Will 32-bit software run in 32-bit virtual Windows?

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I run 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. I have an old program that only runs in 32-bit Windows (95-Win7). It won’t even install in my 64-bit Windows. If I set up a virtual 32-bit Windows XP (using Virtual Box and my old XP disc) inside my 64-bit Windows 7, does anyone know whether the program is likely to work? I’d rather save my time and avoid frustration if the answer is known. If the answer is known to be yes, what minimum amount of RAM do you recommend?

This may not matter at all: I don’t plan on accessing the internet at all with this virtual XP, so I’m not worried about security.

Thanks in advance.

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Any programs that work on Windows should run in a virtualized Windows, unless they have hardware requirements that a virtual machine cannot satisfy, which would be rather uncommon.

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So you’re saying that, if I’m lucky, the old program will be totally unaware that my computer is 64-bit?

I implied in my initial post that it ran in Windows 95-Windows 7. In actuality, that was custom-built computers for everything but Windows Millenium (I skipped that one). The current Desktop had 32-bit Windows XP and it installed and ran fine, then wouldn’t install when I upgraded a lot of the hardware for 64-bit Windows 7. It also ran fine on my previous laptop, running 32-bit XP. The current laptop is an HP EliteBook (pre-loaded with 64-bit Win7) which I got used from my local independent computer store. They loaded it with a clean copy of Windows, not the one in the recovery partition with all its unwanted junk. Same error message with both machines, which is why I’m interested in knowing in advance whether to take the time to do the virtual XP on the desktop.

Thanks for any help.

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If it won’t install in 64-bit Windows it could the installer. Try running the install in compatibility mode.

Joe

--Joe

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Thank you for that suggestion, but I already tried it. Just to be on the safe side, I tried installing in Administrator mode, too. No luck. Same totally unhelpful error message for both the laptop and desktop.

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The only way you are going to find out is to try it as there are probably few people who have tried it.

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That’s what I was afraid of. Thanks.

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OP asked how much memory to set aside for the VM.
I usually use 512 MB for 32-bit Windows XP with Virtual Box.

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