Windows 7 Hands On with Windows 7's XP Mode News

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Hands On with Windows 7's XP Mode
The Windows 7 Release Candidate ships with a feature called Windows XP Mode (XPM) that has left longtime Windows users excited. XPM is designed to let users continue to run older XP-compatible applications, mostly special-purpose business programs, that won't run smoothly (or won't run at all) with Vista or Windows 7.
XPM sounds like the feature that finally kills off XP by persuading XP users to switch to Windows 7 without fear of incompatibilities.
In reality, the beta of XPM is a mixed bag of clever programming, appalling kludges, missed opportunities, and challenges to the ingenuity of even the most experienced Windows user. To be fair, however, this is indeed a beta, and we would hope quite a lot will change between now and the final release.
Microsoft designed XPM for small-business users, but I doubt that many of those users will be encouraged by the current beta, which can be downloaded, for free. Beta versions of both Microsoft Virtual Personal computer and Windows XP Mode can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/ on May 5th.
In this story I'll describe how to setup XPM in the way that Microsoft recommends, with all its kludges and imperfections. Then I'll describe some tips and tricks, based solely on my own experience, that will help make XPM work a bit better—tricks that Microsoft should have performed for you. Finally, I'll talk about how the earlier versions of Apple's OS X included a compatibility layer that got everything right that Microsoft gets wrong with XPM.
How XP Mode Is Supposed to Work
XPM lets you run older apps on the new OS by doing two things: First, XPM lets you use a fresh, improved version of Microsoft Virtual Personal computer to run a complete, freely downloadable "virtual" copy of Windows XP that runs in a window that contains a Windows XP desktop—which appears in a window on the Windows 7 desktop.
Second, XPM lets you install applications into this virtual copy of Windows XP, in exactly the same way you install them in an ordinary XP setup. This means that you can run those applications seamlessly from the Windows 7 desktop, just as if they were standard Windows 7 applications. In this second "seamless" mode, you don't see the Windows XP desktop. Instead,Microsoft Office 2010 Home And Student, you see just the window that contains the XP-based application. The whole virtual Windows XP system is running invisibly in the background.
When you save a file from an application running in seamless mode under XPM, the file gets saved by default to the same Documents folder you use under Windows 7. But the seamless application runs so seamlessly that you can also save or open files on any drive or folder anywhere in your Windows 7 setup.
Whether you run Windows XP Mode as a seamless application window or a total XP desktop, you can use the Windows clipboard to transfer text and images between Windows 7 and any program that runs in XP Mode. You simply copy or cut and paste between two programs running under the two operating systems in exactly the same way you would copy or cut and paste between two programs running in the normal way under whatever Windows version you're using now.
XPM is designed to run XP-compatible software that won't run under Vista. This category includes, for example, older versions of Adobe's software, such as Acrobat 7, which still works perfectly well under XP, and which cost-conscious businesses might prefer to retain rather than be forced to upgrade at a cost of hundreds of dollars per seat. Other XP-friendly products that Vista doesn't like include older PIM applications such as my personal favorite, Instant Recall. Businesses may not want to buy new hardware either—such as printers that may have XP drivers but no drivers for Vista.
XPM runs just about any Windows software XP can run—probably the only exceptions will be a few games that detect that they're being launched in a virtual machine and refuse to start. Unlike earlier versions of Microsoft Virtual Pc,Office 2007 Serial, XPM can power USB peripherals such as cameras, MP3 players and other mobile devices, printers, and wireless network adapters. Also, unlike earlier versions of Virtual Personal computer that could share only specified folders on the "host" system, XPM can accessibility all the disks and drives used by your Windows 7 system.
Getting Started with Windows 7 XP Mode
To install XPM, you'll need the right combination of hardware and software. Your hardware must include a CPU and motherboard that supports Hardware Virtualization Technology, sometimes known as VT-d, AMD-V, or Vanderpool. Most middle- and high-end systems sold in the past two years should be safe, but not all, and even some quad-core CPUs don't support the necessary technology. Even if your system supports hardware virtualization, you may need to find the option in your system's BIOS that switches it on. If you're not certain whether your system supports Hardware Virtualization, visit this Microsoft Web page and download and run a CPU-identification utility from Intel or AMD that can tell you. The same page tells you how to switch on the necessary technology in many standard BIOSes. [[Editor's Choice (05/06/09): We orginally reported that motherboards less than two years old should be safe, but later found that this was incorrect. We regret the error.]]
Your operating system must be Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate. The currently downloadable Release Candidate installs Windows 7 Ultimate, so the RC version is ideal for testing XPM. Next, you'll need to install a small 5MB update to the RC version, which you can find by visiting this Microsoft update page, where you can download Windows Virtual Computer.
Finally, from the same Web page, you'll need to download Windows XP Mode, which is a 445MB installer that expands into a 1GB virtual XP system. With both downloads, make sure to download the 32-bit or 64-bit version, depending on whether you're running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7.
Your next step is to run the small Windows Virtual Laptop installer and, when prompted, restart your system. After that, you install Windows XP Mode. The installer will present you with a screen that says your XP Mode username will be "user" (you can't change that) and prompts you to create a password. On the same dialog, you should mark a checkbox labeled "Remember credentials (recommended)" so you won't be prompted to retype the password when XPM starts up. The next dialog will prompt you to turn on Automatic Updates, which you definitely should do, so that XPM will update itself without your intervention. Finally, after about ten minutes of background activity, a virtual Windows XP desktop will open in a window.
You'll probably want to customize the desktop and Start Menu of your virtual XP system. For example, you'll probably want to open the Control Panel, then Folder Options, and the View tab, and tell XP not to hide the extensions of known file types, so .DOC files will display in Explorer with the .DOC extension. You'll probably also want to open the Display Control Panel, go to "Appearance," then "Effects," and turn on ClearType to smooth screen fonts.
You'll also want to install a printer so that applications running in XPM can print to the same printer you use for Windows 7. If your printer is attached by a USB cable, all you need to do is go to the top-line menu of the virtual machine, click USB,Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, and then click the line that reads "Attach" followed by the name of your printer. XP will need to install drivers for your printer, which you'll provide either by inserting the installation CD that came with your printer, or by running the Internet Explorer browser in your virtual XP system, and finding,Windows 7 Pro Product Key, downloading, and installing the XP drivers for your printer.

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