XP Mode is a useful feature in Windows 7, that allows you to run virtualized applications alongside your regular Windows 7 applications.
XP Mode feature works only on Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions and is available as a separate download.
Before beginning, make sure that your processor supports hardware virtualization. You can check that using these utilities:
- Intel Processor Identification Utility: If you are running an Intel processor,
- SecurAble: Works on both Intel and AMD processors.
If your processor doesn’t support hardware virtualization, then you won’t be able to run XP Mode.
If it’s a Yes, download and install these two software:
- Windows Virtual PC
- Windows XP Mode
After installing them, restart your computer.
When you PC restarts, go to the Start menu and click on Windows Virtual PC.
In the Windows XP Mode Setup, enter a password and choose to Remember credentials if you don’t want to enter it every time the program is launched.
If all goes well, you’ll see a Virtual Windows XP window:
You can share your hard drives, CD drives and USB drives with the virtual machine.
To run any application, you will need to close virtual machine to switch into “virtual application” mode. Then go to Start menu in Windows 7, under Windows Virtual PC -> XP Mode Applications, you will find all installed applications. From here you can launch it as it was installed on Windows 7.
That’s it! Now you can run any applications that has compatibility problems with Windows 7 but works with Windows XP.
Downloads: