Microsoft tickled our meta-OS fancies last week by talking up the
virtualized version of Windows XP included with Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate Edition. However, the company has now revealed that ponying up for one of the top tiers of the OS will not be the only requirement. 2GB of RAM will be needed, which isn't such a big deal, but more troubling is the requirement of a CPU that sports chip-level virtualization support. Both AMD and Intel have been quick to add features to support enterprises turning to virtualized hosting environments, but rather annoyingly neither of those companies make it particularly easy to tell which of their chips provide such support. On the AMD side it looks like the tech was introduced with the
Athlon 64 and has continued in most newer chips, while Intel's waters are a little muddier, with all
Core i7 processors being suitably endowed, but only
some of its
Pentium,
Core 2, and
Atom chips made the grade. How to know if you're included? We'd expect an upgrade advisor from Microsoft to hit the internets any time now.
Update: Christopher commented to let us know of a
little app that'll tell you
right now whether you're in our out of the faux-OS party. That's great, because we hate hasty last-minute upgrades.
posted April 29th 2009 8:11AM
now, theres more reason to switch mac or better yet switch back to windows xp.
I am running Virtual PC in Vista with Windows XP right now on a PC with NO virtualization support and it works fine.
Since XPM is basically Virtual PC why all of a sudden is virtualization required in Windows 7?
This still needs clarification.
Apparently Engadget missed one part. The article on Lifehacker says you also have to own a copy of XP SP3 in order to get access to "XP Mode".
"Those running Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate, with at least 2 GB of RAM and an Intel or AMD processor that supports hardware-level virtualization (often labeled as AMD-V, or VT on Intel chips), and already owning a licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 will have access to the "XP Mode" download for free."
Not true. The XP Mode download that will be available through Windows Update includes a licensed copy of XP.
"Vista Ready!"
"Windows 7 Ready!"
"WinXP...Ready?"
I think the XP Mode is really a "killer app" for Win7, but these hardware requirements are going to be a barrier.
Worth bearing in mind that XP Mode is really meant for individuals and small businesses; operations that are too small to have licensing agreements (MS has an enterprise-level version of the same technology for larger customers). It will be a bit easier for smaller operations to upgrade, and in fact many places that are still using 2002-era machines will probably be looking to upgrade anyway.
And as for those enterprise customers... They likely won't be deploying Win7 for the first while, anyway. I guess this will give them time to make sure all their hardware's in order.
Looks like my intel e2180 doesn't have hardware virtualization. :(
just check if in /proc/cpuinfo you have vmx flag.
Does this remind anyone else of the Virtualisation of Mac OS 9 in older Mac OS X versions. Ah fond days of "Classic".
aw god dammit i cant use it
Well this is kind of silly. If all of the top 3 tier users have access to a free xp vm image, they could just run said image in virtual pc without the full desktop integration.
*sighs* Its not fucking rocket science. Plus anyone who is buying ultimate is going to have a modern processor and any enterprise that is looking at deploying it is going to do extensive tests on it, and anyone who doesn't...*shrugs* Again MS shouldn't cater to idiots.
Woo Hoo
Both Athlon Machines I have support virtulisation.
Will this virtulisation allow me to load non Vista/Win7 compatable drivers for my old yeat greatly missed Logitech Wingman Force feedback joystick?
I so hope so.
Om
You don't even have to look it up in a chart. Intel has a Processor Identification Tool that will tell you all about your processor including whether it has Virtualization Technology.
http://support.intel.com and look for it in the list of most popular downloads on the right side.
(I'm disappointed that CPU-Z apparently does not indicate VT capability.)
Who, seriously, who put those "characters" backgrounds in there?
Virtualisation locked off.
Dell... why oh why did you think that was a good idea?