Review: After Vexing Install, Is XP Mode Worth It?

Considering using Windows XP Mode and Virtual PC to run an application that isn't Windows 7 compatible? Be prepared to run into the same glitch Test Center reviewers ran into if your machine has an AMD-V Phenom processor running on a particular brand of motherboard.

A successful install of XP Mode and Virtual PC on a machine with a verified AMD-V virtualization processor stopped us dead in the middle of testing with the following on-screen error:

Cannot start Windows Virtual PC while another virtualization software is running. Please close the other virtualization software and try again.

The PC with the error was built with AMD's Phenom II X4 955 Processor, a Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard, 4 GB RAM and 60 GB for free drive space. It has Windows 7 RC (build 7100) and exceeds the requirements recommended by Microsoft to run XP Mode.

We did a few double-checks such as ensuring virtualization was enabled in BIOS and even ran the AMD virtualization compatibility tool that Microsoft has linked on its XP Mode site. The utility declared the machine Hyper-V compatible, thus XP Mode compatible. Reviewers tossed the issue back to Microsoft and AMD. Microsoft could not give a reason for the error. A Microsoft engineer extracted some log files from the PC in question and told reviewers that analyzing the files would take a couple of days. AMD did not have a good reason as to why we were receiving this error but suggested flashing the BIOS to the latest version.

That fixed the issue for us. After flashing a pretty recently upgraded BIOS (April of this year) to the latest version (a July 2009 update provided as a link to us by AMD), XP Mode fired up instantly.

There are some users who have posted for help on Microsoft's TechNet in the Windows 7 Virtualization forum after receiving the same error message:

I am trying to run win xp mode in Win 7 RC. I have a amd 955 phenom, so I should be good to go and the utility says I am. Virtualization is enabled. I just can't run it and get that error.

I'm seeing the same error when starting the Virtual PC RC in Windows 7 RC, on a Phenom II 720 (essentially a 955 with one core turned off).I have no other virtualization software installed, and the beta release of Virtual PC worked on this same machine. I'll try to update the BIOS and see if that fixes the issue. EDIT: Flashing the BIOS to the latest version (version F2 for the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P that I'm using) fixed the issue for me as well.

Another user posted that he, too, ran into the same issue, but only after installing the latest RC version. He did not have the issue with the previous beta release on the same hardware.

Someone else posted that the error message remained even after upgrading BIOS:

Same issue here... I have updated the bios of my Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H to the latest version F5 but that does not solve it (proc is an AMD 7750).

So who dropped the ball, if anyone? Is this an issue of a lack of thorough testing by AMD and Microsoft, or is it a case of systemboard manufacturer Gigabyte not ensuring compatibility with hardware virtualization? Maybe it's caused by all of the above.

After what we and other users have experiened with XP Mode and Virtual PC, it's fair to ask whether XP Mode is worth the hassle.

Will there really be that many applications that won't work on Windows 7? Probably not. The assumption is that XP Mode will be used for custom, in-house applications that have not, or cannot for whatever reason, be updated to work with Windows 7. It may not be necessary to run these kinds of programs virtually at all. In fact, if any other nasty surprises crop up surrounding the install or running of XP Mode, perhaps organizations would be better served keeping XP applications on thick, XP clients.