You have to *buy* an older version of XP or upgrade your windows 7 to the version that runs xp mode

Pretty sure most of those games can be run in Windows 7 with some tweaks.

Here is a guide to Dungeon Keeper 2 (don't know if it works, but there are loads of results on Google): https://forum.suprbay.org/showthread.php?tid=55064

I've run Total Annihilation (cdrom install with core contingency) on Windows 7 without any problem though. Just my €0.02. Is your commander pack a download or a cdrom version?

Microsoft does have a downgrade system for windows.

Downgrade/Upgrade have become very subjective terms anyways, since the release of Vista.

I've run Total Annihilation (cdrom install with core contingency) on Windows 7 without any problem though. Just my €0.02. Is your commander pack a download or a cdrom version?

TA notably can be installed on W7, but not CC because it uses a 16-bit installer. Installing it can be done of course, but requires you to jump through hoops.

kao wrote:

I've run Total Annihilation (cdrom install with core contingency) on Windows 7 without any problem though. Just my €0.02. Is your commander pack a download or a cdrom version?

TA notably can be installed on W7, but not CC because it uses a 16-bit installer. Installing it can be done of course, but requires you to jump through hoops.

Ow yes, I remember now!
Iirc all you had to do was copy the relevant files to your TA directory! 😁
I don't remember from top of my head which files they were, I think they were the files ending with ccx. You don't need to run the installer 😀

xp mode sucks,
its better to dual boot Win7 x64 & winXP x86 for larger apps/programs/games/softwares coverages (except metro apps).

Even if you can get ahold of Windows XP you better make sure you can get XP drivers for your system. I tried to get XP to install on my Win 7 Toshiba laptop - Toshiba only has Win 7 drivers for my model.

XP installed fine but no sound, no webcam, only base VGA video (no HW acceleration or DirectX/3D) and no SD card reader support. Device Manager was full of question marks.

I was able to get XP video drivers for my Radeon video from AMD's website but can't get Conexant HD sound drivers to work. Trial and error with countless drivers to finally get webcam to work but still far too many questions marks in Device Manager for my liking.

This is what you will be likely facing if you try to get XP working with modern computers and the vendor has no XP support. Hours of Googling, reading through endless threads in user forums, hunting down and trying to download hacked drivers from years-expired links and finally crossing your fingers that they work.

If this is your idea of a fun Saturday afternoon you're a better man than I.

HP, Dell, Gateway and Toshiba's stance is basically what your system came with is what will be supported driver-wise and nothing else. Go to their user forums and see for yourself - you want to put XP on your Vista/Win 7 machine you're on your own, they won't help you.

Not sure about ASUS, Lenovo.

I had more luck with a batch of ASUS P53E core i3/i5 Sandy Bridge laptops. XP did not install from the CD, but it worked using a pre-installed ghost image. All devices, except some useless bluetooth adapter, are working fine. Sata mode configured for AHCI. Sound is Realtek. Asus Power management profiles and hotkeys are functional.
Asus does not support any of this this software-wise.

Gigabyte Z68 desktop Motherboards officially support XP and XP x64, and work fine with it.

Hmm... so we're nearing the end of XP support aren't we. I think you'll have a better luck with Lenovo and the ThinkPad line though. They even still provide Win98 drivers for the older models (e.g. T40/41/42).

Install Virtual PC 2007.
Install Windows 95/98 in the virtual machine.
Use the virtual Windows to run your older games.

Tested and works with Total Annihilation. But it won't work for games that require 3D acceleration.

Install Virtual PC 2007. Install Windows 95/98 in the virtual machine. Use the virtual Windows to run your older games. […]
Show full quote

Install Virtual PC 2007.
Install Windows 95/98 in the virtual machine.
Use the virtual Windows to run your older games.

Tested and works with Total Annihilation. But it won't work for games that require 3D acceleration.

Emulation of 32-bit PCs is spotty and most of it seems to center around running applications rather than games.

I recently finished going through my collection and found quite a few games can be played that way.

I understand most people can't have 10pc's hanging around, but my two favorite options, are dual oot windows XP (you can get XP almost anywhere) grab a CD key off a PC thats going to the trash, and your set. OR I have a friend how has a Windows XP laptop that he hides away and uses for playing older games...

Dual booting XP on modern systems is a moot point. As I pointed out XP (like any other Windows OS) is 100% USELESS without proper drivers. You will be able to play NO GAMES or do anything else other than run notepad.exe if you don't have XP drivers for your hardware.

All vendors will happily provide you with Vista/Win 7 drivers to download. However you can whine and cry to your mommy as much as you want - you will be met with the same response - WINDOWS XP IS NOT SUPPORTED ON OUR CURRENT MODELS.

If you have a Windows PC purchased in the past 2 years there is practically ZERO CHANCE of getting Windows XP to work PROPERLY. Even if it does manage to install (consider yourself lucky) you will have:

NO SOUND
1024x768x32bit max resolution
NO HW video acceleration or DIRECT3D/DIRECTX
NO NETWORK

This is my experience trying to get XP working on DELL, Toshiba and Gateway models in the past 2 years.

You don't have take my word for it - Google and see for yourself. Or better yet go to your vendors website and see the vast vast quantity of XP drivers and support they offer for your shiny new PC.

:EDIT:

And if by some miracle your PC vendor does have XP drivers on their website - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!? DOWNLOAD THEM ALL NOW BEFORE THEY BECOME EXTINCT!!

Good to note your experience, but don't generalize this to zero chance. At our office we work with XP and XP x64 on Hardware from 2011 (Sandy Bridge).

My experience with XP on modern hardware is that it can be tricky with notebooks because notebook manufacturers typically poorly support their products. But:

-XP can run the common Azalia-based HD audio with stock generic drivers just like Vista/7/8.
-Realtek fully supports XP.
-Intel fully supports XP.
-NVIDIA fully supports XP.

Sometimes finding XP wifi drivers takes some web searching.

Notebook-based Radeon drivers can be tricky for XP because AMD doesn't really support XP there anymore. You can usually manually force the desktop drivers to install through device manager though.

However, you may find that modern CPUs perform poorly with XP because the OS thread scheduler in unaware of modern CPU power management techniques.

swaaye wrote:

However, you may find that modern CPUs perform poorly with XP because the OS thread scheduler in unaware of modern CPU power management techniques.

I want to know more, where can I find info on this?
I did find three articles from 2009, that concluded that Windows XP bests Vista and 7 in dual and quad core environment anyways, because of lower overhead.

Another thing, we had some problems with the Windows XP patches of the past months (programs not working). And have now disabled automatic update on all PCs.