Rapidboot Enhanced Experience 2.0

I'm considering the ThinkPad E520 because the rapid boot sounds
so good. I'm also getting Windows XP mode installed.

Does anyone know if the Rapidboot will work in XP mode?

Thanks!

 

Do you know what XP Mode is?

 

Thors. Hammer

Apparently not! I have a vague idea that it's a virtual operating system.

I only need it because I have an older version of Paint Shop Pro, and an HP scanner that aren't compatible with Windows 7. Can I switch into the XP mode to use the Paint Shop Pro and scanner -- but boot up and shut down in Windows 7?

Is it complicated to switch in and out of the XP mode?

Obviously, I don't understand the big picture of how operating systems work.
I just know I'm happy with XP!

 

My guess would be no as it says on the download page RapidBoot for Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit). I don't see XP in there anywhere.

 

This is exactly the same setup that I have for my (very) old AGFA Scanner which doesn't have drivers for Windows 7 - and it works just fine.

Before you start you need to make sure that your Windows 7 OS is either:
. Professional
. Enterprise
. Ultimate

XP Mode doesn't work with Starter or Home Premium.


You boot your machine as normal after installing Rapidboot and reap the benefits there, then once Windows 7 is booted you install XP Mode from here:

Download Windows XP Mode

Once you've installed XP Mode, you can run your Virtual XP machine by selecting Windows XP Mode, and then install your scanner software, the link for your software will appear under the XP Mode area in the windows 7 start menu, make a cup of tea and read this - it tells you how to do it better than I can:
Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7


You wont see any benefits of using your XP mode apps from Rapidboot, but your native windows 7 machine will boot faster because of it - think of XP mode as an application thats installed on top of Windows 7 rather than an OS.

One tip I would give you is to place your XP virtual machine on a different drive than your main OS, I bought an expresscard SSD and it works well for this sort of thing.

 

Just a word of caution. The virtual XP mode may well run your old software but the hardware is more problematical. I have old hardware that will not work in virtual XP because its XP drivers will not install. I think this is because the underlying Win 7 requires Win 7 hardware drivers, but haven't proved this.

 

The USB Virtualization Stub driver should just forward all IRPs sent to the driver onto the XP VM, so you shouldn't need a windows 7 driver for your old device - have you tried actually running the XP VM and installing the drivers there and then attaching your usb device to the vm?

 

Thank you everyone, for your help.

blinder,

I plan to buy the laptop from Lenovo.com with XP mode installed (and Windows 7 Professional, a $50 upgrade).

So the Rapidboot will be installed after the XP mode. And it won't be on a different drive -- will that be a problem?

Also, what is the procedure for installing Rapidboot?

Since the order of doing things will be different from what you suggest --
will I still reap the same benefits from Rapidboot?

Thanks so much for your help!

 

blinder,

Yes I certainly have tried installing that way.
The reason I came to that conclusion is that my Win 7 is 64 bit, and the virtual XP runs 32 bit. The XP device drivers are 32 bit.
If I was wrong in my conclusion and there is another way round this, I would be glad to hear it.

 

If the laptop you're buying already has both xp mode and rapidboot installed then you dont need to do anything. You can always move the XP Mode VHD disk after it's installed using the virtual pc settings.

If it's already installed on Windows 7 you wont need to install it. But if you needed to reinstall it - then just download it from the drivers page:

Drivers and software - ThinkPad T420, T420i, T420s, T420si, T520, T520i and W520

@Anlina,

You can only run rapidboot on the Windows 7 machine itself (so you only get the benefits when Windows 7 boots - not XP), you can't install rapidboot onto the windows xp mode virtual machine.

Rapidboot works by freezing some of the startup drivers until the system is booted, and you cant do that in XP.

In all honesty if you put the xp virtual machine vhd onto an ssd then it should run pretty quickly anyway.

@Sally4,

Same as me - my AGFA scanner drivers are 32 bit, and obviously - like you say - the VM itself is 32 bit only as well. The stub driver takes care of all that (or at least it should), my process for reinstalling this stuff when I rebuild my machine is this:

. Install XP Mode
. Install the Virtual PC update as well
. Run XP Mode and let the VM start for the first time
. Install the scanner software onto the VM
. Shut down the VM
. Connect the scanner (via USB obviously)
. Cancel the Windows 7 driver install (which fails anyway if you let it run)
. Start the VM again
. Click the "USB" menu on the VM (at the top)
My device list shows "SnapScan" for my scanner - yours will show something different. Select it to "Attach" your device...

You should then get the following driver install experience:
. In your Windows 7 host, it should start installing the USB Virtualization Stub Driver. You'll get a system tray popup when this is finished.
. Then your VM Guest should detect your device (as the commands are now being forwarded to the VM) and start installing it.
Then you should be able to connect to your device/launch your scanner software e.t.c

 

XP mode is really the last version of Virtual PC Microsoft developed specifically for this scenario. It's a virtualization product. XP mode is a Windows XP VM you download and use with your legacy hardware and software. It's really only to be used as a last resort.

The first thing you should try is installing Paint Shop and the scanner drivers in Windows 7 using compatibility settings. If that fails and there are no Windows 7 versions of the drivers, then try XP mode.

Keep in mind when using XP mode you are running two operating systems at the same time. That's why it should be a last resort.

 

blinder,
Thanks for that advice. The device I tried to connect is a USB mobile data dongle, but the principle should be the same. When I get back to base I will try again and report back.
Sorry for dragging this thread OT!

 

Most mobile data dongles should be fairly well updated and have x64 drivers I would have thought - is that really not the case with yours? You shouldnt have to run a vm just for that.

 

Thanks again, guys!