Windows 7 introduces for the first time in a layer of virtualization to run legacy applications incompatible with the new Windows, referred to as "XP mode". This feature is reserved to only certain machines: those with a processor that supports hardware virtualization.
The "XP mode" is an optional layer of Windows 7 Editions "Professional" and "Full". It can be freely downloaded from the Microsoft site if you have one of these editions. It only support these editions because the "XP mode" includes a full version of Windows XP (and therefore his license) specially configured for virtualization in Windows 7.
We know, with Vista, many users faced software incompatibilities. Although, since the vast majority of applications have been modified, Windows 7 based on the same kernel as Vista is faced with the same difficulties with applications very old and not updated. To solve the problem, particularly critical in business or information systems has always tended to keep some old active development, Microsoft has therefore introduced the XP mode. It is a virtualization tool like Virtual PC, VirtualBox or VMWare. But in XP mode, it is not necessary to display the Office XP in a window. Windows applications running on virtualized XP appear directly on the Windows 7 desktop as if it were a normal application. New users are less disturbed and have the impression of being faced with a dual environment.
The XP mode is not available on all machines. It needs at least 2 GB of RAM to run. But above all it needs a processor with technology "Hardware Virtualization". This technology is named "VT" at Intel and AMD-V "from AMD.
The thing is all the more complex difficulties that two users are disturbing:
- In the same range of processors, we may have virtualization technology in some of them while others do not (eg Quad Q6600 is compatible while Quad Q8200 is not)!
- Even if a processor supports this technology, it is still necessary for the BIOS to support it!
- There is really only one way to know if a machine supports virtualization or not: use a detection tool like SecurAble. Download and run SecurAble utility.
This tool tells you which processor you have installed, verifies 3 elements of compatibility, your processor is 64 bit compatible? your processor is compatible with the DEP security? your processor is compatible with the hardware virtualization?
- If "NO" appears, it is clear that your machine can not use the XP mode. You must change the processor.
- If "YES" appears, that means the processor is in XP compatible mode. It only remains to verify that the option is enabled.
- To check if everything is in order on the BIOS, you can either try testing the BIOS or use some other utilities such as:
- For Intel processors, download Intel Processor Identification Utility.
- For AMD processors, download AMD Hyper-V Compatibility Check Utility.zip
These utilities will tell you if the CPU is 64 bit compatible and if the feature is enabled by the BIOS.
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