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'Windows XP Mode' revealed for Windows 7

Sam Symons
24 April 2009 - 22:26
158 Comments
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Remember that major announcement that was planned for Windows 7 a while back? Well, it's finally here, revealed on Paul Thurrott's Windows SuperSite. So, what is it? It's a feature of Windows 7 called 'Windows XP Mode'.

So, what exactly is this new mode? As you can probably tell from the name, it's a method to provide better compatibility in Windows 7, and to pull it off with as little trouble as possible. It's also dubbed XPM, or formerly Virtual XP. According to Thurrott, "XPM is built on the next generation Microsoft Virtual PC 7 product line, which requires processor-based virtualization support (Intel and AMD) to be present and enabled on the underlying PC, much like Hyper-V, Microsoft's server-side virtualization platform. However, XPM is not Hyper-V for the client. It is instead a host-based virtualization solution like Virtual PC; the hardware assistance requirement suggests this will be the logical conclusion of this product line from a technological standpoint. That is, we fully expect future client versions of Windows to include a Hyper-V-based hypervisor."

XP Mode will bring a Virtual PC-based environment, as well as a fully licensed version of Windows XP SP3, free for all owners of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions. This is good from a commercial point of view. Earlier, Microsoft could happily say that Windows 7 was just as compatible with software as Windows Vista, but now they can add 100% compatibility with Windows XP, too. So, for you IE6 users, you're in luck. Do not expect this to run like a proper Virtual PC; that being, a separate operating system running within a window. XP Mode will integrate itself with the Windows 7 desktop, and so the older software will run just like a normal Windows 7 application. Essentially, this is two operating systems running under an updated desktop.

Thurrott expects to have screenshots up of it running shortly, and also look forward to seeing an in-depth guide of it on Within Windows very soon. Neowin will publish more information as it arrives. Thoughts?

Comments (158)

  1. VMIT - 25 April 2009 - 00:44

    Whoa front page news too little too late. This has been floating around for quite a few hours now.

  2. vetSam Symons - 25 April 2009 - 01:21

    VMIT said,
    Whoa front page news too little too late. This has been floating around for quite a few hours now.

    I got it up as soon as I saw it. It's a matter of being approved for the front page.

  3. Recon415 - 25 April 2009 - 01:26

    I think news has to go some kind of an approval process. Sorta why the front page news is always released in bursts of like 3-5 articles at once.

  4. +Frazell Thomas - 25 April 2009 - 01:30

    lol wow... VMIT you think the news is useless once it is a few "hours" old... I guess you should only be reading "0-second" news sites then

  5. +Chrono951 - 25 April 2009 - 01:38

    Accroding to Engadget, Win 7 RC coming to MSDN & Technet 4/30 and the public 5/05. Official from Microsoft.

  6. ufis - 25 April 2009 - 03:14

    VMIT said,
    Whoa front page news too little too late. This has been floating around for quite a few hours now.

    The only news site i go to is neowin and i just saw this. I don't care if its a few hours old its new to me right now.

  7. PsykX - 25 April 2009 - 06:13

    VMIT said,
    Whoa front page news too little too late. This has been floating around for quite a few hours now.

    Yeah, Neowin shouldn't have put this article here then.... I... guess?

  8. Minimoose - 25 April 2009 - 07:47

    VMIT said,
    Whoa front page news too little too late. This has been floating around for quite a few hours now.

    Some of us aren't scouring the internet for tech news constantly, so it's new to us

  9. tuxplorer - 25 April 2009 - 17:56

    This is simply the next version of Virtual PC which adds native host OS integration (removes the desktop and start menu/taskbar from the guest OS). This should in an ideal scenario work with any OS, esp Vista, but Microsoft is trying to sell if off as an exclusive Windows 7 feature for business reasons. VMWare Workstation 6.5 released in September 2008 aleady does this (called Unity mode instead of XP Mode) and isn't locked for Windows 7 hosts and Windows XP guests. Sadly, THIS WON'T GIVE ME BACK THE FEATURES REMOVED FROM WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 WITH NATIVE INTEGRATION. Users will still have to manage and patch this "Virtual XP".

  10. PGHammer - 25 April 2009 - 18:21

    tuxplorer said,
    This is simply the next version of Virtual PC which adds native host OS integration (removes the desktop and start menu/taskbar from the guest OS). This should in an ideal scenario work with any OS, esp Vista, but Microsoft is trying to sell if off as an exclusive Windows 7 feature for business reasons. VMWare Workstation 6.5 released in September 2008 aleady does this (called Unity mode instead of XP Mode) and isn't locked for Windows 7 hosts and Windows XP guests. Sadly, THIS WON'T GIVE ME BACK THE FEATURES REMOVED FROM WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 WITH NATIVE INTEGRATION. Users will still have to manage and patch this "Virtual XP".




    Yes; VMWare includes it; however, VMWare *charges* for it (in fact, they charge more than a Windows license (especially one under Software Assurance) costs on a per-seat basis). Remember how much Workstation 6.5 costs (either as an upgrade or standalone). In this case, if you are going to upgrade anyway (and you should from XP, just due to security issues alone), there's actually some *value-added* you can take away from the upgrade.

    And as far as patches go for XPM, they can be pushed down to users with WSUS (enterprise users) or Windows/Microsoft Update (non-enterprise users); in short, the same way they get updates today.

    Lastly, what features are lost due to the implementation of XPM? This is NOT meant to replace native Vista/Windows 7 application implementation (any more than Unity is). This is meant (instead) to *tide over* a company/enterprise waiting for a native implementation of their vertical-specialty application for Windows 7 as they migrate from XP *without* having to install another application (even Microsoft's own Virtual PC, let alone VMWare).

    Are you being obtuse, sir (in fact, willfully and deliberately obtuse)?

  11. ObiWanToby - 25 April 2009 - 00:49

    Sounds cool, but I want it now. Perhaps this can foil punkbusters inability to support 7.

  12. AnthoWin - 25 April 2009 - 00:58

    Nice, looks like I will be investing in either Professional or Ultimate version (here's hoping they will be available cheaply for student in 2010 :D)

    But where's my nice alternate interface surprise?

  13. m.keeley - 25 April 2009 - 01:24

    Doesn't look as though it's coming, not really suprised as it would have needed a lot of testing. Still possible that they'll add a new theme I guess as that could be added any time and doesn't really need testing as such, same as the rumored Snow Leapard theme revamp.

  14. LeoKesler - 25 April 2009 - 01:01

    One simple question: Am I able to play D3D / opengl games with "Windows XP Mode" ?

  15. yakumo - 25 April 2009 - 01:17

    LeoKesler said,
    One simple question: Am I able to play D3D / opengl games with "Windows XP Mode" ?

    At a guess it's targeted at business users, so like any previous versions of virtual PC, no hardware accelerated 3d.

    But here's hoping I'm wrong :)
    Though I'd want it for older things than punkbuster. punkbuster just needs to fix their £#^#£% #%^£# code.

  16. MioTheGreat - 25 April 2009 - 02:19

    LeoKesler said,
    One simple question: Am I able to play D3D / opengl games with "Windows XP Mode" ?

    Why would you need to? There are very very few games that work with XP and not Vista.

  17. +shinji257 - 25 April 2009 - 14:00

    MioTheGreat said,
    Why would you need to? There are very very few games that work with XP and not Vista.

    This would be for the really old games that may of never been updated for Vista. I'm sure they thought of everything on this. Keep in mind that XVM is based on Virtual-PC but isn't it. Afterall VPC doesn't support integrating to the desktop.

  18. excalpius - 25 April 2009 - 16:48

    All I can see this useful for is old DOS games...everything else now runs on Vista/7 better than it ever ran on XP.

  19. johndotcom83 - 25 April 2009 - 01:02

    this sounds alot like MED-V

  20. The Burning Rom - 25 April 2009 - 03:19

    Agreed. It sounds very much like MED-V...without the server side management. I was just about to being test MED-V (and MDOP), but now with this coming down the pike, I may hold off.

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