Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional

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Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/12/2010 6:14:43 PM

sysrkm

Posts: 112
Joined: 2/16/2005
From: Fairchild, TX USA
Status: offline

Hi folks,

I am hoping that someone else has had time to research this. It's time for me to upgrade the OS on all my machines (4) that I use to play games and I need to know if you HAVE to have the Win 7 Pro version in order to run Win 7 in XP compatibility mode.

I had been under the impression that the Win 7 XP compatibility mode was a free download from MS that would allow you to play most games built for XP on your Win 7 machine.

Can anyone shed any light on this subject? The difference in price is roughly $30 per copy.

Regards all,

Rob, aka sysrkm aka dethgod74

Post #: 1

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/12/2010 6:47:45 PM

uncc

Posts: 448
Joined: 6/1/2002
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline

Yes you need Windows 7 Pro (or Ultimate or Enterprise) to run the XP mode and it is a free download. Having the Windows 7 Pro version means you can run XP mode and won't need an XP license (thats part of having Windows 7 Pro). I've read that the XP Mode was not intended for games and most probably won't run them well or at all [after reading the article below I see that XP mode won't run hardware-accelerated 3D games, but can handle some older, 2D games]. The XP Mode was intended to run older business applications (i.e. Acrobat 6 Pro). I have Windows 7 Pro, but have not tried to run any games under XP Mode as yet. All the games I've run under Windows 7 run just fine. The oldest games I've tried so far are Links 2003 and Combat Flight Simulator 3.

You can still run XP in other versions of Windows 7 if you go the Virtual PC route (i.e. VirtualPC (Microsoft), VirtualBox (SUN), etc) and you have XP discs and a valid XP license.

There is also another requirement for XP mode: hardware support for virtualization. For Intel CPUs, that means the CPU must be VT-x capable, while AMD processors need to support AMD-V. You'll need to verify if your CPU supports virtualization.

Hope that helps...

p.s. you might also want to read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/virtual-xp-virtualbox,2418-2.html

< Message edited by uncc -- 3/12/2010 7:13:32 PM >

_____________________________

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Post #: 2

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/12/2010 7:41:40 PM

sysrkm

Posts: 112
Joined: 2/16/2005
From: Fairchild, TX USA
Status: offline

Hi UNCC,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I didn't realize that the XP compat mode was basically XP pro running in a VM. I build VM servers here at work all the time.

I guess when I ran Sins of a Solar Empire, Battlefield 2142 and COD MW2 that XP compat mode was not required because I did NOT have to set up a VM or any such business to run it. Just installed it as Admin and ran it as admin. No worries.

I have NOT tried Close Combat, SPWAW, Combat Mission or any of my older games that I like to play from time to time, but I can always keep another machine up and running with XP Pro on it for those games if they will not run on Win 7 Home...

Thanks again for all the info. Most appreciated.

Regards,

Rob

(in reply to uncc)

Post #: 3

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/13/2010 1:59:08 AM

Peter Fisla

Posts: 2503
Joined: 10/5/2001
From: Canada
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: sysrkm

Hi UNCC,

Thanks for the speedy reply. I didn't realize that the XP compat mode was basically XP pro running in a VM. I build VM servers here at work all the time.

I guess when I ran Sins of a Solar Empire, Battlefield 2142 and COD MW2 that XP compat mode was not required because I did NOT have to set up a VM or any such business to run it. Just installed it as Admin and ran it as admin. No worries.

I have NOT tried Close Combat, SPWAW, Combat Mission or any of my older games that I like to play from time to time, but I can always keep another machine up and running with XP Pro on it for those games if they will not run on Win 7 Home...

Thanks again for all the info. Most appreciated.

Regards,
Rob

I run Win 7 Pro 64bit and Close Combat games work well, even Close Combat 1 from 1996. CM has problems...I think it's due to the graphics, I even tried compatibility mode...no go. It's no problem for me as I don't really play CM for a long time. I would think pretty much a lot of XP games will work just fine in Win 7 except the ones with DRM like tages or securom (certain versions, no games with securom/tages/starforce will be installed on my Win 7 box).

(in reply to sysrkm)

Post #: 4

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/13/2010 10:22:35 AM

Andrew Williams

Posts: 6116
Joined: 1/8/2001
From: Australia
Status: offline

Confirm Close Combat : WaR and tLD run perfectly on win 7 Home premium 32bit

Haven't tried the othe CC games yet but if the above two work pretty sure the others will run fine.

< Message edited by Andrew Williams -- 3/13/2010 10:23:58 AM >

(in reply to Peter Fisla)

Post #: 5

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/13/2010 1:31:22 PM

htuna

Posts: 591
Joined: 1/19/2009
From: Boston, MA
Status: offline

I have't run across any games yet that won't run on Window 7 for me.. .I think the XP compatibility mode is meant more for applications that hook up to old devices like printers/cameras etc..

(in reply to Andrew Williams)

Post #: 6

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/13/2010 9:26:38 PM

IanAM

Posts: 71
Joined: 9/25/2003
From: Aberdare, Wales
Status: offline

Battlefront have released upgrades for the first three Combat Mission games (CMBO, CMBB and CMAK) which allow these games to run under Vista. They should also work under Windows 7. I've got the CMAK upgrade and it runs fine on my Windows 7 laptop.

Unfortunately these upgrades are not free - $5 each to download if I remember correctly.

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Ian

hill107.net - documents and photos relating to the Battle of Arnhem, Battle of Crete, WW2 Airborne

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Post #: 7

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/15/2010 12:59:48 AM

NefariousKoel

Posts: 2930
Joined: 7/23/2002
From: Murderous Missouri Scum
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: IanAM

Battlefront have released upgrades for the first three Combat Mission games (CMBO, CMBB and CMAK) which allow these games to run under Vista. They should also work under Windows 7. I've got the CMAK upgrade and it runs fine on my Windows 7 laptop.

Unfortunately these upgrades are not free - $5 each to download if I remember correctly.

Warning:
They also have e-license online activation (with limited number of activations). I did not see that DRM listed when I ordered these updates.

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Post #: 8

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/19/2010 8:54:53 PM

uncc

Posts: 448
Joined: 6/1/2002
From: Virginia, USA
Status: offline

from my previous post...

"There is also another requirement for XP mode: hardware support for virtualization. For Intel CPUs, that means the CPU must be VT-x capable, while AMD processors need to support AMD-V. You'll need to verify if your CPU supports virtualization."

...sounds like an XP Mode update is available that eliminates the hardware support for virtualization requirement.

< Message edited by uncc -- 3/19/2010 9:00:11 PM >

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Post #: 9

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/20/2010 5:21:19 AM

Jeffrey H.

Posts: 3154
Joined: 4/13/2007
From: San Diego, Ca.
Status: offline

I've found Home Premium 64 bit to be a bit of a hassle for plugins and various and sundry applications. All my games have run perfectly though. I'ts a good OS IMHO.

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Ron Swanson

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Post #: 10

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/20/2010 6:55:41 AM

Waffenamt

Posts: 120
Joined: 11/18/2006
From: Canada
Status: offline

I think Pro is like Ult, which provides remote desktop. At least with vista you needed that for RDP, which I like for my laptop. I'm using Win7 Ult x64 and have had no isues, but needed the virtual XP to run the crappy clientware to connect to a sonicwall black box. I'm mainly playing Field of glory and "trying" Actung Panzer when patience with lack of tutorial permits

, and have had no issues with any of these. I ditched CM a while back so have no need for the Vista upgrade. I've also dabbled with ToWx and it runs fine but I just don't like all the farting around to finish off a battle when all visible enemy has left the battlefield. What fun!

Regards

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Post #: 11

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/20/2010 1:02:26 PM

gunny

Posts: 995
Joined: 3/1/2003
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: NefariousKoel
Warning:
They also have e-license online activation (with limited number of activations). I did not see that DRM listed when I ordered these updates.

Their e-license can be de-activated then re-activated for an unlimited amount of installs. True you can have only two active licence going at once for the same game.

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Post #: 12

RE: Win7 Home Premium vs. Win 7 Professional - 3/20/2010 4:10:18 PM

Ron

Posts: 506
Joined: 6/6/2002
Status: offline

The CMs run fine for me on Win7, just have force AA - the patches were only required for Vista and nVidia cards, not sure where the difference lay. As gunny said above e-license can be activated/deactivated an unlimited number of times, and only has to be done once - you don't need to be online to play.

(in reply to gunny)

Post #: 13