Using Windows XP Within Windows 10 via a Virtual Machine?

Richard Fink

I've been using, as my main machine, a box with Windows 7 on it and a Virtual Machine from Microsoft called XP Mode.

A lot of stuff that I like to use wasn't functioning or available for Win7 so this arrangement allows me to bounce back and forth from operating system to operating but yet access the same files.

However, MS is pushing, pushing, pushing, Windows 10. And I have researched how to set up an XP Virtual Machine within it.

My other option is two machines networked with the font files kept on a networked directory and accessible to both machines.  But that seems like the long way around.

(I guess my next move is to buy a Win 10 machine and experiment but I'd love to know what others have done. I do have a large screen Mac but for various reasons I'd rather not run an XP VM on that.)

Has anybody on this forum faced this problem? Any advice to offer?

Hin-Tak Leung

What are the stuff that aren't working in win7 but only in win xp?

If license is an issue, wine in a Linux vm might be a choice (and a strange perverse one).

This reminds me that a long time ago, Microsoft did not support windows remote display client on the win98 family. (nt/2000 only). My solution to accessing windows remote display was running rdesktop inside X11 inside cygwin on win98.

LeMo aka PatternMan aka Frank E Blokland

Hi Richard,

Perhaps an option is to make a bit-for-bit copy of your Win 7 disk, to make your system dual boot, and to update the clone to Win 10? Then you have it all on one machine.

F.

James Puckett

I gave up on my dedicated Windows machine entirely. I now run Windows in Virtual Box on a Mac and roll back to a clean install every time I test a font on Windows. This is working well enough that I'll probably start testing fonts in Mac OS with VMs.

Richard Fink

Thanks, fellows. Food for thought.  James, I've done the virtual Windows machine thing on Mac and it just didn't please me.  My Mac screen is 23" and I'm just plain more comfortable working in Windows most of the time on a smaller screen and just spinning my chair when I need to work at the Mac.  There are instructions for running a virtual machine in Windows 10 posted online.  I'm just going  to buy a Windows 10 box - which I'll sooner or later have to spend on anyway - and try to set it up.   Let you guys know how it works out.

Dave Crossland

Richard Fink said:

I've been using, as my main machine, a box with Windows 7 on it and a Virtual Machine from Microsoft called XP Mode.

Cool - I use the MS VMs from modern.ie

A lot of stuff that I like to use wasn't functioning or available for Win7 so this arrangement allows me to bounce back and forth from operating system to operating but yet access the same files.

However, MS is pushing, pushing, pushing, Windows 10. And I have researched how to set up an XP Virtual Machine within it.

I'm using a Win 10 machine I bought off craigslist for $150.

My other option is two machines networked with the font files kept on a networked directory and accessible to both machines.  But that seems like the long way around.

(I guess my next move is to buy a Win 10 machine and experiment but I'd love to know what others have done. I do have a large screen Mac but for various reasons I'd rather not run an XP VM on that.)

Has anybody on this forum faced this problem? Any advice to offer?

Rather than a networked directory, I use https://synergy-project.org for driving the Windows laptop from my main keyboard, and it has a 'drag and drop' from desktop to desktop that works well for taking development font builds back and forth.

Richard Fink

Good tips with the last one really great.

Thanks, Mr. Crossland!