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Windows 7 Professional

“XP Mode”

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Microsoft promotional text for

XP Mode

“Seamless applications

Publish and launch applications installed on virtual Windows XP directly from the Windows 7 desktop, as if they were installed on the Windows 7 host itself.”

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My Win 7 pro desktop

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Windows XP Mode icon

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Double-Click the XP Mode icon

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Windows XP Professional, running, full-screen, as a window in Windows 7

Professional, using the Windows Virtual PC application.

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Windows XP Pro icons on the XP Mode desktop. Notice MS Security Essentials, below, and HP Scanner and Copier shortcuts.

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Drop-down list from the XP Mode toolbar, showing the USB connections available for attachment.

Note that the system automatically shares the Windows 7 printer and the external hard-drive.

You CAN’T make it attach the others, automatically, on start-up.

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Win 7 program menu, showing XP Mode, XP Mode Applications and HP

PrecisionScan LTX.

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Win 7 is running a “background” XP Mode, to execute

the legacy scanner software,

BUT, as the scanner USB port has not yet been “attached” to XP

Mode, the software reports

no scanner attached.

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The solution is to run XP Mode, attach the USB port for the scanner and do the scan “in” XP Mode.

This is fine, for my occasional use, but there are lots of postings on the Microsoft forum, complaining that it makes

nonsense of their advertising claims about “solving the problem of running legacy software on Win 7”

So far, Microsoft have not responded to these complaints!

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You have to be careful where you save things. The Win 7 drives are accessible from within XP Mode, BUT, the XP

Mode c:\ drive is “virtual” and not available from Win 7, if XP Mode is closed.

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