Windows 7 XP mode

[Hemi-Cuda]

Anyone familiar with this? My work is switching from XP to 7 finally, but we still have a few pieces of software that won't work in 7. The plan is to setup the PC's with the XP mode VM, and so far it's working quite well. I have the VM setup to join our domain and the software seems to be working fine, the only thing I'd like to change is the login process. You can save login credentials for XP mode, but what I'd like to do is set it up to automatically use the same login for the XP VM as the current user that is signed into 7. Users either login as themselves or into a local account depending on if they're in the office or the field, so if I could somehow tell the XP mode VM to use the current Windows credentials and mirror the local accounts, it would simplify things a lot

[Rathji]

I remember there is a way to have a XP mode program run seemlessly in windows 7, and it has a red border around it. That way it just uses your current credentials and the users don't even really have to do anything different.

For the life of me I can't remember what it is called, let me Google a bit.

edit: I think it might just be Seamless mode, but the name doesn't seem right at all. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Window...atibility.aspx might give you some idea. I am going to look through my documentation and see if I can find it.

edit2: It's called Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) - Short video here

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I remember there is a way to have a XP mode program run seemlessly in windows 7, and it has a red border around it. That way it just uses your current credentials and the users don't even really have to do anything different.

For the life of me I can't remember what it is called, let me Google a bit.

edit: I think it might just be Seamless mode, but the name doesn't seem right at all. http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Window...atibility.aspx might give you some idea. I am going to look through my documentation and see if I can find it.

edit2: It's called Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) - Short video here

thanks for the link. it seems like MED-V is a more robust version of XP Mode, as XP Mode will also allow seemless application launch. the only problem i've run into with that is that it takes a long time for an XP program to start, as the XP virtual machine needs to fire up first. from what i've seen of MED-V it looks to be a lot quicker, so it may be worth looking into

[Rathji]

Let me know how it works out. We didnt end up using it since the one thing we have that didnt like Windows 7 was being phased out for a web based app anyway, but was always curious if it was worth the effort/compared to shimming.

Speaking of which, have you investigated shimming at all? depending on why the program is incompatible, it can be a good option for making a program run just by using xp compatibility mode.

[Hack&Lube]

There's a way to virtualize apps so that it appears seamless to the user across different operating systems but I forgot what it is. I'll have to look it up. The user can open an app and it looks like it is running natively but it is actually a seamless virtualization happening. I'm not sure if that's the same as MED-V but it sounds similar.

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There's a way to virtualize apps so that it appears seamless to the user across different operating systems but I forgot what it is. I'll have to look it up. The user can open an app and it looks like it is running natively but it is actually a seamless virtualization happening. I'm not sure if that's the same as MED-V but it sounds similar.

VMWare?

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

There's a way to virtualize apps so that it appears seamless to the user across different operating systems but I forgot what it is. I'll have to look it up. The user can open an app and it looks like it is running natively but it is actually a seamless virtualization happening. I'm not sure if that's the same as MED-V but it sounds similar.

I'd love it if you could remember what that was.

I'm looking for some kind of a VM (or something) that will run a Linux shell script on a Windows machine, allowing it to access a CF reader as if it was in Linux, but hiding the details of that shell script from the user. Also don't want this VM or whatever to be terribly large in size.

Any idea if something like that exists?

[J Diddy]

Not to take this off topic but what does "My work is switching from XP to 7 finally" mean? What type of company do you work for? What features in Windows 7 do you and your coworkers need at work (other than 64bit to handle more RAM)?

The reason I ask is that we are still a ways away from going to Windows 7 due to software compatibility and I often get asked by users "When are we going to Windows 7" or comments like "I can't believe we are the only company still on Windows XP". Yet when I ask them why they need Windows 7 they have zero answers for me. Half the time they think Windows 7 is Office 2010. There is no way I am rushing a Windows 7 upgrade and using Windows XP compatibility mode just so everyone can have Aero and the ability to snap Windows to the sides of their screen. If everyone used more than just the icons on their desktop then I would be pushing along our upgrade much faster.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

Not to take this off topic but what does "My work is switching from XP to 7 finally" mean? What type of company do you work for? What features in Windows 7 do you and your coworkers need at work (other than 64bit to handle more RAM)?

The reason I ask is that we are still a ways away from going to Windows 7 due to software compatibility and I often get asked by users "When are we going to Windows 7" or comments like "I can't believe we are the only company still on Windows XP". Yet when I ask them why they need Windows 7 they have zero answers for me. Half the time they think Windows 7 is Office 2010. There is no way I am rushing a Windows 7 upgrade and using Windows XP compatibility mode just so everyone can have Aero and the ability to snap Windows to the sides of their screen. If everyone used more than just the icons on their desktop then I would be pushing along our upgrade much faster.

much better security and stability, that should be enough of a reason right there. we deal with cleaning infected XP machines all the time even with anti-virus installed. on our Windows 7 machines though we haven't had a single issue that i've seen at least. they also handle Windows Updates in a much cleaner and user friendly way which is another big plus. and having your work PC environment look and feel the same as someone's home PC environment is another plus for productivity

XP is 10 years old now, in computer terms that's ancient. far too many software makers have been dragging their heels in updating their packages for Windows 7, which as an IT guy is really annoying to deal with

[J Diddy]

I could see XP being called ancient if it didn't do what we needs it to do. So far everyone is able to launch their software from their desktop icons, print, and surf the web.

As for security...getting viruses seems more like an environment and user issue. In the 6 years I have been here I have maybe seen a handful of virus or malware issues. Viruses and malware usually come in to play when users use their work PC for personal use.

In big environments you are not likely using Windows 7 to manage updates.

Going to Windows 7 is inevitable...I am just not in a big rush to go there when I know there will be bugs, software that won't work yet, and no real must have features for users...it seems like more work than trying to get everything in order before moving to Windows 7....although I know that is not always possible.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by J Diddy

I could see XP being called ancient if it didn't do what we needs it to do. So far everyone is able to launch their software from their desktop icons, print, and surf the web.

As for security...getting viruses seems more like an environment and user issue. In the 6 years I have been here I have maybe seen a handful of virus or malware issues. Viruses and malware usually come in to play when users use their work PC for personal use.

In big environments you are not likely using Windows 7 to manage updates.

Going to Windows 7 is inevitable...I am just not in a big rush to go there when I know there will be bugs, software that won't work yet, and no real must have features for users...it seems like more work than trying to get everything in order before moving to Windows 7....although I know that is not always possible.

It is, and that is why you should be looking into it now.

IMHO If you are in any reasonably sized organization and are not already started planning your Windows 7 deployment, you either need to be prepared to go without that support (End of Support is 2 years away?) or have the resources to put people on it for a decent amount of time closer to the deadline.

If you still have important software that isn't ready for Windows 7 yet. Why isn't it ready now? Will it ever be ready? To not have a plan is pretty foolish, especially since from a user experience, Windows 7 is easier and more efficient for most people to use and faster on almost every piece of hardware (that has full driver support) I have used it on. You also need to consider that a very small % of users even have a Windows XP machine at home any more since you haven't been able to get a new PC with it for almost 5 years.

My opinion may be skewed, because we didn't have to bear the real software cost of upgrading, but instead paid ~$17 a copy from techsoupcanada.com, so the only cost for us was my time in setting up a deployment system (LTI) since our old system didn't support Windows 7. However, I think most big organzations would be using WDS or a compatible system already, so that's irrelevant.