[brettt777]

I have a new build that I am just completing that has these components installed:

 

i7 4790 3.6ghz CPU

MSI Z97S mb

GTX-770 VGA (second unit to be added later for SLI)

16GB HyperX Fury DDR3

Soundblaster Zx

Seagate 2TB HDD

Asus BR burner

Rosewill Bronze 1KW

 

I will probably use Win 8.1 as my OS but I have alot of older titles that won't run on 8.1 or even Win 7. So I am thinking I will set aside a couple hundred mb partition with XP Pro on it. My question is, will XP Pro (and my older programs) work with all this newer hardware?

 

[Advertisements]

Hi there. Technically it should work fine, just not optimised for it all and unless you use the 64bit version(not recommended as it wasn't widely supported) you will only have access to about 3GB of RAM - which shouldn't be a problem for XP.

 

The main issue you will have are drivers for the motherboard, MSI aren't listing any XP drivers for the board so you may (or may not) struggle to get compatible drivers.

 

I would reserve 20-30GB for the XP install, a few hundred MB won't cover it.

[ruggie_uk]

Hi there. Technically it should work fine, just not optimised for it all and unless you use the 64bit version(not recommended as it wasn't widely supported) you will only have access to about 3GB of RAM - which shouldn't be a problem for XP.

 

The main issue you will have are drivers for the motherboard, MSI aren't listing any XP drivers for the board so you may (or may not) struggle to get compatible drivers.

 

I would reserve 20-30GB for the XP install, a few hundred MB won't cover it.

[brettt777]

Hi there. Technically it should work fine, just not optimised for it all and unless you use the 64bit version(not recommended as it wasn't widely supported) you will only have access to about 3GB of RAM - which shouldn't be a problem for XP.

 

The main issue you will have are drivers for the motherboard, MSI aren't listing any XP drivers for the board so you may (or may not) struggle to get compatible drivers.

 

I would reserve 20-30GB for the XP install, a few hundred MB won't cover it.

 

Uh... yeah, don't know what I was thinking when I typed 200mb. I'd probably want at least 50-100GB (I have ALOT of older titles). I understand about the 3GB of RAM because of the 32 bit OS but as you said, 3GB would be plenty for XP. I thought about investing in a copy of XP Pro; I can get it relatively cheap. But like you said, it wasn't widely supported. But didn't I hear recently that XP will soon be among the unsupported anyway? As for the drivers for the main board, I suppose it would be wise to try and gather all those up before I waist time setting up a seperate partition, etc.

Edited by brettt777, 23 July 2014 - 01:17 PM.

[ruggie_uk]

XP Pro will be fine, just the 64 bit version that will be awkward.

 

Good idea scouring drivers first. Will save lots of hassle later.

[iammykyl]

Gday.

Your first step is to confirm whether you are permitted to install XP to a different/new MB.   Is the licence OEM or Retail?

[brettt777]

Gday.

Your first step is to confirm whether you are permittted to install XP to a different/new MB.   Is the licence OEM or Retail?

The XP Home edition I have is.... Gosh I don't remember. I have two copies of it and I think they came with two Dell machines I bought about eight years ago, neither of which is operational now. No, now I remember that the OS disk that came with them wasn't a regular XP type disk, it was a Dell proprietary disk. So these must be copies that I bought back in the day. Full retail copies in the orange and green little folder things with the certificate and key, etc.

Now, if I do go with XP Pro, it would also be retail.

[iammykyl]

Even though support for XP has ended, all the licence conditions still apply.   Even though you may be successful installing/updating from an OEM disc, you still have to activate windows, most times it fails.   Not quite sure I understand your reply.

If the discs you have are branded, Dell/HP etc? you cannot use them on a new MB, even if you have the codes.

Some more info, > http://www.infocella...over-retail.htm

[brettt777]

Even though support for XP has ended, all the licence conditions still apply.   Even though you may be successful installing/updating from an OEM disc, you still have to activate windows, most times it fails.   Not quite sure I understand your reply.

If the discs you have are branded, Dell/HP etc? you cannot use them on a new MB, even if you have the codes.

Some more info, > http://www.infocella...over-retail.htm

What I am saying is that I have both the OEM install disks that came with the Dell PCs I bought years ago, and I have a couple of retail disks I bought for PCs that are no longer functional. So if I decide not to invest in XP Pro 64 (which is very possible since some of my older titles may not run on a 64 bit OS) I can use one of the retail disks from a system that is no longer used or functional. I just need to make sure my newer hardware will work with XP. Believe me, I want to do this right and not have any issues with licensing.

[iammykyl]

Got it.   You can use the Retail discs without problems.

Even though you are going to use a new MB, XP should run on the generic drivers, the same as when you install on a MB before installing the drivers/utilities from the MB disc.

It is better practice to install to two separate discs, entails less hassle.   The order in which you install is also important, usually the older system first, then the newer.   You may still have to repair the MBR on the W7 install as when you start XP, it wipes that MBR.   I am sure that I also read, a Reg hack is needs as XP stops system restore on the W7 OS.

[brettt777]

Got it.   You can use the Retail discs without problems.

Even though you are going to use a new MB, XP should run on the generic drivers, the same as when you install on a MB before installing the drivers/utilities from the MB disc.

It is better practice to install to two separate discs, entails less hassle.   The order in which you install is also important, usually the older system first, then the newer.   You may still have to repair the MBR on the W7 install as when you start XP, it wipes that MBR.   I am sure that I also read, a Reg hack is needs as XP stops system restore on the W7 OS.

You're probably right. XP will most likely run on generic windows drivers initially. But that still leaves two problems; while my GTX-770 will in fact run in XP, the Sound Blaster Xz will not. So I would have to figure out how to make the on board sound work. And since I would still need to connect to the internet sometimes, I would need the on board network adaptor to work. I guess the only way to know for sure is to try it and see what happens. If it won't work, I can always start over with W8.1 only.

Just as a side note, I have a laptop with two HDDs installed and I run W7 PHE on one drive and W8.1 on the other. I installed 7 first and then 8.1. Then I set the 8.1 HDD as the primary boot disk in the config menu and when I start up, I get a little menu that allows me to select my OS, and it works perfectly without any errors, etc. Can I do something like that with XP and 8.1? I might be able to use my wifes old 250GB drive as a second HDD instead of doing a dual partition.

Edited by brettt777, 02 August 2014 - 04:20 PM.

[iammykyl]

Re. "side note"   Multiple OS/s on separate HDDs is a much better setup, no messing about with Boot loaders, is safer, because if you loose a drive with with partitions, you loose everything.  I have done it with 98SE, XP, Linux.   The little bit of time selecting the OS to boot from never bothered me.

 

Until you have decided on virus protection, first use Windows Defender, > http://res2.windows....8ebadc364_0.wmv

 

If this makes sense, consider doing the following. 

Your 2TB as an OS disc is huge, you may get degraded performance as files will be spread out over the whole disc,  Ensure only the OS disc is connected.   At install, I would create a 500GB boot partition, leaving the rest as unallocated.

install 8.1 OS, MB driver/utilities (decline free or trial software) update the OS, create recovery media, install software, (except Sound Blaster) test.   Then, when satisfied.

 

Disconnect the C/ drive, connect the 250GB drive, change the drive letter to E/, Install XP, (if you are connected to the internet, LAN drivers should be installed and Windows generic drivers.)   Update the OS. use the default Firewall, install Avast antivirus, test.

Use the Dell installation disc to install SB software, use the Dell Driver disc for the SB drivers, test to see if it work.  if not, I may have a solution.

 

Reconnect the C/ drive and configure the boot priority. 

[brettt777]

Okay, this sounds like a plan. I will give it a try and let you know...

[iammykyl]

 Good luck.

[brettt777]

Re. "side note"   Multiple OS/s on separate HDDs is a much better setup, no messing about with Boot loaders, is safer, because if you loose a drive with with partitions, you loose everything.  I have done it with 98SE, XP, Linux.   The little bit of time selecting the OS to boot from never bothered me.

 

Until you have decided on virus protection, first use Windows Defender, > http://res2.windows....8ebadc364_0.wmv

 

If this makes sense, consider doing the following. 

Your 2TB as an OS disc is huge, you may get degraded performance as files will be spread out over the whole disc,  Ensure only the OS disc is connected.   At install, I would create a 500GB boot partition, leaving the rest as unallocated.

install 8.1 OS, MB driver/utilities (decline free or trial software) update the OS, create recovery media, install software, (except Sound Blaster) test.   Then, when satisfied.

 

Disconnect the C/ drive, connect the 250GB drive, change the drive letter to E/, Install XP, (if you are connected to the internet, LAN drivers should be installed and Windows generic drivers.)   Update the OS. sue the default Firewall, install Avast antivirus, test.

Use the Dell installation disc to install SB software, use the Dell Driver disc for the SB drivers, test to see if it work.  if not, I may have a solution.

 

Reconnect the C/ drive and configure the boot priority. 

Hey I just had a thought... My new machine has a SATA port on top of the case where I can plug an external HDD in. I have two 500GB SATA drives that use to be in my laptop. I wonder if I could set one of those up as an XP drive and just plug it in and boot off of it whenever I need to run an older program...? Then I don't have to wipe the 250GB drive from my wifes old machine (it still has XP on it whereas the new drive has W7 and she's not happy about the change so I may have to go back to that old drive and.... ) Anyway, if I did that, would it matter which OS was installed first? I'm hoping I can do it the way I did my laptop where the OS's were installed individually but the W8.1 disk is set as the primary and it gives me the option of which OS I want to use.

Edited by brettt777, 03 August 2014 - 04:03 PM.

[iammykyl]

I see no reason why that should not work.   Just make sure that it is the only drive connected while doing the install, this prevents stupid windows from interfering with the MBR on another drive.