This is a follow-up posting to “Windows 7 XP Mode Explained.”
Windows XP Mode is a local desktop virtualization and transitional solution which enables a small business to run a line-of-business application developed specifically for the Windows XP environment from Windows 7.
Once Windows XP Mode is configured, Windows 7 will host a virtual machine running Windows XP SP3 in which applications not compatible with the Windows 7 environment can be installed and seamlessly integrated into the All Programs menu of the Windows 7 host. This transitional solution provides sufficient time for customers to fully migrate Windows XP-specific applications into the Windows 7 environment.
In the demos, I walk through an application incompatibility scenario. The application, Stock Viewer, was specifically developed for the Windows XP environment. When running in the Windows 7 environment, the application introduced a permission issue because the application required elevated privileges. In Windows 7, by default, applications run with minimal privileges. Later, a browser issue surfaced. The application was looking for a specific version of Internet Explorer (IE), (in this case IE6), while the IE8 browser is available in Windows 7. By installing the Stock Viewer application in Windows XP Mode, (i.e. as a Windows XP SP3 virtual machine within Windows 7), and by integrating with the All Programs menu of the Windows 7 host, a user can now run the Stock Viewer application directly from Windows 7.
Note that Windows XP Mode by itself is designed for a small business environment and does not include a central management solution for policy enforcement, configuration management, monitoring, metering, reporting, etc. When deploying a local desktop virtualization solution to an enterprise environment, Microsoft recommends using Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V).
Above all, both Windows 7 XP Mode and MED-V accelerate the deployment of a newly introduced OS by enabling the customer to first upgrade the OS before migrating OS-dependent applications. Previously, the customer needed to migrate an OS-dependent application before deploying the OS.