How to use Windows XP mode in Windows 8

[aNNAKILI]

Hi, I recently installed Windows 8 Pro on my home computer. Earlier I used Windows 8 consumer preview for a month and found it very difficult as I used to work with XP since long years. But now as I got this new operating system on discounted rate, I simply bought and installed.

Now as my title says, is there any way we can use Windows XP mode in Windows 8? I mean, the UI and other navigation should appear like Windows XP? Also there are many applications which I used to work on XP are not compatible with Win8. If it is possible, please let me know how.

[bond19]

There are few interface change softwares which you can search from google, but those won't look like Win xp, but it looks similar to Win 7 interface.

You can change the program compatibility mode to Win xp sp3 for most of the application that you used before in Win 8

[Bohdan]

Nope, XP Mode is not supported in Windows 8. The main reason behind this could be because Microsoft is pulling out XP support next year in April. Also as Microsoft has created Windows 8 with completely new UI and rich applications, I don’t think it is going to embed anything related to XP in this new OS. However, if you really need it for older applications, then the only solution I can suggest you is Virtual Machine.

You can simply install VMWare and use XP on your Win 8.

[Girijaa]

That is absolutely correct. Only Virtual Machine can provide you comfort of Xp on Win 8. There is nothing built-in stuff which can provide you XP mode. As VMware Player can virtualize desktop environments from Microsoft we can do the same thing we did with Windows XP Mode, ie running applications that can only be installed on Windows XP, without leaving the environment of Windows 8.

As far as difficulty you mentioned above regarding UI and navigations, if you already tested consumer preview and found it difficult then there was no need to upgrade to Win 8. You should have stuck with XP itself. I believe, if you work seriously, always remain with the system with which you feel comfortable.

Anyways, another way I can suggest you is Dual boot. You can also dual boot your system with Windows 8 on one partition which you can use to experience new UI, and Windows XP on second partition where you can work with all your old applications.

[Abhik]

Windows XP Mode was possible until Windows Vista, you cannot get it either in Windows 7 or Windows 8. However, on VMWare can help you to get the same on this new OS. The procedure to install VMware Player, is really simple, just download VMWare, run the installer and follow onscreen instructions. Once installed, follow these steps to get ahead:

• Once in VMware Player, click on Create a New Virtual Machine to create our Windows XP machine.
• In the New Virtual Machine Wizard window, click on Install disk image file (iso), browse and point the installer where you have saved the ISO. If you have XP on disk, then select first option disk installer.
• Click the Next button to finish the wizard.
• Once completed, the wizard automatically starts the installation of Windows XP:
• Once installation is complete, by default VMware Easy Install will install the VMware Tools, which basically contain the necessary drivers to interact in a friendly way with the machine.
• Once we have the VMware Tools installed, you must install and configure all the applications that run on Windows 8, within our environment Windows XP.
• Once done next step is to activate Unity. To do so click the top left button and then Unity Player
• Unity will be active immediately, and we will generate a kind of button on the bottom left of the desktop of Windows 8, which will be very similar to your XP start menu.
• The button can also access with key combination of CTRL + SHIFT + U. Now start by clicking the browse button, which is the name we assigned to the virtual machine (probably Windows XP Professional), and look for our applications installed on Windows XP.
• Immediately run the application you have selected, without having to be using it in Windows XP environment.

Note, VMware Player is completely free for non commercial use. If you are going to use it for official use, you will need to buy license for the same.