TR Forums

W7Pro, downloaded the free Xp mode software and the Microsoft
VM mode is single core!

I've got it running in VMware which is multicore but now Xp wants to be activated.
Don't want to break any regulations.
Is it ok to try to activate it?

I mean Microsoft gives it to you to run in a VM and I am running in a VM
just not the Microsoft VM.

Oh, also I'm new to this whole Virtual Machine area. Do you need a full OS license for every
VM you are running.
Say I want to run my W7 installation inside my W7 installation as a VM so that
I have two W7s running in one computer.
Would I need to buy a brand new license?

Confused
Thoughts Welcome!
jmc2

Here you go.

I've run XP mode with VMware player and it worked fine.

Thanks for that link.

I input the needed line (xpmode.enabled = "TRUE") and I guess
activation is not "required" anymore. I can now get into Xp.
There is a notice that it is not activated tho.

Before with the "activation needed" notice I was LOCKED out of Xp.
After the VMware convertion I also found it wanted a password.
That was new, finally got around it tho.

Just hope that Xp will now be able to play Flash TV shows.
With only single core support it was terrible!

Oh, I am just using the VMware Player software also.
Lots to learn.

Thanks again,
jmc2

If multiple copies of W7 are running at the same time then you are supposed to have multiple licenses. You will probably have trouble activating the virtual copy if you use the same license key for host and guest OS, since the VM counts as a different PC.

Why are you trying to play videos inside a VM? The performance problems may not be CPU-related; the VM likely does not have full access to the GPU's hardware acceleration capabilities.

As to the flash videos in a VM, I've read so much about the "holes" etc. in Adobe products I don't allow them
on my main system. I know a VM is not perfect but it makes me feel a little safer and it is easier to nuke and
replace.

I can play shows in my other Xp system (HBO-GO shows) but I would much prefer to be able to do that
with the one that is on every day.

The Microsoft VM playing a HBO-GO show generally sits at 100% use of it's one core. So I was hoping the
VMware multicore would fix that. But your probably right that it will end up being the graphic portion of the
system that chokes.

It is all mainly a new learning experience.

Thanks for sorting out the OS license issue!
jmc2

The 100% CPU usage could very well be because it is being forced to do all of the video decoding in the CPU due to lack of support for GPU assisted decode inside the VM. Unless the video decoder is multi-threaded adding another virtual core won't help much.

I can certainly understand your desire to "sandbox" the Flash plugin for security reasons...

Well, It looks like Microsoft is limiting it's XpMode to only one cpu core!

Does not matter how many of my 6 cores I tell VMware to use, the XpMode version ONLY
used one core in Taskmanager.
Hmm, come to think of it I should see a Hyperthread also but nope.

I played with W8 and the Multicore options worked correctly.
Have not tested the Flash TV show functioning yet.

jmc2

jmc2 wrote:

Does not matter how many of my 6 cores I tell VMware to use, the XpMode version ONLY
used one core in Taskmanager.
Hmm, come to think of it I should see a Hyperthread also but nope.

It may be likely that the XP instance was installed with the uniprocessor HAL.