Xp allowed on new windows 7 pc?

[digga100]

Hello,
I have a new pc running W7 64 bit home edition. I want to use the xp mce (2005) disk from my old machine (now dead) to establish a virtual xp mode, using vmware. Everything seems OK, but my activation code for the xp disk is not recognised. Does this mean I am not allowed to use the old xp disk again? Thank you

 

[treefrog07]

It sounds like your original XP MCE was OEM (I believe all the MCE versions were OEM), so you would need to get an OEM or Retail version of XP to install XP (not MCE). Be sure you get a genuine copy with its own, unused product code key.

OEM versions die when the system it was originally installed on dies. Retail can be installed an unlimited number of times, but can only be on one system at a time.

 

[WyomingKnott]

That which the frog writes about licensing is correct.

You can upgrade your Win7 version ($$) and then download and install XP mode, which basically runs a virtual machine with XP. This mode "works only with Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise." If you want it, There is some silly upgrade-in-place to raise your version with an unlock key bought from Microsoft.

 

[digga100]

Thanks to WyomingKnott and treefrog07 for this useful advice. Finding a genuine copy of xp must be difficult and expensive now - on ebay, anyway. I'll try to find the upgrade WyomingKnott mentions. For the time being, my version of xp mce 2005 is still showing "you have 30 days to activate". I'm just hoping that because it's in vm ware xp mode, it might stay on 30 days - should be only 25 days left now. Thanks again.

 

[WyomingKnott]

As a side note, when it became clear that XP was going off the shelf I bought a full copy to hold in reserve. It turns out to have been worth the investment, although by now I am all Win7 at home (office is still 32-bit XP. I have a machine with 8 GiB of memory and a 32-bit OS. ?)

 

[digga100]

Thanks for your help - but it seems I don't have a problem after all! I only wanted to have XP, as W7 does not like some of my old programs. There is a feature in VMWARE called "enter unity". This is designed to "Integrate your favorite guest applications with your host." I never wanted to do that and didn't. But it is now clear that the 30 days free period for XP only starts to run down after you 'enter unity'.

Thanks again.