Windows XP Mode/Windows Virtual PC RTM

[Airbot]

   Information

Window Virtual PC and Windows XP final are now available to the public.

You can get both here:

Windows Virtual PC: Home Page

 

[Night Hawk]

"You can now attach USB devices to Windows XP Mode applications directly from the Windows 7 task-bar. This means your USB devices, such as printers and flash drives, are available to applications running in Windows XP Mode, without the need to go into full screen mode."

That will be the "Plus Factor" here since I can launch the SUN Portable Virtual Box while in the XP mode!

For removal of the beta we found out earlier the only listing was the XP mode beta version in the Programs+Features section of the Control Panel to the beta version of the VPC removed as well. Between each step of removal and installation of VPC RC which much go on first! That's a must have where you then restart the system before running the XP mode installer.

Once that is done and you go to launch the XP mode the first step will be creating the new virtual hard disk in case any backup of the beta's vhd fails to load. I'll be looking into that more once the downloads are complete and the betas are removed to see existing vhds will still work on the RCs.

The option to decide where you want the new vhd stored is certainly a plus there! You won't have to dig into the "C:\users\user name\AppData\local\Microssoft\Windows Virtual PC\Virtual Machines" sub folder in order to locate the vhds and backups created!

 

[Lee]

Posting from it at this moment with Firefox loaded. It seems to be working better than the beta release, faster, and after about three hours of use along with four restarts it has yet, to crash. The beta release was very problematic. Hope to be posting more about this in the next couple of days; need to run a few more test applications.

 

[Night Hawk]

I am too with one problem being seen however. Try no active X controls on IE 8. I already for Java runtime and the Adobe Flash Player.

 

[Boris]

The RC has improved a lot speedwise since the beta. Thumbs up from me

 

[Night Hawk]

One of the main things right from the start seen with the XP mode and not even custom installs of Windows on the Virtual PC is the full availability of all drives internal and usb not seen with other VM wares for the most part. The XP mode RC now available includes support for usb flash drives not seen with the beta.

 

[jimbo45]

One of the main things right from the start seen with the XP mode and not even custom installs of Windows on the Virtual PC is the full availability of all drives internal and usb not seen with other VM wares for the most part. The XP mode RC now available includes support for usb flash drives not seen with the beta.

This isn't actually a major issue since setting up ANY networking option (Bridged, NAT or Host Only) on Vmware or Virtual Box will allow 100% sharing of internal drives and usb devices. (Both ways -- the Virtual Machine's drives are ALSO available to the HOST as well as the Host's drives being available to the Guest VM).
There may be other advantages to using XP mode - but this one isn't a "biggie".

I'm glad the latest version performs a bit better as the Beta was far too slow and buggy to be of any use to "Real users" out there.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

In order for the host to have access to any vhd you first have to see that attached in the disk management tool in order to be seen as a new logical drive. The XP mode is the only one that automatically detects and configures the internal drives however.

 

[Airbot]

Updated first post with link to Windows XP Mode/Virtual PC final build.

 

[Night Hawk]

GREAT! Before the W7 launch the RC was still posted at the VPC site. They intended to have the fiinished VPC and XP mode ready for the launch!

 

[HughShaw]

Are you saying that we need to download XP mode and Virtual PC and that they won't already be included in the Windows 7 cd?

Shouldn't it be included?

 

[Airbot]

Yes that's right. It doesn't come already installed on the OS with the installation disc. You have to install it separately if you want it. No, it shouldn't be included.

 

[Night Hawk]

This is one item that has to be a totally separate item since it's not even supported on the Home Premium edition there as well being intended for a more specific purpose.

I'm still waiting for the retail disk to show where the finalized VPC and XP Mode will go on just the same while most programs already work on 7 due to the improvements seen with application compatibility on 7 over Vista there where some programs simply would not run on the 32bit Vista while they do on the 64bit 7!

Can't complain a bit!

 

[aem]

MS has elected to not make alot of programs part of the build as this was a mistake coming out of Vista.

 

[CSSteve]

What a problem solver! I had an important program that would not install in W7 and now I can run it in Virtual Machine XP mode without have to go to another computer or create a dual boot. Awesome!

 

[Night Hawk]

The main intent for the XP Mode from the start was to encourage businesses to move up from XP and still allow them to use all of their XP softwares. For many programs however you can right click on the installer's executable and run that in XP or Vista compatibility mode and later the program's main exe if present to get them on and running with the 32bit 7.

The right menu in 7 also sees the "troubleshoot compatibility" option not previously seen in either XP or Vista there. When first running the betas that was found to be another usefull asset now available in 7!