How to (find and) activate XP mode in Win &

My new thinkpad has Win 7 Pro 64 bit, and is supposed to have XP mode available (I included it while customizing before buying). But from "uninstall program" in control panel, I don't see anything like that. How can I know if it is there, and how to activate it?

Thanks a bunch...

 

Go to Control Panel and under uninstall programs see if Windows XP Mode is there.

You can download the program here --> Download Windows XP Mode

 

Thanks. I found it and was able to activate it. However, unlike what I had expected, in XP mode, everything has to start over! I mean everything! Even my files and folders have to be re-copied. The reason I use XP mode is simply to use some softwares incompatible with Windows 7, including devices such as camera.... Now it looks like a pain to use those software/devices by switching back and forth. It's worse than using two computers

 

I use XP mode on 7 Pro. I use it for some hardware also. I find it useful but not a pain. Are you having problems with its speed of operation. It is a second operating system and you do need to setup everything but it runs quite smooth and fast on my computer. Even though Microsoft made it so you do not need Virtualization enabled to operate it, you should enable it if it is available on your computer. This should speed it up some.

 

The pain is not speed, but since I use Win 7 for everything (incl. Internet) except those which necessitates XP mode, it is very inconvenient. For example, if I have saved my work in MS Office under Win 7, and need to print it, my printer being incompatible with Win 7, I have to go to XP mode to print it. My photo editing program also has to run under XP after I saved a picture (say) under Win 7, then save the edited picture in XP files, then transfer to the Win 7 via USB flash drive.

And by the way, frequently switching between the modes does no harm to the computer?

 

This is interesting and I will look into it more. I have been using copy and past between the two for what I need so fare. I know this works for pictures, files and folders.

 

You're going about this the long way. I assume that you have the integration features installed and enabled?

With the virtual machine shut down (not hibernating)...
highlight it > click Settings in the ribbon bar > Integration Features
a) make sure that Enable at Startup is checked
b) select which devices and resources to share
c) select the local hard drive that you'd like XP to have access to. (given that XP Mode is also a security feature, it's not recommended to grant it direct access to your C:\, unless you have no other partitions)

Once all of these are properly selected, you should be able to navigate to your Windows 7 local HDD via XP Mode explorer. For example, I have C:\, D:\, E:\, and F:\ in Windows 7. I've granted XP Mode access to D:\. Here's how it appears in XP Mode explorer:

 

You could just share folders to be accessible to xp mode.

I don't use Virtual PC but I believe they have options to map host sharable folders (or whole partitions if you want) to guest os.

XP mode had them off by default.

 

Many thanks. I found the integration features. It was already checked for enabled and sharing C drive. It took me a while to finally find in XP mode the files on host OS, because it turned out they were in the obscure folder "users", and the path is quite long. I tested it, editing a picture using photo editor in XP mode (incompatible with Win 7), and directly saved it in the file folder on host OS as viewed in XP mode. I went to the host OS and found the edited picture was there!

Still, would be nice without all these hassles.

Thanks again.