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Windows 7 XP Mode Is History Too

When Microsoft stops supporting Windows XP next year, hopefully using Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 isn't your fallback plan. I received an inquiry from a reader asking if Microsoft will continue supporting the Virtual XP within Windows 7. The answer is no.

"Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 aligns to the same lifecycle as Windows XP," a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed. Some may see this as a double whammy since that pretty much puts the kibosh on running those legacy Windows XP-based apps that won't work on Windows 7 or above.

"Microsoft made a big deal of having the Virtual XP machine within Windows 7 as a smooth way to transition to the modern world," the reader making the inquiry said, adding users should be able to run Windows 7 as the host operating system and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) Professional as the guest operating system.

When Microsoft issued its gentle reminder on Monday that Windows XP users have one year to migrate, was Windows XP Mode your fallback plan or did you presume that was on the chopping block as well? Or perhaps  will you will take comfort in using Windows 7 security and patches to continue running those apps in Windows XP Mode? Feel free to comment or drop me a line at [email protected].

Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 04/12/2013 at 1:15 PM


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