Windows XP Mode

When I boot into XP in this mode the max colour depth I can get is 16-bit and it looks fugly. How can I up this to say 32?

 

If you notice the display driver emulated is generic so 16bit is the max it allows.

 

Hmmm is there a way to upgrade that?

 

That's because the RDP protocol used for the integration features of XP Mode has a technical limit of 24-bit color (~16MM colors). XP Mode is shipped with the upper limit set at 16-bit (~65K colors) for greater compatibility with user systems.

Turning off the integration features in VirtualPC and running the XP Mode VM windowed restores access to 24-bit color in the VM. However XP Mode isn't any fun without the integration features, so you'll need to edit the registry on the XP VM (not the Win7 registry) to enable 24-bit color depth over the RDP link.

1) Edit the following key in the XP registry:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services]
ColorDepth=4

If you don't have the ColorDepth key, you'll need to add it as a DWORD value key.

2) Restart XP mode.

--L.

 

Another reason to try VirtualBox or VMware. I can get 32bit color out of my VirtualBox machines (assuming that I have the real display set to 32bit as well).

I have a reasonable cut and paste capability in my Vbox machines as well as a nice emulated network shared folders setup. You get this out of the box with both VirtualBox and VMware although you ahve to set it up yourself. I can see someone taking the time to write a user script or xml setup file to automate the process but frankly it's so easy that I myself can't be bothered.

 

I've used VirtualBox since the Innotek days: it is a great product. And while VirtualBox and VMware support window publishing (VirtualBox has Seamless Mode and VMware has Unity), neither support the unique guest program shortcut publishing in the host system of XP Mode + Windows Virtual PC. For me, that convenience far outweighs the need for 32-bit color over 24-bit color.

--L.