64-bit Compatibility, will XP mode help?

Hey guys,

I'm trying to help a friend upgrade to windows 7. He has an old program written years ago in python that only runs on 32bit computers. He recently bought a 64bit computer to run windows 7 on.

As of now the program does not run on a 64 bit computer, but it is a critical piece of software for his business. Will running the software in XP Mode allow it to operate in 32bit mode?

It might be worth mentioning that it's a very simple program and consists of a few .bat and .exe files and all of the functionality is through the DOS screen.

Thanks all!

Johnknee said:

Hey guys,

I'm trying to help a friend upgrade to windows 7. He has an old program written years ago in python that only runs on 32bit computers. He recently bought a 64bit computer to run windows 7 on.

As of now the program does not run on a 64 bit computer, but it is a critical piece of software for his business. Will running the software in XP Mode allow it to operate in 32bit mode?

It might be worth mentioning that it's a very simple program and consists of a few .bat and .exe files and all of the functionality is through the DOS screen.

Thanks all!

John

It might but there is no way to know for sure. If it ran in 32bit vista chances are that it will run in VM xp mode.

I wish I could be more helpful

Ken J

I agree with zigzag. I'm new to this transition myself and for anything else that I cannot run, I use virtual machine especially for programs that are critical to work.

I've been able to run every old program that I need to using XP Mode. If he has Professional or better, I'd certainly try it to see if it works. In some cases we just don't want to spend the money to update to a newer version of the software that doesn't do a better job than the old version does.

The 2009 UPS Worldship software would not run on 64-bit Windows 7. I installed it in XP mode and it ran fine. (The 2010 UPS Worldship now runs fine under 64-bit Windows).

Johnknee said:

Hey guys,

I'm trying to help a friend upgrade to windows 7. He has an old program written years ago in python that only runs on 32bit computers. He recently bought a 64bit computer to run windows 7 on.

As of now the program does not run on a 64 bit computer, but it is a critical piece of software for his business. Will running the software in XP Mode allow it to operate in 32bit mode?

It might be worth mentioning that it's a very simple program and consists of a few .bat and .exe files and all of the functionality is through the DOS screen.

Thanks all!

The only application that Windows 7 x64 cannot technically run are 16-bit applications (or 32-bit apps that call upon 16-bit apps). There are some programs that are quirky and just won't work no matter what compatibility mode you try.

Regarding XP Mode, just remember that it is a VM that runs in the background and Windows 7 is basically using a RDP interface to work with applications published in the VM.