Windows XP Mode: Hardware Assisted Virtualization No Longer Required

With a recent upgrade from Microsoft, Windows XP Mode will NO LONGER require hardware virtualization technology to run. This is great news for anyone and any organization that plans to run Windows XP mode on machines with CPUs that are not equipped with hardware assisted virtualization technology support.

A few notes on Windows XP Mode.

1. For Windows XP Mode the performance will be more than acceptable with or without hardware virtualization. For developers using Virtual PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 virtual machines we recommend hardware assisted virtualization HAV as the non-HAV is only tuned for XP Mode.

2. Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC as stand-alone features are specifically designed for small businesses and provide an unmanaged IT experience. For larger businesses looking to reduce the cost of ownership of deploying Windows Virtual PCs across hundreds of users, Microsoft provides Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V). MED-V is the management tool for Windows Virtual PC; it builds on top of Windows Virtual PC to run two operating systems on one device. Basically, by adding virtual image delivery and policy-based provisioning, it facilitates centralized management. This is a great tool for IT pros who want to reduce the cost of managing and deploying Windows Virtual PC.

For information on Windows XP Mode and Windows 7 application compatibility, click here.