Running XP and Win7 programs on Win10 and future CPU's.

[nicologic]

Hello everyone.

This might be a silly question yet that's my level when it comes to OS.

I have one computer which is almost 10 years old and still running on WinXP. I've been keeping that old PC because I use a few programs that date from late 2000`s. They're all Win7 compatible too, but that's it, there were no further updates for the versions I have. One of them (ProTools 8 LE) depends on external hardware whose driver is only compatible with XP and Win7. I've never planned to replace that PC for a newer one as it works perfectly, but I recently read something on future Intel and AMD processors about being Win10 only. Thus, I am not sure If I should buy a new PC now that Skylake's still are Win7 compatible and ensure using my programs for, let's say, 10 more years. I am worried about a possible breakdown of either my Core2 CPU or Motherboard in the next very few years (which would not certainly be a surprise coming from a computer set a decade ago) and not being able to use my programs any more, despite buying a new PC. As far as I know, modern versions of Windows feature the so called "compatibility mode" feature, which fools the software into thinking it’s running on the older Windows it requires. Also, there's the possibility of installing either a original XP or XPmode into a virtual machine, but will this solutions work for future CPU's that are supposed to be Win10 compatible only? Maybe it's a bit of stupid question, but it's messing with me...

Thank you all.

 

[Colif]

You might be best looking into running it in virtual machines as I think that functionality will keep working, surely they can emulate 10 year old PC now as I seen people do that very thing when they make videos showing what old viruses used to do

The restriction will be in installing them physically on the machine as its hard enough installing win 7 on Z170 based motherboards now, the legacy features are being stripped away. Eventually won't have a PS2 socket (this already happening), and USB 2 won't be on motherboards forever, and that is just connectors, there are other things i don't know about or think about.

 

[Colif]

Some more links

http://www.windows10forums.com/articles/compatibility-mode.7/

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/does-windows-xp-software-work-windows-10

 

[nicologic]

You might be best looking into running it in virtual machines as I think that functionality will keep working, surely they can emulate 10 year old PC now as I seen people do that very thing when they make videos showing what old viruses used to do

The restriction will be in installing them physically on the machine as its hard enough installing win 7 on Z170 based motherboards now, the legacy features are being stripped away. Eventually won't have a PS2 socket (this already happening), and USB 2 won't be on motherboards forever, and that is just connectors, there are other things i don't know about or think about.

Thanks for the info. I just found this: http://www.howtogeek.com/219782/is-windows-10-backwards-compatible-with-your-existing-software/ , where it can be read "...Any application or hardware that requires an old driver will be a problem. If you depend on an application that interfaces with a Windows XP-era hardware device and the manufacturer has never provided a driver that works on Windows 7, you’re likely in trouble. On the other hand, if there is a driver that does work on Windows 7, your hardware should continue working properly on Windows 10", so there's some hope... But your point about connectors is good, I just did not think about it. I'd rather consider more issues still to come...

Thanks!

 

[wpgwpg]

If you can install Windows 7 Pro version, it has XP mode built in. The graphics with it are fine for business apps, but not suitable for gaming though. Just one more possibility.

 

[nicologic]

If you can install Windows 7 Pro version, it has XP mode built in. The graphics with it are fine for business apps, but not suitable for gaming though. Just one more possibility.

Well, using Windows 7 would not be the problem, since both my software and hardware are Win7 compatible. It has more to do with using Windows 7 on future CPU's, which will be Win10 compatible only. I know that any program compatible with Windows 7/8 should be Windows 10 compatible too http://www.windows10forums.com/articles/compatibility-mode.7/ What I'm not so sure about is the compatibility of "compatibility mode" or Virtual Machines running old Windows versions on future CPU's. Thanks!