Though Microsoft’s new Windows XP mode for Windows 7 is designed to enable users to run both operating systems on the same machine, some business and consumer users may be frustrated that they won’t be able to take advantage of the option.
“All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP mode, which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC,” wrote Scott Woodgate last month in an official Microsoft blog. The problem is that the user’s machine must be equipped with an Intel or AMD processor featuring integrated support for virtualization technology.
“When running any sort of virtualized environment, there is a necessary level of hardware performance required to run the virtualized environment simultaneously with the regular operating environment,” said Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst at iSuppli. “If that level of performance is not met in the underlying hardware, then the performance of both the regular and virtualized environments can suffer.”
What’s Required
Intel, which began putting virtualization technology on some of its processors in 2005, says it has shipped more than 100 million chips with the enhancement, known as Intel VT. Though not every microprocessor the company offers integrates Intel VT, the chipmaker noted that Windows XP mode was never intended to be for everybody.
“Windows XP mode is targeted for business customers,” said Intel spokesperson George Alfs. “It is available on the mid- to higher-end versions of Windows 7 and is supported in hardware by many Intel processors.”
According to Intel’s most up-to-date reference chart, Intel VT is available on all i7 and Core 2 Extreme chips as well as most Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad models. It also is integrated into the Pentium E6300 and Xeon series processors, but is not available on Celeron or Atom chips — at…