Can a Skylake CPU run Windows Vista/XP?

[Sparktown]

I built a PC with a i5-6500 Skylake CPU, Z170 Motherboard and a 250 GB SSD drive. I've only been running Linux Mint 17.3 on it for the time being. I was originally thinking about buying a Windows 10 License and making the PC a dual boot Windows 10/Linux Mint machine.

However, after reading about all the privacy issues with Windows 10, I frankly don't want to support it by buying it. One day, I might have to bite the bullet. However, for now I mostly just need Windows for older games I can't get to run under Wine.

I still have a copies of Window XP 32-bit and Windows Vista 32-bit. I thought about just installing Vista on a separate NTFS partition (Samsung Magician should be able to enable paging on at least Vista, so my SSD should be okay).

However, then I started to read that Microsoft wasn't supporting Skylake CPUs on Windows 7 - 8.1. What does this mean for Windows XP and Windows Vista? Do these operating system simply not support a Skylake CPU? Can I not run XP or Vista on a Skylake system? Would it just run very poorly? Does this just apply to running XP/Vista on a separate NTFS partition? Would I be okay if I ran them within Linux on a virtual machine?

Thanks.

 

[junkeymonkey]

that's about it try and see what you can work out now the 950 has vista support as the 960 as well as xp

thing is you see how they want to limit it just to 10 anyway and intel a with haswell did not get any vista support you have to go back to ive/sandy 1155 for that anyway I don't recall any 1150 that gave approved vista or xp support

thing is with haswell being so close to ive I think some guys were able to use 7 drivers in place of in vista by changing the inf file or something

thing also what kind of micro code or instruction been changed or removed to prevent the chipset and chip to function in the os

like here some guys are hard at work like here with xp ?

this
http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=147205&page=4

then over to this for them usb issues I guess??

http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=149951

trick is find something like them for vista ??

gtx950 vista 64 driver

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/97759/en-us

 

[Smlarkin]

This is all interesting, but will my Skylake CPU be able to run Windows XP/Vista? So far I feel like the answer ranges from not likely to yes. Can someone give me a definite answer? Thanks.

Your big problem will be driver support for your motherboard. I'm pretty sure there won't be any Windows XP drivers for any LGA 1151 board, as XP was discontinued almost two years ago. Vista you might still be in luck, though as said above, you may run into issues if you try to install the OS via USB, or only have USB mouse and keyboard.

Check the manufacturer's website for your selected motherboard and see if they are providing Windows Vista 32 bit drivers. If they aren't, you might have to either bite the bullet and get Windows 10, or see if you can get your hands on a Windows 7 key.

Well, I have a Asrock Z170 Pro4s. It doesn't look like it supports Vista...but I'm not 100% sure.

My GPU is an EVGA GeForce GTX 950 FTW . Not sure about this either.

It is starting to look like I'll have to bite the bullet and buy Windows 10 if I want to make a dual boot system. Is there any harm in me just trying to make a Vista partition? Worst case, it doesn't work and I just install Windows 10 over it (or delete the partition and go back to Linux only), right?

Are Vista/XP okay if I run them on a virtual machine on Linux?

 

[Smlarkin]

You certainly can try a virtual machine like Virtualbox on Linux. Virtual PC will run on Window and run an older OS.
This includes DOS, Windows, and Linux. It will not support Windows 3.1. You can download Virtualbox for free.
Windows 8 may still work with your build because it is not that old. You would have to try it.

 

[John J Miller]

As far as Windows 10 spying....do a google search for "ShutUp10". With this software you can shut off ALL of MS spyware including Cortana. I use it and it absolutely works as advertised.

 

[bjaren]

Windows xp will work with i3 6100 ??

Forget that its not supported , im just using it for files and internet , so its will work ?

 

[Smlarkin]

Windows xp will work with i3 6100 ??

Forget that its not supported , im just using it for files and internet , so its will work ?

 

[Smlarkin]

Your bios may not allow you to install it. Even if it does the drivers available for a newer machine will be windows 10
not vista or xp. You could tr.y using a virtual machine in linux to run vista.