Windows 7 Virtualization Raiders II: XP mode deployment

We deployed the RC version of Windows 7 and today we are going to implement XP MODE on Windows 7. XP mode is actually an XP SP3 virtual machine that needs to be loaded with a Windows Virtual PC. We first need to determine if the physical machine can meet the deployment requirements of XP mode before deploying Windows Virtual PC and XP mode.

XP mode requires physical machines to support hardware virtualization, most notably the CPU to support AMD-V or INTEL-VT, which is similar to Hyper-V requirements. If the hardware does not support virtualization technology, you cannot test XP MODE. We can use a gadget securable.exe to help us test the level of hardware support for virtualization technology, as shown in Figure 1 as a result of Securable.exe's operation. We can see from the diagram that the physical machine supports 64-bit operations, supports hardware DEP, and supports virtualization technology. This result shows that we can safely test XP MODE, if the "hardware virtualization" result is "Locked off", it means that the CPU supports virtualization technology, but the bios of the motherboard has disabled the support for virtualization, In this case, we need to change the BIOS settings or upgrade the BIOS. If one of the three test results shows "NO", it means that your hardware does not meet the deployment conditions of XP mode and you do not have to continue with the test.

Figure 1

To determine hardware support virtualization, we will then install the Windows Virtual PC. Windows Virtual pc can go to the Microsoft website to download, 32-bit version of the download address is: http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/C/6/ 8c620e1a-2a14-411f-a091-27ae6ede0675/windows6.1-kb958559-x86.msu,64-bit version of the download address is: http://download.microsoft.com/ Download/8/c/6/8c620e1a-2a14-411f-a091-27ae6ede0675/windows6.1-kb958559-x64.msu. Because we are using a 32-bit version of Windows 7, we download a 32-bit Windows Virtual PC.

After downloading the Windows Virtual PC, perform the setup program for the Windows Virtual PC WINDOWS6.1-KB958559-X86.MSU. As shown in Figure 2, the Setup Wizard asks if you want to execute the installer and select Yes.

Figure 2

Next you need to agree to Microsoft's software license agreement, as shown in Figure 3, by clicking on "I accept" to continue.

Figure 3