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General discussion

Will older PC games play on Win 7 XP mode?

Jun 1, 2010 1:52AM PDT

I have some older PC games written for Windows 95/98 that play fine on my Windows XP computer. I am planning on building a new Win 7 Pro machine, but wondered if these will be playable in XP Mode. They are my 5 year old's favorites and hate to lose the ability to play them with him.
Thanks!

Discussion is locked

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Old PC Games
Jun 1, 2010 2:25AM PDT

Yes, it should work. I have a 95/98 game that I able to play with. I am not running it in compatibility mode though. By the way this is on a Vista system so 7 should not be munch different.

manmur

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Excellent!
Jun 1, 2010 3:24AM PDT

Glad to hear, and my son will be very happy!
Thank you.

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You probably
Jun 1, 2010 2:52AM PDT

You probably don't even need XP Mode. A lot of people seem to think that XP Mode means 7 has no backwards compatibility, which isn't true. Probably 90%+ of programs that run on XP will run on 7.

Otherwise, you can install XP into just about any virtual machine software and play them that way. No need for 7 Pro if you have a retail license of XP already.

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Good to know
Jun 1, 2010 3:28AM PDT

My XP license is an Upgrade from the OEM Windows ME OS on my old Dell desktop. Would that work if for some reason the programs won't run natively on Windows 7?

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No
Jun 1, 2010 3:38AM PDT

No, you'd need the "full" non-upgrade retail version.

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Game Compatibility
Jun 1, 2010 5:23AM PDT

Hi Rob,

I agree with Jimmy, many of your games should work just fine with Windows 7. You can try searching the Windows 7 Compatibility Center if you have questions regarding a specific game - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

Another thing that may be useful in this situation is changing the compatibility settings for the program. You can find out more about this, here http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Make-older-programs-run-in-this-version-of-Windows

Cassandra

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Re
Jun 1, 2010 6:34AM PDT

Thanks Cassandra! The games(Putt Putt series and Disney's Hercules) don't show up in the compatibility list, but I'm hoping they will at worst case by changing the compatibility settings.
Rob

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Not all inclusive...
Jun 1, 2010 7:47AM PDT

The Compatibility Center is not all inclusive, and there is still a good chance they will work. Maybe if you know someone with Windows 7, you can test the games out on their computer. Or, do a few internet searches and see if anyone else has had experience with those particular games and Windows 7. You can also try contacting the game manufacturers...

Good Luck,
Cassandra

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Thanks Cassandra...
Jun 1, 2010 8:22AM PDT

I am also going to be getting a new PC for work, so I'll test them on that. I guess either it'll work or it won't LOL!

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P.S.
Jun 1, 2010 8:35AM PDT

Forgot to mention...will getting the 64 bit version of Win 7 change my compatibility?

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(NT) No
Jun 1, 2010 9:32AM PDT