Using XP Mode to Watch TV on A Old Hardware That Doesn’t Work in Windows 7

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This is a guest post written by Ilija Brajkovic, a student who’s interested in computer networks. He spends most of his time on blogging. He is also a founder of the Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Virtualization Blog, in which he writes about Microsoft’s solutions for system administrators.

Windows XP Mode is a fantastic addition to Windows 7. Not only does it provide a solution to all legacy applications that don’t run on Windows 7, but it also gives your old unsupported hardware a second life as well.

If you have some old applications that doesn’t work on Windows 7 but you still want to have them to be able to run on a modern operation system, Windows 7 XP mode can be a solution for you.

If you have some ancient unsupported hardware laying around at your home that you want to give them a good use on Windows 7, Windows 7 XP mode can also be a solution for you.

When I bought my first laptop 6+ years ago, I got one no-name portable TV card that came it with XP-compatible driver. It worked just fine on Windows XP but not at all on Vista and Windows 7. I don’t watch TV very often (because I think it’s a waste of time), but sometimes I do like to watch some football games (I’m from Croatia, and we love football, a game called soccer in North America :)).

device not installed - Using XP Mode to Watch TV on A Old Hardware That Doesn’t Work in Windows 7

One solution is to run another copy of Windows XP in dual-boot mode aside with Windows 7, but a better solution is to make a good use of Windows XP Mode (thanks to the new Virtual PC that finally supports USB attach). I attached my TV card to my new laptop, and then attached it to Windows XP Mode virtual machine via USB sharing on virtual machine. Once I installed the driver and the TV application, I can start the application for watching TV right from my Windows 7 start menu. Guess what, it works! For a few times a week (or even less), this is perfect solution that is more than enough for me.

tv plus install - Using XP Mode to Watch TV on A Old Hardware That Doesn’t Work in Windows 7

Note that Windows XP mode (and Windows Virtual PC) has some hardware requirements. If your PC’s processor supports Virtualization Technology and provides all necessary resources, Windows 7 XP mode could be a working solution for both your old applications and hardware.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Anan got it pegged exactly. Only old **USB** hardware might work. An old PCI TV card will **NOT** work, using this method. The author should have made that point clear, in the very first opening paragraph, because as it stands now, the title is very misleading.

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