Is it worth creating XP mode in windows 7

strollin said:

seavixen32 said:

C32C3 said:

Thank you for the information concerning the BIOS and virtual PC. However, several months ago I downloaded this software without making any changes to the BIOS. This is the first time that I have heard about it. However, all is well so I will leave it as it.

If it isnt't broken, don't fix it.

I'll agree with that sentiment, but I'm intrigued as to why it should be the case.

However, there's no point in looking for a problem that isn't there. :)

It may be that HAV was already enabled in your BIOS which may have been why you didn't need to make any changes. However, you can run XP Mode without enabling HAV by installing a Hotfix but it will work better with it enabled. See this link: Windows Virtual PC: Configure BIOS

I have installed XP Mode on older machines that didn't have HAV and XP Mode worked fine.

After reading your post and the post of strolin I opened Windows XP Mode and downloaded the new version of CC Cleaner; I also watched the 3 mintue Sky News report, and downloaded a pdf from a website. My reasonable assumption, then, is that all is well.

However, I did install a stand-alone version of MS Word two weeks ago, activated it via MS online and it seems to have disappeared. It is not among the software listed on Add/Remove and CC Cleaner also does not list it. But maybe that has nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Kari said:

When a USB device is connected to host, XP Mode shows it in the Virtual PC USB menu. Those devices that can be automatically shared (integration must be enabled!) are shown as shared so you can access them from both host and guest. If the device is not shared, selecting it will attach it to XP Mode, and selecting again will release it and connect back to the host.

You can also select a shared device to attach it directly to XP Mode, in which case it is no longer usable from host.


Attachment 195628

• Attach = Device connected to host, not available from XP Mode. Selecting device will attach it to XP Mode, after what device is no longer available from host
• Release = Device connected to XP Mode, not available from host. Selecting device will attach it to host, after what device is no longer available from XP Mode
• Shared = device available from host and XP Mode. Selecting device will attach it to XP Mode, after what device is no longer available from host

When integration is enabled you can move files back and forth between host and XP Mode quite easily. Just open one of the host's drives visible on XP Mode's My Computer view and copy / paste or drag and drop as you wish:

Attachment 195627


You could also see if this trick is something for you; moving XP Mode's My Documents folder to host let's you access your personal files stored on XP Mode even when XPMode is not running: https://www.sevenforums.com/virtualization/137514-change-my-documents-folder-xpmode.html#post1181192


Kari

Kari, Thank you for the important info. It is Sunday morning now in the US. Monday, I will check it out when I go to my office. Since your diagram is from your Virtual PC setup. Right now, that is the way my office computer was set up last Friday (I am planning to try to set up VMWare player after trying out Virtual PC system).

I have a question for you. With my setup with Virtual PC, I was not able access to a separate D-drive (1 TB) or My Documents (of Win 7). How can I make both of them shared by both XP mode and Win 7?

Thanks Kari. Things are now clear.
I really appreciate your reply post.

When I checked my office computer, XP Mode (with Virtual PC) seems to be working.

Then, I freshly started to install XP Mode + VMWare 3.1.5. Shared folders was ENABLED without any hitch.
When I started VMW player, it prompted to type in user name and password. That is where I am now.
When XP mode and VMW plaer were installed, I did not bother username and password. That's the way I have been doing on all of my computers.

Is there a way to bypass the username and password bottleneck?
Otherwise, I got to start over again from the scratch.

seavixen32 said:

This should help: Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7

And this one: Run XP Mode in VMware Workstation or Player with Activation Intact « My Digital Life

Do bear in mind that XP Mode is no good for early graphic-intensive programs such as Adobe Photoshop 7, but for legacy applications such as Quicken 2000 or Microsoft Office 97 it is fine.

People tend to use it for older applications that won't run under Windows 7.

Hi there
I'm running most of the Adobe CS5 suite (inc Photoshop) very successfully on a Virtual W2K3 Server running on vmware workstation 8.0. Host machine is W7 X-64 Ultimate 8 GB RAM, W2K3 server VM running fine with 2 GB RAM. No probs whatsoever with CS5.

Screenshot enc

(Note I'm not authoring DVD's or creating multi-media content on the VM - mainly STILL Photography / Imaging).

These days if your HOST machine has even a half way decent processor and a proper amount of RAM (cheap these days) most VM's will perform absolutely adequately -- even when running programs like Photoshop.

I'm running some of these on a Server since I'm licensed for several users on the server rather than have to install and license the products separately on a small number of PC's. A server in some instances is a better way of managing multiple software usages rather than separate installs -- each person / organisation needs to do the cost comparison themselves however.

A larger corporation would tend to run some of this stuff on a dedicated virtual server using something like ESXi - but the W3K3 Virtual server system is fine for our modest needs.

What tends to kill VM's really fast are ABOVE ALL - A LACK OF RAM, and then poorly performing disk drives.

Cheers
jimbo

Thanks for that Jimbo.

As a matter of interest, how much better is WMWare Workstation 8 than the free VMWare Player?

Hi there
I don't think there is a lot of difference in performance if you just want to run a virtual machine -- however if you want to things like "Clone" them, take "snapshots" of a VM's state, run them in "Non change mode" i.e you run the VM as normal but changes at the end of your session are "rolled back" -- i.e the Virtual machine is left in the original state --- great for training exercises where you can "refresh" the virtual machine for each new student, run the VM's "in teams" or run the vmware program "in server mode" which means the VM can run in the background and a user can log on to it Without having to have an account on the HOST machine then the workstation version is more appropriate.

The workstation version is designed more as a developer tool, the player designed for someone who just wants to run a basic virtual machine. Now vmware player can CREATE VM's too it's a lot more useful. Ptrevious releases of vmware player wouild only allow you to power on EXISTING VM's (although using a bit of a laborious getaround with a program known as QMEU you could create a vm).

This explains a bit more

VMFAQ.com / Knowledgebase / What is the difference between Workstation, Player and Server?

Cheers
jimbo