Windows 10: Windows 10 & XP dual boot. Best way?

That's where I came from while being on the 8 Forums for a short time to look over the 8 Customer Preview but decided to wait a few and then 10 came along! *Roflmao2 A good number of people rejected 8 while the word on 8.1 was a bit more favorable. But I knew back in 2012 I would need to wait a few more versions and 10 is here! *Biggrin

 

Yes, I had to use Win8 at work 2 years back, and hated it. I've never had it on my home PCs. My office here has Win7...

My new gaming PC has Windows 7 x64, which I think is a better bet than Windows 10, as some of my older gaming hardware is not going to support the new O/S, driver-wise. For the old PC however, it seems a good idea to give Windows 10 a go, though, as I say, XP will be the default as I have software that will not run in Windows 10...

 

Is it worth splashing out on a cheap 2nd SSD, so that I can install the O/Ss onto different physical drives? I don't want to spend much (anything really!), having just spent £1700 on a new PC, but it sounds like trying on one SSD is going to be a nightmare...

The cheap ones I've been looking at (£40 maximum - 120GB or 64GB is good) aren't well thought of though. But maybe this (a 120GB 850 EVO would be about £15 more)??

http://www.samsung.com/us/business/computing/solid-state-drives/MZ-650120Z
http://www.tektick.com/samsung-650-b...-120gb-review/

 

Do you really need XP to have direct hardware access? You can simplify this entire process by just virtualizing XP. The software to do so is free and won't cause any issues with your native install of Windows 10.

 

I have no idea to be honest. What is 'direct hardware access'? And what are the limitations if XP doesn't have it? I'm afraid I don't really know anything about this .. How would I 'virtualise' XP? What does that even mean? (Like drive mapping??). I guess I can Google it...

Apart from my own use, I am also setting up the PC so that my 90 year-old mother can do her emails and browse the internet, so it must be kept simple to use!

 

Virtualizing basically means you run a program, such as VMWare Player or VirtualBox, both of which are free. They let you set up a computer within a computer, so Windows XP would run almost like an application. Windows 10 would still be running, so there's no rebooting to switch OSes.

The operating systems are separate, so there's no chance a boot loader gets messed up. You can allow some hardware to be accessible in the virtual computer, like USB flash drives, printers, etc. In my opinion, dual-booting died out a few years ago when PC hardware, mainly the processors, came with virtualization features built-in.

If you aren't familiar with the technology, definitely look in to it. I use it at home and professionally for various reasons, such as testing new OSes, playing with Linux, or maintaining some old OS for compatibility sake.

 

I was never able to get remote printing going on VBox or VM Player while now with Hyper-V that could work here. But likewise simply trying something out on a 32bit 7 VM to see if the XP app works there would eliminate the worry over XP entirely and see the same work on the newer version. As I was pointing out before a good deal of old XP apps will run on the 32bit 7 that wouldn' t on the 32bit Vista since 7 offers a greater deal of backward compatibility!

 

Well, I'll look into it, certainly.

Would I have Win10x64 as the host and Win XPx64 as the guest, or could I do vice-versa?? One thing I must have is a Roland dummy (musical) keyboard (USB) for inputting notes into a music programme called Sibelius, working in WinXP (the version of the software I have doesn't work in Win7 or Win10). Would the Roland USB keyboard work OK in the virtual XP environment? And my printer??

With this all set up, when you install new programmes for example, how do you choose whether they install into Win10 or XP? Would I install the host and virtual O/Ss on the same SSD? (I suppose you have to select where to install).

This is new to me, as I say... Worth investigating, that's for sure. I've already downloaded VMware Player and some user guides... but am I going to have hardware issues?

 

Well one of the main problems you would run into on any vm for any OS is seeing hardware/device drivers installed. When a printer is shared between host OS and guest OS resources are being shared while it's on the host OS where things are set up as far as physical hardwares are concerned.

I think the one best option for you is to the 64bit XP Pro installed on a second OS drive and when going to upgrade the 7 install on the first. The XP install to a physical drive will allow XP full access as well as the driver/software installation needed for the Roland to work as well as hopefully finding XP drivers for the printer when that eventually needing replacement. That of course depends on the type of printer as if for ink jet they tend to wear much faster then lazer.

Originally we were thinking you were only looking to run older desktop apps like an older version of Word along those lines until now you are mentioning the additional hardware being added on. And that is where you run into problems where you find the VM a bit limited on just what can be added on and made to work.

VMs weren't developed with musical keyboards in mind while Midi to usb type input requires an internal app on the vm itself. So why still run XP?

Well the next thought to get out from under the need for the older version is to look "What's New with Sibelus 7.5?" geared for Windows 8 by the way! Have you thought about simply going with a newer version of Sibelus and dump XP once and for all? Going with the latest version would seem to solve the need for XP. And Sibelus has versions that run on Vista as well as on 7 and 8 from a look at the software site. Sibelius Upgrades

 

The upgrade for Sibelius is quite expensive and the version I have already does everything I want. Also the revamped PC will need to have Outlook Express, which my mother uses - and knows. She wouldn't be up to getting her head around anything different these days (as I say, she is 90!).

I think the VM option is not for me: I'll probably update the Win7 on the current SSD to Win10, then just install Win XP onto one of the HDDs... I don't really need to spend yet more money on another SSD...

But no rush. I have the new PC arriving in a week or so, that's the first thing I have to set up.

Thanks again.

 

I can understand about expenses and why you would want to avoid any unnecessary spending. That was simply an observation as far as the options that are available. As for the better VM for the money that would simply running the XP Mode set up on the Windows 7 Virtual PC install where the XP Mode can be activated as well as connect online and have access to the printer without fuss.

The install to a second however will offer more of what you are looking for since everything is physical with the option for seeing device drivers installed. It can be touchy at times trying to get hardware drivers to go onto a vm when the vm is simply sharing resources without the actual hardware detection process.

Having the extra drives comes in handy doesn't it? I learned that one years back when beta testing both the 32bit and 64bit 7 beta and RC builds where I make changes to one drive at any time without effecting the other! At first it was keeping Vista going along with trying out the beta builds until finding I was staying with 7 and still am! The latest VM Workstation 12 Player helps out while booted in 7 where I am now! *Smile





Can't get 10 activated there however! And if I don't happen to boot into 7 for some time a brand new vm of 10 has to be started all over again! The activation server blocks the product key created during the vm install since I would need to upgrade over an existing previous version that had been activated on the same vm.

It's simply too bad you couldn't get the version you have to run with the Compatibility troubleshooter on 7 in order to run the Sibelus app on a newer version. Once you have the new pc however you can opt to try it out on a vm there for the temp use at least.

 

I used to write a lot of music (classical) once upon a time - I did composition at music college full-time for 3 years, but these days much less, so although I have considered upgrading from Sibelius 3 to 7 (I wrote enquiring about the teacher's price I have, but they never answered my query!), but have always decided against it. In the 'old days' Sibelius used to have its own friendly site, with email support, and I sort of knew the folks there and they knew me, it was all very nice. Now you're sent to a site called shop.avid.com or something... not a step forward at all.

Thanks again for the input here. I'll post back at some stage as to what I do and how it works out!

Martin

 

Why can't you run whatever you want/need to run in XP via virtualization (Hyper-V or VirtualBox).

 

Thanks, but please read the previous posts, we've been through all that. *092

 

Regardless of what you decide on I can only hope that things will work out for you. I noticed the awkwardness of moving about and having to leave the first site for another when trying to get some updated information there. So I can imagine that should prove a bit frustrating the way things are now possibly from a buy out of some type?! Irritating still.