Several months ago, I wrote a post Use XP Mode on ALL EDITIONS of Windows 7 and even Windows XP, which was based on VirtualBox platform, lacked of specific USB devices support, and you have to find a genuine or even (0day) cracked version of Windows XP…

Now the great news for Windows 7 Ultimate, Enterprise or Professional edition users is that, you can run “Windows XP Mode” in Windows 7 even if your system doesn’t have Hardware Virtualization Technology. 

If you are using the “advanced editions” of Windows 7, you can have more choices, get free genuine license of Windows XP and better USB devices support under Windows XP Mode.

You can find more information and download the update which will go live later today here.

Say old legacy games like StarCraft, Diablo and Age of Empires, which are developed by Blizzard or Microsoft, have more than 10 years’ history. They’ve done great job for game players in Windows 9x and XP era. Unfortunately, the earlier versions of them cannot work properly in Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

The games may lunch in messed-up and bright turquoise color in the menu system, and graphics are glitched in random places, effectively rendering themselves unplayable.

Here are a few tricks for you to avoid or fix the issues.

• Method 1: Use 16-bit Colors display

First of all, you can set color to 16-bit instead of 32-bit to concern the problem.

Right click on desktop, select Desktop -> Screen Resolution -> Display Settings (in Windows Vista: Desktop -> Personalize -> Display Settings), choose Advanced Settings, then switch to Monitor tab.

Set Colors in Windows 7

Select High Color (16 bit) and then apply.

• Method 2: Use Compatibility Settings

If method 1 offered above cannot fix the problem, you can use the Windows system built-in function then.

Right click the shortcut icon of application, then switch to Compatibility, tick the check boxes of “Run in 256 color”, “Run in 640×480 screen resolution”, “Disable visual themes”, “Disable desktop composition” and “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings”.

Compatibility Settings in Windows 7

Optionally, you can also enable “Run as Administrator” and set “Compatibility Mode” to “Windows XP SP3” for troubleshooting.

• Method 3: Use Specific Fixes

Some specific fixes provided by official or folk (even 0day organizations) may solve the problems.

Take StarCraft as an example, you can find a fix HERE. Extract the RAR file to the game folder and lunch the StarCraft with StarCraftFix.exe, that’s OK.

You can use Google, Bing, Yahoo or more search engines to find if there are fixes for your game.

• Method 4: Use Virtual Machine

“Virtual Machine? You mean Windows XP mode?”

Absolutely NO. Windows XP mode cannot offer any 3D acceleration for applications, you can use Virtual Box for free, or purchase more powerful VMWare, then install Windows XP into it (remember to enable 3D Acceleration and 2D Video Acceleration). You can play the games in the virtual system environment.

3D Acceleration configuration in Virtual Box

The method will undoubtedly fix the issue, but it may be a bit cumbersome, and you must have high performance hardware to achieve the goal.

1.    Windows Virtual PC Blog

The Virtual PC blog from Microsoft official, it provides detailed information of virtualization technologies, related tips & tricks, and more. The website is a good reference for Windows Virtual PC and VHD image file.

2.    VMToolkit

Provides two useful tools, VMDK(VMWare) to VHD Converter and VHD Resizer, to help you manage and maintain virtual hard disk files created by VMWare or Windows Virtual PC. The website also contains some resources on virtual machine that you can refer to.

3.    How to Configure Windows Virtual PC Settings

If your computer and operation system meets all the requirements to lunch Windows XP Mode, congratulations! Then you can read this article to learn the configurations of Windows Virtual PC, the foundation of Windows XP Mode.

In order to solve these troublesome compatibility problems, Windows 7 added a new feature – XP Mode. The concept of XP Mode is to build a virtual environment (Windows Virtual PC), then install Windows XP into this virtual machine.

You may think this is good news, but in fact, there are many limitations on it.

First of all, this feature requires Ultimate, Enterprise or Professional edition of Windows 7, which is expensive for you to purchase. Many new computers had Windows 7 pre-installed does not provide such “advanced” editions, either.

Then, for the purpose of using XP Mode, you must have a CPU with AMD-V or Intel VT-x support. You can download Microsoft Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool from Microsoft Download Center, lunch the application and you will get the test result.

You can use XP Mode in Windows 7 only when this screen is shown

Not using required editions of Windows 7 or failed the CPU test? Don’t worry, now you have another chance to use XP Mode, which was provided by VMLite.

VMLite is a virtual machine software, it can mount XP Mode images for Windows host system, without any additional requirements.

VMLite in Windows Host System

To download VMLite, you have to register an account HERE, and login to download VMLiteWorkstationSetup.exe binary file. Install and lunch the program, click Install when Windows Security dialog pops up.

Windows Security Dialog

In the first run, you can choose VMLite Wizard from programs section of Windows Start Menu, then specify XP Mode package provided by Microsoft, agree the end-user license and finish the rest steps. Wait for a while and the installation of VMLite XP Mode will be done and ready to use.

Specify XP Mode Package in VMLite

You can maximize the virtual machine into Fullscreen Mode, or combine virtual and host systems with Seamless Mode, both options are from Machine menu of virtual system. You can also share folders, CD/DVD drive and network connections between host and virtual systems. By taking snapshots of VMLite XP Mode, you can quickly recover the earlier state of virtual machine…

VMLite Seamless Mode

What’s more, VMLite does SUPPORT Winodws XP, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2003/2008. It means you can take all the advantages of VMLite XP Mode, regardless what Windows systems you are using.

More exciting functions are waiting for you to explore, click HERE to download the how-to document (PDF) published by VMLite.

Interesting, isn’t it? You can read the following article, a collection of Virtual Machine website, hope that can help you more.