be one of the greatest features in Windows 7–come help us achieve this goal.

Whilst “one of the great features in Windows 7″ might be a bit much, this is right up there with the new multi-line Calculator. No seriously, this has rather interesting implications for IT administrators and even home users.
For example, having an VHD dedicated to gaming with optimized system configurations is entirely feasible then. A dynamic VHD would mean it would only take up as much room as it needs, you could move the file on many system and have the same experience, but best of all, you can still enjoy the maximum native performance at the same time being able to load it as a virtual machine to maintain and configure without rebooting.
Considering how much we don’t know about Windows 7, this is extremely promising.
Update: A few people I’ve talked to have expressed their concern this may not make it to RTM and I think it’s a valid point at any time feature may be cut so I’ll just add that note for everyone else.
Update 2: Apparently the technology already exists in Windows 7 today, as indicated somewhat below...