Win XP customisation.

[Mychael]

I've seen a few different downloads which claim to be able to get your XP machine to have a WIN7 style interface. Has anyone had expereince with these?

Can anyone tell me what parts/programs of WIN7 can be safely installed and run on my XP machine.

Thanks,
Mychael

 

[catilley1092]

I've seen a few of those myself for download, there was a You Tube video with full instructions on how to do it. I was going to check it out, but had a lot going on around here, and never thought of it again until you made this post. It did look good, but it was not a simple download and quick install.

 

[Nibiru2012]

I believe the Stardock website has that stuff. I think it's available from the Window Blinds software.

There are some other methods that use registry hacks, etc. I would recommend to just stay away from them. It's all eye-candy anyway.

If you want the Windows 7 look, install Windows 7.

 

[catilley1092]

Nibiru is right on that, there are registry hacks involved in doing this. I saw this in the video that I mentioned above. Your computer may run Windows 7, Mychael. There's been many XP users (including me) that installed 7 on a laptop that was made for XP Pro to run on. It runs fine on mine, just no Aero. It would depend on your installed video card as to how good it looks. I have Win 2K, XP Pro SP3 and Windows 7, all on a 100GB (93GB usable) drive. Along with 3 VM's. You can easily setup a dual boot, as I have. But if you're not ready yet, there's some of those Windows 7 "skins", or whatever they're called. If I see another one, I'll let you know.

 

[Mychael]

Thanks guys. I'm currently working out what I need to upgrade in my current PC to best optimize for a clean Win7 install.
Just thought a fresh look might be interesting if it made the GUI work as WIN7 would then it would help me get some practice in, but not a big issues if you think it might be more trouble then it's worth.

Mychael

 

[catilley1092]

It probably would be easier to have the real thing installed, instead of those skins. Even if they do give you "the look", the real feel won't be there. You could start with a dual boot to get your system in order, then if you want to let XP go, you can use a tool such as GParted, or a similar tool, to delete your XP partition and spread your Windows 7 install across the drive. This way, you can get everything right, while still keeping what you have. Or, if you want, you can clean install the entire drive with Windows 7. I just wanted to keep what I have plus have Windows 7.

 

[Mychael]

Diverging a bit from the intent of this post I'm wondering if it's better to get WIN7 home premium or the professional. I wanted to be able to run a full XP (as opposed to VM) but I suppose I could save a few dollars and buy the home version and then just use my existing XP disk to set up a dual boot.

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Mychael

Whatever skinning etc you use on XP its still XP and Windows 7 is much better, I use Windows 7 Pro most of the time and love it

 

[catilley1092]

You should be able to setup a dual boot from the Windows 7 disc. During the install, click onto the partition, and select "Create Partition". It will give you the option of how large you want it to be. But one important thing here, make sure that you defrag XP Pro prior to doing this. Later, I'll pop in my Windows 7 disc to make sure you can do it. Every other Windows version that I've used allows you to do this. After you create your partition, then you can format it, and proceed. There will be a 100MB partition created by the install, don't mess with it, it's a part of the Windows 7 install. Pro would be best if you can afford it. It offers more features, and you can get XP Mode for free. It's a pre-activated XP Pro SP3 version that you can run inside of a VM.

 

[Mychael]

VM is not a true stand alone system though is it. I was going to install new HDD (the ones I've got are good but wont be large enough). Put a clean install of WIN7 and a clean install of XP on it.

 

[Nibiru2012]

VM is not a true stand alone system though is it. I was going to install new HDD (the ones I've got are good but wont be large enough). Put a clean install of WIN7 and a clean install of XP on it.

That would be the best way to do it for sure. I have never like using VM software at all.

You're fair dinkum Mike!

 

[catilley1092]

No, VM's are not stand alone systems. They are useful for many things, such as running older programs/hardware that won't run on Windows 7. If you want to keep XP Pro (like I did), you can create a dual boot setup. It's not hard at all. The older OS is to be installed first, followed by Windows 7. I actually have a tri-boot setup on my laptop. But I don't use my laptop as much as I once did. I bought a desktop last November with Windows 7 preinstalled. I actually wanted one sooner, but didn't want to mess with the free upgrade that was being offered with Vista, so I waited. It has a much larger screen and hard drive. And I dual boot with that one, too. Windows 7 has 212GB, Linux Mint 8 has 80GB, and my Windows recovery partition is 12GB. I also run several VM's among them all, I really don't need them at all, but like to use them, and there's always someone here on the forum that wants to know if a certain program will run in one, and I'll try it out. Basically, just killing time and trying to be helpful at the same time.