Windows XP mode

[TheCrust]

Now that the final release of Windows XP mode and Windows Virtual PC is here, I can begin to think about migrating up our music tech PCs - many of which are still on XP as the head of music is too tight to pay for the new (vista-compatible) versions of software they run.

I installed Windows Virtual PC and the default XP mode image last night - though instead of having to install all our music tech applications from scratch into that default image, I wondered if I could boot the virtual machine from our WDS server and install the XP SP3 image we already have to make deployment even easier.

While the Virtual PC will boot happily from WDS and launch into the installation boot image, it doesn't seem to want to display the XP image we have readily available on the server.

I can see the three Windows 7 images I have on there (staff, student and a vanilla Enterprise image) but the VM stubbornly ignores the Windows XP one - won't even display it to choose it - yet when I boot into the installation boot image on physical machines around the network, I can see it and select it!

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I suspect I'm having a bit of a moment and missing something really obvious, but the mind is blank as to a possible cause right now!

Ta in advance!

[DrPerceptron]

WDS images don't usually present themselves to machines that are HAL incompatible.

I think, If you build a fresh VM and sysprep it, you can then go ahead and just copy the VHD to all the relevant PC's and when it boots, it'll give itself a new SID.

Don't forget to tick the Integration Features though when you import the new VHD.

[TheCrust]

Cheers DrP.

That's the solution I had arrived at myself to be honest - adapting the default VM and just imaging the host machine it's on.

Thanks again

[Jamo]

Just a thought, the XP mode in windows 7 has awful sound quality when i tried it ( lofi and probably won't support any external USB hardware ) isn't this going to be a problem for a music dept?

[TheCrust]

More than likely - I'm only trialling it at the moment - if it doesn't work for them, they will retain their XP setup until I can convince them to upgrade their older software to more vista / 7-compliant equivalents.

[DAckroyd]

have you looked at the MDOP App-V or Med-V? they might help you without the dark arts of XP Mode?

[mjs_mjs]

as the head of music is too tight to pay for the new (vista-compatible) versions of software they run.

What software are you trying to run within a VM? cubase, reason, sibelius?