Windows XP mode for Windows 7

Windows XP Mode is one cool piece that you must have on Windows7. I download and installed it on my Windows 7 notebook and likes what I see.

What is Windows XP Mode?

Windows XP Mode provides a virtual Windows XP environment for Windows 7. It works with Windows Virtual PC and loads up an intelligently pre-configured Windows XP machine that runs on your Windows 7 so perfectly that you would thought that you are running on Windows XP.

This screenshot shows my Windows XP mode, Internet Explorer is running fine and my local and mapped network drives are there too.

Features

Windows XP mode was the easiest virtual machine setup I ever did. Setup was simply to download Windows XP mode and start it!!

Direct access to USB and other plug and play devices, and files on your host is possible now. Plus you also get folder integration between host and guest, clipboard sharing and Printer redirection.

The best part that I like is Windows XP Mode allows you to publish and launch applications installed on virtual Windows XP directly from Windows 7 Desktop as if they were installed on Windows 7.

I installed Putty on Windows XP Mode virtual machine and it appears on Windows 7 as a Windows XP Mode Applications. It runs like it was installed on Windows 7 too.

So Windows XP Mode will allow more people to upgrade to Windows 7 because it allows them to run Windows XP applications.