[SamT]

Long shot...

Has anyone got a PC running windows XP. 

Got some old software (hydro electric modelling/catchment software) that I need to run. Hopefully over the weekend.

It ran on XP and cant for the life of me get it to run it on Windows 10. (followed a few guides involving comparability troubleshooters etc).

It runs from a folder, do doesn't even need installing (just need to copy an appropriate .dll file into Windows/system).

Anyone? (or any tips).

I might have an old copy of xp kicking around somewhere, but dont want to spend hours trying to create some duel boot nonsense and end up wasting a bunch of time on something that wont work.

[tomtom]

Yes - on an old laptop. Bit that’s at work and I won’t get there until mon/tues.

Think you can get XP emulators though?

[remus]

If you fancy going down the emulator route VM Virtualbox is a decent free emulator https://www.virtualbox.org/ I think you'll probably need your own copy of XP to go on it, though I can't imagine windows are going to hunt you down if you happen to stumble across a pirated version and use that.

Worth noting that if performance on a virtual machine may not be great depending on the host machine and what your software is doing.

[SamT]

Thanks TT - if I've not got anywhere by Monday - I'll give you a shout.


When running on a virtual machine, - will I still have access to stuff like C:/windows/system32, and will putting the .dll file in there work just like it did on original XP.

The software is pretty basic, not particularly processor intensive as far as I'm aware.  Will have a crack at this over the weekend.

[Steve R]

I've got a duel boot desktop with linux and xp on.  Let me know the .dll file and will see if it's there and try sending it?

[Hugh]

When running on a virtual machine, - will I still have access to stuff like C:/windows/system32, and will putting the .dll file in there work just like it did on original XP.

Yep, you set up the VM and then just install the full version of the guest os (XP in this case), so you have all the normally installed files. XP will just see it as being installed on a normal machine.

[SamT]

OK, great.  Do you have to partition a drive or owt, to install the guest on.  I guess at the minimum, you have to have plenty of drive spare to install the VM ware itself and the guest OS.

I guess all this depends on finding a copy of xp that works

I've got a duel boot desktop with linux and xp on.  Let me know the .dll file and will see if it's there and try sending it?

Hi Steve, ta of the offer, the .dll file is something that i have to manually move into windows, in order to get this software to run (on xp), so I doubt very much it'll be there in a normal version of XP, if that makes sense.

[Paul B]

I take it compatibility mode doesn't work?

https://help.unc.edu/help/win7vista-windows-xp-compatibility-mode-in-windows-7-and-vista/

(surely it's still there in Win 10?)

[Hugh]

OK, great.  Do you have to partition a drive or owt, to install the guest on.  I guess at the minimum, you have to have plenty of drive spare to install the VM ware itself and the guest OS.

I guess all this depends on finding a copy of xp that works

No partitioning needed thankfully, VirtualBox will just create a vm image that's a file (there's a wizard that takes you through it). You do need a bit of space, although xp won't need much (a few gb probably).

[SamT]

I take it compatibility mode doesn't work?

Nope

[SamT]

No partitioning needed thankfully, VirtualBox will just create a vm image that's a file (there's a wizard that takes you through it). You do need a bit of space, although xp won't need much (a few gb probably).

 

[SamT]

Well - fallen at the first hurdle.

Laptop one, installed VMbox thingy ok, but it seems my DVD drive is completly buggered (I never use it).  Wont read and discs - not the least my xp disc,

Tried an older machine, which appears to have a working dvd drive, but seems to error every time I try to open the virtual  machine. Cant even get anywhere near beginning to install XP so, and the way things are going, I cant see that going well.

Giving up due to my prophetic first post reasoning...

"dont want to spend hours trying to create some duel boot nonsense and end up wasting a bunch of time on something that wont work. "

 

[Steve R]

If I was trying, it would most likely result in more wasted time but....
might be worth a google to see if anyone's had success running the software in 'Wine' before.  If that search looks promising then you could download and boot a lightweight linux distro from usb (quick) and give it a spin in that.   

[tomtom]

We have the same issue as you Sam - sometimes we’ve old machines/sw written for XP and using now redundant things like serial ports.

I think WINE can work if the sw and data are all self contained - but gets messy if it has to talk to something outside of the virtual machine.

[Johnny Brown]

I've got an dual boot system running XP for my scanners. You are welcome to have a go on it if you want. In Font but back Tues.

[SamT]

Thanks everyone.. sorted now thanks to the ever generous Cheque.

Nicely surprised at the level of response to this. 

[duncan]

I've got an dual boot system running XP for my scanners. You are welcome to have a go on it if you want. In Font but back Tues.

I think I am in a similar position: I have a Nikon slide scanner whose software doesn’t work with anything more recent than XP. Words like ‘dual boot’ cause me to glaze over. Idiots guide on how to do this on a machine running W10?

[Johnny Brown]

I had my Nikon 8000ED running on Windows 7 via this thread: https://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/44994-getting-your-nikon-coolscan-work-w7-x64.html

[duncan]

Cheers. I'll give that a try.