Windows Vista Software compability

[Vitdom]

Hello, I've planned to build a new computer later this year, and I think that
I'll be buying Windows Vista Home Premium for my computer.

But I've got a LOT of games on my shelf, and I like playing them all. Some
of them are made for earlier Windows versions(like 2000 and XP), and a lot of
people around the internet is telling me that they doubt that they will be
compatible with Windows Vista. Is this true? And if it is, why?

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

You have to check with the vendor for each game to see if it's compatible
with Vista. There's no cut and dry answer. Some may:

- require an update or patch
- require a higher version than you currently own
- run under Vista's compatibility mode
- only run with elevated privileges
- not work at all in Vista, but you may still be able to run them in a
virtual machine or, for older applications, dosbox.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Hello, I've planned to build a new computer later this year, and I think
that
I'll be buying Windows Vista Home Premium for my computer.

But I've got a LOT of games on my shelf, and I like playing them all. Some
of them are made for earlier Windows versions(like 2000 and XP), and a lot
of
people around the internet is telling me that they doubt that they will be
compatible with Windows Vista. Is this true? And if it is, why?

You will have to try them to see if they work. Most games do work. Some of
them will need to be installed under XP compatibility mode. Others will
just work. A few will not work at all. Most older games can also be run in
an XP virtual machine using Virtual PC. I run several games that way. As
to why some games won't just run? It depends on how the game was written.
You would need to research that on your own on the game mfg's website or on
the web generally, but I think you would be putting the cart before the
horse to try to figure that out now. Considering that you have a lot of
older games, I suspect that you should make sure that you have an extra copy
of XP or Win2000 (or both) and plan to run many in virtual machines. There
is a newsgroup at microsoft.public.virtualpc where you can get plenty of
advice about how to set up and run these games. VPC also comes with good
help files. VPC is free and you can create virtual machines on your present
computer that you can continue to use when you adopt Vista.

 

[Vitdom]

Thank you for all your answers, I've searched the game developer's webpages
and I've found out that they are compatible(at least those I checked) with
Windows Vista.

Thanks.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hello, I've planned to build a new computer later this year, and I think that
I'll be buying Windows Vista Home Premium for my computer.

But I've got a LOT of games on my shelf, and I like playing them all. Some
of them are made for earlier Windows versions(like 2000 and XP), and a lot of
people around the internet is telling me that they doubt that they will be
compatible with Windows Vista. Is this true? And if it is, why?

There is no answer to a question like this. The answer depends on the
specific games. The best way to find out is to check with the vendors
of the games.

That said, most software written in the days of Windows 2000 or XP
*does* work under Vista.

 

[Sinner]

Thank you for all your answers, I've searched the game developer's
webpages
and I've found out that they are compatible(at least those I checked) with
Windows Vista.

You can also keep your current box, just to run those games.