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Thread ID: 125353 2012-06-22 02:39:00 Which Virtualising software ?? 1101 (13337) Press F1
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1283330 2012-06-22 02:39:00 Hi there
Which Virtualising software would you recommend....

-Win7 PC that needs XP mode/virtualised XP
-needs to run hardware that is incompatible with Win7
-needs to run old,end of life versions of software, & macros etc that dont work in 7
-Virtual XP needs to be able to connect to a Network domain(Server2003), network shares/printers & ISA

preferably with a easier learning curve to setup
Should I just use Win7's free Virtual XP, you get the free XP lic & seems really easy to install (so far)
www.microsoft.com

Cheers
1101 (13337)
1283331 2012-06-22 02:40:00 Because you need to use older hardware, IMO your best option would be a dual-boot. pcuser42 (130)
1283332 2012-06-22 02:47:00 Well, I tend to use VMWare stuff, mainly because my work production Hosts are ESX, however I think most of the Tier 2 platforms will do what you what! SolMiester (139)
1283333 2012-06-22 02:48:00 Which version of Win 7 do you have as the pro version I think has XP built in and should do what you want gary67 (56)
1283334 2012-06-22 05:42:00 I have found Virtualbox very good but if your Win7 machine is not able to run your old hardware you will need to dual boot. mikebartnz (21)
1283335 2012-06-23 21:38:00 VMware is pretty good as you can run the second operating system from within a window as you need it, and if you need other machines to access those legacy scripts, then it could be a remote server for anyone to log into.

The dual boot idea is probably going to be a cleaner option from a memory / CPU perspective, but requires it to be booted up when you need it and you can't copy over files as easily.

How hard is it going to be to port the legacy programs? Often these sort of temp hacks can bite you over the coming years IMO.
adslgeek (14687)
1283336 2012-06-25 00:35:00 De-bugging/re-writing the apps/macros would be the best option, unfortunately that cost would be a issue.
Dual boot is simply not an option for the users in a Corporate environment.
The old peripherals/hardware would have to be replaced with something newer, this wont be cheap.

Its looking like it may need a downgrade to XP, unfortunately . At least thats guaranteed to work.

Cheers
1101 (13337)
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