Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 137914	2014-09-07 07:32:00	WinXP and 7 on the same HDD?	Vicx (11114)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1383403	2014-09-08 05:39:00	Yes. You generally have to install the older O/S first. But why? It's pointless, a very old O/S and a newer one perhaps. I think your issue isn't the O/S, it something else. And your hardware isn't helping...2GB??!! What CPU? I think that you have to bite the bullet. The PC is out-dated like and old car and so are the games. In saying that, I know that some of the old games are such a favourite thing it is hard to say goodbye to them. Try and find something similar but is much more up to date. Is XP still on the PC? If so you will need to create a second partition to install Win7 on. You could then try, as WT says, to run the games in compatibility mode. When you install the games on Win7 you should install them in compatibility mode at that stage. Why is it pointless to use an old OS? if it does everything I need it to, what's the point in upgrading to a newer one just for the sake of a new OS? so far it's hopeless other than the fact it can run my old games. I do play new games and they do work fine on XP, but I still want to play my old games sometimes and that's the only reason I need 7. There's lots of games similar to Age of Empires, but they're not what I'm after. I don't need to run any compatibility modes, it already works in 7. My problem is it didn't work in XP and I tried all the compatibility modes there were, I was trying to get it working for a YEAR! I've run windows 7 and even 8 on PC's with specs that low without too much issue, maybe it's just a really slow hdd or not enough RAM. In any case if you want to dual boot that's your call, as people have mentioned it's easiest on 2 partitions or 2 physical drives. You always install the older version first and then the newer, reason being the newer version generally knows how to deal with previous versions and set up dual boot automatically but the reverse is not true. One comment, I still play age of empires HD myself under windows 8 64 bit, it may well be a 10 year old game but was re-released for modern platforms which is why it's not working under XP. Anyway my comment is don't expect it to run well on your PC on larger maps, a recent patch improved the AI and caused it to slow to a crawl on some larger games even on my machine which is fairly high end (i7, 8GB, SSD, R9 290). I was pretty annoyed at the time and haven't played it much latley because of this. And yes they are still patching this game. I'm using a momentus XT which made a big improvement on XP but the rest of my hardware is probably too slow. E6750, 2GB ram. Does it slow down on Win7 too or just 8? If I get that problem I might have to revert to the original AoE2.	Vicx (11114)
1383404	2014-09-08 06:10:00	I don't need to run any compatibility modes, it already works in 7. My problem is it didn't work in XP and I tried all the compatibility modes there were, I was trying to get it working for a YEAR! Then from the original post: I've been on 7 the last 2 days and I'm getting lots of compatibility issues and my PC is very old so it lags heaps (e6750, 2gb ram), can't deal with it so I want to go back to XP. So which one is it ?? One post its mentioned it's working on one OS, then later on its mentioned its not ? :confused:	wainuitech (129)
1383405	2014-09-08 06:23:00	I would partition the drive into two partitions, install XP on one and 7 on the other. If you upgrade to hardware which is too new for XP to run on, then use a virtual machine - but get one with 3D acceleration support (like Virtualbox) if you want games. Might want to block XP from getting internet access though for security. Just don't install your ethernet\WiFi drivers in it. Another alternative is Wine in Linux - older games are generally more supported as they have been around for longer.	Agent_24 (57)
1383406	2014-09-08 06:56:00	Then from the original post: So which one is it ?? One post its mentioned it's working on one OS, then later on its mentioned its not ? :confused: The games work on 7 only but WinXP in general is much better for everything else, including other games. I only want 7 to play those games and XP for general use. I would partition the drive into two partitions, install XP on one and 7 on the other. If you upgrade to hardware which is too new for XP to run on, then use a virtual machine - but get one with 3D acceleration support (like Virtualbox) if you want games. Might want to block XP from getting internet access though for security. Just don't install your ethernet\WiFi drivers in it. Another alternative is Wine in Linux - older games are generally more supported as they have been around for longer. why do I need to block XP from internet access? I mainly want to use XP. Is partitioning a must?	Vicx (11114)
1383407	2014-09-08 07:19:00	why do I need to block XP from internet access? I mainly want to use XP. Is partitioning a must? The reason people are saying block XP is its now unsupported, and its more prone to getting infections, as well as some places /software manufactures are also stopping support for XP. If you want both XP & W7 then you have two choices. Two partitions ( or separate HDD's) one for XP and one for W7. The other option is to run a virtual machine in one of the OS's for the other. BUT the PC's system Spec's are a bit low to run a VM, it would be struggling. You have to remember an VM will be sharing system resources with the Host OS. This PC I'm on at the moment, has a i3 2.9Ghz CPU & 4GB memory, with W8.1.1 as the host OS. Running a VM of either XP ,W7 or Linux there is a noticeable slump in performance.	wainuitech (129)
1383408	2014-09-08 07:24:00	How common are infections though? I've never really had anything serious in years and most of the time it was my own fault for installing dodgy software. Shouldn't it be fine if I have enough AV software? NOD32 seems to catch everything. I think I'll go the 2 partition route, I think it'll probably be better than running VM as I've got an old PC. I won't be using 7 much anyway, just for the odd game.	Vicx (11114)
1383409	2014-09-08 07:26:00	I won't be using 7 much anyway, just for the odd game. I'd seriously consider using Windows 7 more instead of XP for the very reasons mentioned in this thread, not to mention the vastly improved interface and new features. ;)	pcuser42 (130)
1383410	2014-09-08 12:35:00	How common are infections though? I've never really had anything serious in years and most of the time it was my own fault for installing dodgy software. Shouldn't it be fine if I have enough AV software? NOD32 seems to catch everything. I think I'll go the 2 partition route, I think it'll probably be better than running VM as I've got an old PC. I won't be using 7 much anyway, just for the odd game. At the moment, as far as I know, XP will still be OK. BUT if some new exploit is found, and not patched, the still-large market share of XP will make it a good target. And with the right flaw you don't even need to do anything stupid - remember the Blaster Worm? All that needed was for your computer to be online. Of course something of that magnitude is in the minority, though. Antivirus may stop it, but it would have to infect people and be discovered first. Of course this goes for all viruses, but NOD32 has one of the better heuristics engines so it's got that going for it.	Agent_24 (57)
1383411	2014-09-08 14:55:00	Do yourself a favor and install XP on a new partition or a different harddrive like some of the others are saying. Even if you can get it to spin up correctly gameplay is almost always better in the environment it was developed for. As an Ages fan I can attest to this. While my friends and I have gotten it up and running in a multitude of environments for Lan parties-everything from Win8 to Mavericks through boot camp to using a third party game ranger client- it always runs best on the guy who has an old XP machine specifically for our Agesfest. That being said, Age of Empires 2 HD has been rebuilt for more modern operating systems with better graphics and quite a bit of the fan mod elements thrown in for good measure.	Mattheck (17287)
1383412	2014-09-08 15:04:00	Whoops, misread your question. Wow that is ironic that you're having to deal with Win 7 to play AOE HD. I think you hit it on the head when you said that you may just revert to playing the old Ages. I'd just reinstall that in the XP environment and download the Forgotten Empires Mod. Guaranteed to be easier on your computer than the new one. Are you playing a new version of Unreal Tournament? If I remember right, it was also developed for XP.	Mattheck (17287)
1 2 3