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Windows XP Mode Internals - Part 1 (Overview)

Apr. 25, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

As promised, Rafael begins his deep-dive into XP Mode for Windows 7:

To start, Windows XP Mode (XPM) is a new tight-knit solution of several already-available-today technologies. At the core of XPM are Virtual PC 7 (VPC) and the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) protocol. While VPC’s purpose is pretty clear, RDP’s may not. XPM makes heavy use of RDP features such as Remote Applications Integrated Locally (RAIL), compositing, and multi-monitor support.

Windows XP Mode will be installable on three Windows 7 SKUs: Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. More specifically, the license policy VirtualXP-licensing-Enabled is only installed and present in these SKUs, of which XPM checks upon use. The timeline for XPM release is still under wraps, but we’ve been told to expect a beta version next week and a final release roughly around the Windows 7 RTM timeframe.

Now, what are you going to see in terms of installable components? XPM comes in two parts – The VHD package – containing a preinstalled, shrink-wrapped copy of Windows XP with SP3 — and an optional Windows update (KB958559) that deploys a variant of the upcoming Virtual PC 7 (VPC) product. After installation, your XPM installation folder will contain an expanded VHD, a text file containing the product key, and some random words in license agreement form.

Read the post for more, and look out for Part 2...

Discuss this Article 21

DRWAM
on Apr 25, 2009
Sounds pretty simple. Kudos to Microsoft.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 25, 2009
There is a certain elegance to it.
darkmax
on Apr 25, 2009
Yes, elegance. Especially when you consider who is the one dancing, the mammoth Microsoft.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 25, 2009
darkmax It is amazing how nimble and elegant Microsoft can be. Thanks for noticing. It's taken a lot to keep a major corporation as light on its feet as it was back in the old days and I'm amazed at how well it's been done.
robertsjoe
on Apr 25, 2009
@mikegalos: "It is amazing how nimble and elegant Microsoft can be. Thanks for noticing." You're kidding. They are, and have been for many years, a massive tanker that lumbers to turn itself around. They are known as the new IBM for a reason.
hamiltonstallings
on Apr 25, 2009
I agree mikamegalos (sorry, thats just how I read it) They have so many employees yet they keep bangin this stuff out pretty quick. I think its pretty amazing. You can pretty much do anything in Windows now that you can do in any other operating system. I really don't get those linux arguments.
anonymuos
on Apr 25, 2009
It's Windows 7 only (when all it uses is VPC and RDP) and people seem to be very happy about that. :-!
DRWAM
on Apr 26, 2009
The chart does not show if Home premium will be able to use XP mode by a self install. Pro has it included, be perhaps, if one chooses, they may be able to add it themselves. If you think about it, upgrading from XP still should allow you to use the XP license on the same computer. We shall see.
darkmax
on Apr 26, 2009
Mikegalos, Yes it is amazing. I think we have to thank this in part to the DOJ and the EU. LOL
kenmcnamee
on Apr 26, 2009
robertsjoe: "They are, and have been for many years, a massive tanker that lumbers to turn itself around." If you want to use a naval analogy in describing Microsoft then a single tanker would be a very bad analogy to use. Microsoft is much more like an aircraft carrier battle group consisting a dozens of ships. Each of these ships has it's own set of instructions, performance capabilities and command structure. Some are fast and nimble because they need to be in order to compliment the much larger, more dominant ships. The ships are semi-autonomous with their own individual missions but all work together to achieve an overall strategic goal. Microsoft is not really one company but a collection of a dozen or so different groups that are meant to compliment each other and hopefully make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. Whether or not they attain that goal is highly debatable but I think they are doing a better job of that these days. P.S. My apologies to anyone in the U.S. Navy if I butchered my description of how an aircraft carrier group works. I was in the Air Force. ;)
Waethorn
on Apr 26, 2009
@doc: Windows 7 Home Premium doesn't include the XP license. If Microsoft allows Virtual PC 7 to be installed in Home Premium (they did in Vista Home Premium but it wasn't supported), you could certainly get it working, but then you'd have to supply your own license for the actual XP environment. Professional includes that though, so it would make more sense just to buy Professional because it would cost less than having to pay for 2 licenses. If you get a home PC and need the XP mode for a legacy app (some business workers just buy consumer systems at a big-box store), you could also just use Anytime Upgrade to go up to Professional, and then you'd get the XP license with that, as well as a supported environment in which to use Virtual PC.
DRWAM
on Apr 26, 2009
I was just thinking of ways that people could achieve the same , using their existing XP license when upgrading a computer. Of course, practically no one at home would need to do so.
Waethorn
on Apr 26, 2009
@doc: If you buy an upgrade, you can't use the previous license. An upgrade is not a full license. So the previous full license that you had is what fills in for that duty. When you buy an upgrade, you are only paying for the right to use the new version of software, but you still only have a single, full Windows Client software license to use. That also means you don't have any rights to install both versions of the software on the computer together at the same time. If you want to upgrade to a newer version of Windows but still want to be able to use the old verson, you'd have to buy a full version license of the new software. "Of course, practically no one at home would need to do so." Those that do should uprade to 7 Professional because that would fall under the category of "advanced funtionality". Some people don't seem to understand that upgrading Windows 7 versions is just the easiest (and cheapest) way to get XP Mode.
Waethorn
on Apr 26, 2009
@doc: Let me put it another way too: If a user already had XP Professional or Vista Business, or Ultimate on their home PC (most PC's for home use won't have Vista Business, but I'm talking hypothetically here), they could buy an upgrade to Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate and would get XP Mode included. If they were using a consumer version (XP Home or Vista Home Basic/Premium) they wouldn't be using Virtual PC on a supported OS anyway, so they'd have to do a step-up to a higher version while upgrading.
DRWAM
on Apr 26, 2009
Besides Wae, you know me by now that I would buy Pro or ultimate. It's that male 'mine's bigger' sorta thing.
Waethorn
on Apr 26, 2009
@doc: Don't you have Software Assurance already at that hospital of yours?
DRWAM
on Apr 26, 2009
I don't have a clue what contracts the hospital has for software. Docs don't get anything for free. The funny thing is that I had to choose equipment for Nuclear medicine and all the accessories and software, then review the contracts, They blacked out the prices, then asked me to sign the contracts. I objected since I was not purchasing the equipment, but they insisted. I should have typed a memo approving the contract, noting the date and contract revision and perhaps a copy that I would initial, since the contract clearly stated that the one signing was purchasing. I didn't want to piss off the chairman of the department, who was on vacation [even though we are equal partners, he is the chair. I'm the section chief of Nuclear Medicine]so I gave in and just signed it. Later when he returned, he told me that I should have NOT signed it. Go figure. The Physicians IT Council has a little more power, but we basically approve what IT wants, although we help customize much. Bu there is so much going on with the complete digital conversion that it hard to keep up, especially since much gets changed, including vendors. I am really interested in how Microsoft AMALGA fits into this. They keep telling us that w willl hear more and more about it in the future.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 26, 2009
DRWAM You might want to check out the speech Peter Neupert's gave Wednesday, "A Blueprint for Healthier Healthcare IT" at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2009/Apr09/04-22connecthealt... There are also some great links on the right side of the page including the Health and Life Sciences Virtual Press Page (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/industries/healthandlifesci...) and a white paper on the Connected Health Framework Architecture and Design Blueprint (http://www.microsoft.com/industry/healthcare/businessvalue/chframework.mspx). That should give you something to do while waiting for Windows 7 RC. :-)
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 26, 2009
Oops, meant Tim Smokoff's speech.
DRWAM
on Apr 26, 2009
Thanks Mike. Good stuff. This is just some of the great stuff that Microsoft does, but few know about it. There is one other problem in the system. Evidence based medicine is becoming a buzz word/phrase, but hospitals are now concentrating on satisfaction surveys [Press-Ganey] rather than critical needs of staff and patients, because the feds and states are basically up the hospitals butt about them. Insuring that the patient has internet service seems more important than the nurse to patient ratio. This ratio has been show to be the most important factor in good outcomes, but free internet increases satisfaction scores. That's just one example of how hospitals are going wrong. Most sick and elderly really don't give a crap about the internet, but just want all that is needed to get better and go home. Unfortunately, these surveys get published and receive too much merit. While important, hospitals should concentrate more on getting people well, rather than trying to get betters survey results at the expense of ignoring good medicine and solutions. I'll step off the soapbox now.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Apr 26, 2009
DRWAM Well, that's one that's probably beyond Microsoft's domain. It's not an uncommon problem when people try to measure something they don't understand. They often measure the wrong criteria and end up with everyone working against the actual goal to meet the goal being surveyed. (Ask just about any teacher what they think of these unintended results of measurement as they apply to "No Child Left Behind" for an example) Another example was a computer chain I worked for in 1984 that decided to reward their sales reps on unit sales of the then new and expensive IBM PC/AT. One sales rep realized that they had no requirements for margins on other systems. He did very well that quarter by offering a deal to his customers of "Buy a PC/AT and get a PC/XT for free". The chain lost tens of thousands of dollars but he got a big bonus by following exactly what they chose to measure.

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