Windows Xp Mode For Windows 10

Considering Windows 8 does not have XP Mode, I don't think 10 will have it. Also considering XP is no longer supported in nearly any regard. This page is helpful in using VMWare's Unity Mode which I'm sure you'll appreciate. I do not think driver installation will be necessary in XP Mode. Compatibility with this software may vary, but will generally run fine under Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP on either a 32-bit or 64-bit setup. A separate x64 version may be available from Microsoft. Dec 25, 2016 VMLite XP Mode offers similar functions as Microsoft Windows XP Mode, but doesn't require hardware virtualization. It allows you to run Windows XP at the same time from your desktop running on a different host operating system.

Run Windows Xp Mode On Windows 10
Windows Xp Mode For Windows 10 Hp

Most of your older Windows apps should just work on Windows 10. If they worked on Windows 7, they’ll almost certainly work on Windows 10. Some older PC applications won’t just work, but there are many ways to get them working again.

These tricks cover a variety of applications, from Windows XP-era apps and old PC games that require outdated DRM to DOS and Windows 3.1 applications.

Run as Administrator

RELATED:Why You Shouldn’t Disable User Account Control (UAC) in Windows

Many applications developed for Windows XP will work properly on a modern version of Windows, except for one little issue. During the Windows XP era, average Windows users typically used their PC with an Administrator account all the time. Applications were coded to just assume they had administrative access and would fail if they didn’t. The new User Account Control (UAC) feature mostly fixed this issue, but there were some teething problems at first.

If an older application isn’t working properly, try right-clicking its shortcut or .exe file, and then selecting “Run as Administrator” to launch it with administrative permissions.

If you find that an app does require administrative access, you can set the app to always run as administrator using the compatibility settings we discuss in the next section.

Adjust Compatibility Settings

RELATED:Using Program Compatibility Mode in Windows 7

Windows includes compatibility settings that can make old applications functional. In Windows 10’s Start menu, right-click a shortcut, select “Open file location” from the context menu

Once you have the file’s location, right-click the app’s shortcut or .exe file, and then select “Properties” from the context menu.

On the “Compatibility” tab of the app’s properties window, you can click the “Use the compatibility troubleshooter” button for a wizard interface or just adjust the options yourself.

For example, if an application doesn’t run properly on Windows 10 but did run properly on Windows XP, select the “Run this program in compatibility mode for” option, and then select “Windows XP (Service Pack 3)” from the dropdown menu.

RELATED:How to Make Windows Work Better on High-DPI Displays and Fix Blurry Fonts

Don’t be shy about trying the other settings on the “Compatibility” tab, too. For example, very old games may benefit from “Reduced color mode”. On high DPI displays, you may have to check the “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” to make a program look normal. No options on this tab can hurt your app or PC—you can always just turn them back off if they don’t help.

Install Unsigned Drivers or 32-bit Drivers

The 64-bit version of Windows 10 uses driver signature enforcement and requires all drivers have a valid signature before they can be installed. 32-bit versions of Windows 10 normally don’t require signed drivers. The exception to this is that 32-bit versions of Windows 10 running on a newer PC with UEFI (instead of regular BIOS) often do require signed drivers. Enforcing signed drivers helps improve security and stability, protecting your system from drivers that are malicious or simply unstable. You should only install unsigned drivers if you know they’re safe and have a good reason to do so.

If old software you want to install does need unsigned drivers, you’ll have to use a special boot option to install them. If only 32-bit drivers are available, you’ll have to use the 32-bit version of Windows 10 instead—the 64-bit version of Windows 10 requires 64-bit drivers. Use this process if you need to switch to the 32-bit version, downloading the 32-bit version of Windows 10 instead of the 64-bit version.

Run Games That Require SafeDisc and SecuROM DRM

Windows 10 won’t run older games that use SafeDisc or SecuROM DRM. These digital rights management schemes can cause quite a few problems. Overall, it’s a good thing that Windows 10 doesn’t allow this junk to install and pollute your system. Unfortunately, it does mean that some older games that came on physical CDs or DVDs won’t install and run normally.

You have a variety of other options for playing these games, including searching for a “no CD” crack (which are potentially very unsafe, as they’re often found on shady piracy sites), repurchasing the game from a digital distribution service like GOG or Steam, or checking the developer’s website to see if it offers a patch that removes the DRM.

More advanced tricks include installing and dual-booting into an older version of Windows without this restriction, or attempting to run the game in a virtual machine with an older version of Windows. A virtual machine may even work well for you, since games using these DRM schemes old enough now that even a virtual machine can likely handle their graphics demands.

Use Virtual Machines for Older Software

RELATED:Beginner Geek: How to Create and Use Virtual Machines

Windows 7 included a special “Windows XP Mode” feature. This was actually just an included virtual machine program with a free Windows XP license. Windows 10 does not include a Windows XP mode, but you can still use a virtual machine to do it yourself.

All you really need is a virtual machine program like VirtualBox and a spare Windows XP license. Install that copy of Windows in the VM and you can run software on that older version of Windows in a window on your Windows 10 desktop.

Using a virtual machine is a somewhat more involved solution, but it will work well unless the app needs to interface with hardware directly. Virtual machines tend to have limited support for hardware peripherals.

Use Emulators for DOS and Windows 3.1 Applications

RELATED:How To Use DOSBox To Run DOS Games and Old Apps

DOSBox allows you to run old DOS applications—primarily DOS games—in an emulator window on your desktop. Use DOSBox to run old DOS applications rather than relying on the Command Prompt. DOSBox will work much, much better.

And, since Windows 3.1 itself was basically a DOS application, you can install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox and run old 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications, too.

Use 32-Bit Windows for 16-bit Software

16-bit programs no longer function on 64-bit versions of Windows. The 64-bit version of Windows just doesn’t contain the WOW16 compatibility layer that allows 16-bit apps to run. Try to run a 16-bit application on a 64-bit version of Windows and you’ll just see a “This app can’t run on your PC” message.

If you do need to run 16-bit apps, you’ll need to install the 32-bit version of Windows 10 instead of the 64-bit version. The good news is that you don’t really have to reinstall your entire operating system. Instead, you can just install a 32-bit version of Windows inside a virtual machine and run the application there. You could even install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox.

Use Specific Browsers for Websites Requiring Java, Silverlight, ActiveX, or Internet Explorer

Windows 10 uses the new Microsoft Edge as its default browser. Edge doesn’t include support for Java, ActiveX, Silverlight, and other technologies. Chrome has also dropped support for NPAPI plug-ins like Java and Silverlight.

RELATED:How to Use Java, Silverlight, and Other Plugins in Modern Browsers

To use older web applications requiring these technologies, fire up the Internet Explorer web browser included with Windows 10 for compatibility reasons. IE still supports ActiveX content. Mozilla Firefox still supports Java and Silverlight.

You can launch Internet Explorer from the Start menu. If you’re already Microsoft Edge, just open the settings menu and select “Open with Internet Explorer” to open the current web page directly in Internet Explorer.

In general, if an older application doesn’t function on Windows 10, it’s a good idea to try to find a modern replacement that will work properly. But, there are some apps—especially old PC games and business apps—that you just may not be able to replace. Hopefully, some of the compatibility tricks we’ve shared will get those apps up and running again.

Image Credit: Brett Morrison on Flickr

1. Run XP Software

Software and games are designed to be compatible with specific operating systems. That’s great if the program is newer or still updated, but problematic if there’s something that was built for the XP days that you still want to run. This could be a bit of legacy enterprise software or maybe a retro game.

Windows is pretty good at backwards compatibility, but you’ll probably need to do some fiddling to get anything for XP to run. As a simple solution, try right-clicking the program and selecting Run as administrator.

On XP, users were usually administrators by default so such an option wasn’t necessary. Windows 10 has more stringent security measures in place, so you might find that this easy action will make the program run.

If not, right-click the program again and click Properties. On the window that opens, click the Compatibility tab and click Run compatibility troubleshooter. This will try to automatically detect and resolve problems.

Choose Try recommend settings and then Test the program… to see if the program launches properly. The troubleshooter will ask if the fix was successful: select Yes, save these settings for this program to that and close the troubleshooter. Select No, try again using different settings to work through a series of questions and their suggested solutions.

If that’s still not getting you anywhere, head back to the Compatibility tab and tick Run this program in compatibility mode for: and select the relevant Windows XP version from the drop-down menu.

You can then use the Settings section beneath to try out different options, like reduced color mode, a smaller resolution, or overriding DPI scaling. It’s worth playing around with all of these settings because it can be trial and error.

Still not getting anywhere? Check out our full guide to make your old games and software run in Windows 10How to Run Old Games and Software on Windows 10How to Run Old Games and Software on Windows 10Old PC games and software can struggle on Windows 10. Try these tips to get your old Windows games and programs running on Windows 10.Read More.

2. Get the XP Look

Anyone who remembers Windows XP will probably first think of the famous blue color scheme. We can bring some of this back using a program called Classic Shell. Head to the website, download it, and launch the installer. When prompted, choose to install Classic Start Menu Settings.

Once installed, open Classic Shell and go to the Start Menu Style tab. Select either Classic style or Classic with two columns, depending on your preference. Then click Select skin… beneath.

From the Skin drop-down menu, select Windows XP Luna. You can also use the options below to customize the skin further, like switching between the various color options, icon and font size, and whether to display the user picture.

We’re well on our way to getting the XP look, but we can do more. Head over to Winaero and download their Classic Shell XP suite. This is a ZIP file that contains some images for further customization. Once downloaded, extract the files.

Back on Classic Shell, go to the Start Menu Style tab and tick Replace start button. Select Custom > Pick image…, browse to XPButton from the extracted ZIP, and double click it. If the Start button is the wrong size, click Advanced button options… > Button size and input 0.

Next, tick Show all settings and go to the Taskbar tab. Tick Customize taskbar and click … next to Taskbar texture. Browse to the extracted xp_bg file and double click it. Under Horiztonal stretching choose Tile. Note that this particular tweak might not work perfectly on more recent versions of Windows 10.

Finally, open the extracted ZIP folder, right-click the bliss file and Set as desktop background. Ta-da! It’s like you’re running Windows XP, but with all the features of Windows 10.

If you fancy even more tweaks, check our article on how to customize Windows 10 with Classic Shell10 Ways to Customize Windows 10 With Classic Shell10 Ways to Customize Windows 10 With Classic ShellThe best version of Windows is the one you made your own. Classic Shell helps you customize the Windows Start Menu, Taskbar, File Explorer, and more. Let us show you where to start.Read More.

3. Revive XP Features

Do you remember the Quick Launch toolbar in your taskbar? It was a staple Windows feature from 95 to XP and seemingly vanished thereafter. But you can actually bring it back in Windows 10.

To do so, right-click the taskbar, go to Toolbars, then click New toolbar…. Input this into Folder and press return twice:

Next, right-click the taskbar and untick Lock the taskbar. You can now left-click and drag from the left of the Quick Launch toolbar to expand it out. Right-click Quick Launch and untick Show Text and Show title to get it to look like how it did on XP.

Finally, to customize the icons on your Quick Launch bar, press Win + R, input the folder path above and press return. You can then put shortcuts to files, folders, and programs here to have them appear on the taskbar.

If you want to check out some more old XP features, read our article revealing Windows XP traces inside Windows 105 Traces of Windows XP Inside Windows 10 Revealed5 Traces of Windows XP Inside Windows 10 RevealedWindows 10 wasn't created from scratch. If you look closely, You will find traces of past Windows versions. We'll show you remnants of Windows XP, which survived 14 years of Windows evolution.Read More.

4. Run a Virtual Machine

There are many reasons to run a virtual machine7 Practical Reasons to Start Using a Virtual Machine7 Practical Reasons to Start Using a Virtual MachineThe term 'virtual' has been co-opted in so many ways. Virtual reality. Virtual RAM. Virtual schools. But Virtualization in the context of PCs can be confusing. We're here to clear it up.Read More and if you’re looking for the true Windows XP experience then it’s the only way to go. Virtulization is when you take your computer’s resources and collectively separate them into chunks to be read as separate systems.

Run Windows Xp Mode On Windows 10

As such, although you’re actually primarily running Windows 10, you can create a virtual machine that’s running Windows XP. Not only will give it give you the genuine and full XP experience, but it also won’t affect your main Windows 10 installation. Everything you do inside the virtualization will stay there.

The process to set this up isn’t as simple or quick as some of the tips outlined above, so check out our guide on how to set up a Windows XP virtual machineHow to Get a Windows XP Download Free From Microsoft, LegallyHow to Get a Windows XP Download Free From Microsoft, LegallyMicrosoft gives away Windows XP downloads for free, provided you use a virtual machine. This article explains how.Read More. It details all the software you need, along with how to obtain a legal copy of Windows XP from Microsoft. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and you’ll be fine.

Blast From the Past

Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft from a security perspective, so we don’t recommend that you actually run it as your primary operating system, but there’s certainly no harm in bringing back some of its features and design to Windows 10.

If you are forced to use Windows XP (which often applies to long-time enterprise customers), be sure to see our guide about how to tweak Windows XP and keep it healthyHow to Tweak Windows XP and Stop Worrying About the ApocalypseHow to Tweak Windows XP and Stop Worrying About the ApocalypseAre you forced to stay with Windows XP? Using an unsupported operating system is risky, but don't despair! We show you how you can carry on running Windows XP, if you must.Read More for the future.