Running WinMX Using Windows Virtual PC



With the advent of newer operating systems released since the WinMX program was written some users discover compatibility problems or issues that make using WinMX annoying and yet other users find no problems, what's the solution for those having issues ?

Let us look at a method that we can use to help us move WinMX with us into the future that works around many of the problems some of you have been facing.

Some of you may be familiar with software such as VM Ware, or similar sounding "virtual Machine" programs, what they facilitate is the running of alternative operating systems (or even just different set-up's of the existing O/S) on a machine that you don't wish to permanently install them on, this is often done to achieve compatibility with some specific software without forcing a user to change their whole operating system, this then is just what we need !!  

WinMX was designed on a windows platform and the majority of it's users are from the Windows operating userbase so this tutorial looks to a Microsoft solution for the problem outlined above, I have selected windows virtual PC to use as this proved pretty painless in achieving the goal of running our older WinMX software on a newer machine and of course it's free.


Important

This program runs on windows 7, if you don't have windows 7 installed I suggest using other "Virtual Machine" software.
NOTE: Linux users can do the same trick using virtual machine software designed for their platform and I envisage few problems in doing so if they are unable to use "Wine" to fix the issue without going "virtual" that many have used successfully.

Let's get down to business, click this link to locate and obtain the Microsoft Windows Virtual PC Program, select your language, ensure you have the minimum system requirements of windows 7 and at least 2gb of System RAM.

Select the package for your machine (32bit) Windows6.1-KB958559-x86.msu or (64bit) Windows6.1-KB958559-x64.msu & download the installation package, once you have the download run the file and follow the instructions, a reboot will be required at the end.


Once you have installed the Windows Virtual PC you have two options depending on what version of win7 you have, let's look at them both.

Option 1: This option is to run the Windows Virtual PC software and create a virtual drive (you will have to create a name for the virtual drive) and install windows xp, vista or win7 in the virtual partition, this is the same process as loading a cd into a pc as normally undertaken when installing an O/S.

Option 2: You can obtain a special pre-built version of windows XP that runs on the windows virtual pc, get it from here.
Once you have installed the XP mode then you need only select it from the drop down box in the windows virtual PC Menu at the top of the page. This option is not always available as some versions of Win7 do not support it and you won't see any drop down info, thus if you dont see anything the suggested option to go with is option 1.
A further free program called VM player can be utilised for a basic system and comes in many flavours but I havent tested this one folks so any reports or feedback would be welcome.

All you need to do now is to hop over to WinMXConex and grab the WinMX installation files and install the program, it's that simple and you can run winmx as normal from within the special box, its possible to go full screen only as long as you have installed the extra "integration tools" this can be done once again from the menu at the top, to escape the "virtual" O/S box with your mouse simply press the windows button and all will be well.

Take a look here for further information on what Operating Systems are supported by the Windows Virtual PC Program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Virtual_PC


I hope this topic has been of help to some of you and look forward to any feedback or information that will expand it in any way - take care folks.

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