xp simulator for windows7

DeaconFrost said:

...for the most part, if you are running an x64 OS, you can run any and all x86 OSes.

Ok, thanks, though I wonder why you say "for the most part".

I am not sure about the x86 host OS running an x64 guest

I didn't ask about that.

I was giving the basics form what I know. I used the term, for the most part, because there are operating systems that may not have support for that particular virtualization software package. For example, the Microsoft Virtual PC app claims to not support any Linux versions. I know there are ways around this...I'm going by the officially supported list. I mentioned x86 hosts running x64 guests, because that always seemed to be impossible....but I swear I've heard people doing it recently. I don't know for sure...but I mentioned it as a generalization.

The best thing I can suggest is to pick a virtualization package, and then read the list of supported OSes. For beginners, it seems that XP Mode is the easiest to set up, and comes with an XP license. If you don't have a qualifying version of Windows 7, or want to run some non-Microsoft OSes, VirtualBox is free and a great option. But, you do need to provide your own guest OSes.

VMWare player is another free option which allows x86 and x64 guest OSs on a x64 host OS. It is freely downloadable for both windows and linux host OSs (x86 and x64).

VMWare player for Windows

VMWare player for Linux