Running Win7 Programs From An Xp Hdd

[Momare 0]

I recently downloaded the Windows 7 RC, and I had a hard drive set aside for it. It's my smallest one, being only 150GB, which would normally be fine for my OS uses. The problem I've hit is that my program folder is huge, as are all my various document folders, so a simple file transfer won't work. What I'd like to do is run my programs off of my main drive, which runs XP, and my storage drive. Just trying to run the programs doesn't seem to work, and I'd really hate to have to go and buy another copy of my anti-virus program and the like. At the very least, I'd like to just get my regular programs to work, as I can always scan the Win7 drive via XP. If this sort of question has been posted before, please forgive me, as I my search-fu is weak, especially since I don't know exactly how to phrase what I want.

[buxgoddess 1]

You can actually run your Windows XP programs from Windows 7 if you upgrade your Windows XP to Windows 7. But I will not suggest you do so right now because Windows 7 is in RC stage. It is still in the evaluation stage and therefore using it will be disastrous because you'll have to uninstall it after a few months. I would suggest you to wait for a few more days when Windows 7 will be officially launched. Of course however I feel personally after using Windows 7 RC 7100 myself, that it is not worth it because of its to many security settings.If you have Windows 7 installed in a separate partition then you'll have to install all the programs that you have in Windows XP to run in Windows 7. This is because an installed program in Windows XP will not run in Windows 7 without being installed in Windows 7 itself. However there are a few programmes which are either portable or they are just a dump of the installer and therefore do not need a full installation. Some of such programmes are Winrar, IrfanView, Winamp, etc. I would therefore suggest you to wait for the final version of Windows 7 before you make switchover. Also you must be aware that you need a potentially fast dual core machine with enough RAM to run Windows 7 efficiently.

[Momare 0]

Thanks Bux. I'm actually running Windows 7 just fine (it seems pretty good thus far), and as mama didn't raise no fool, I'm keeping XP. It's not final, it's not official, and so I have no desire to play dice with that sort of thing. I was just asking about my being able to run a program from another drive with an OS from another drive with another OS. In retrospect, it does seem to be against the "rules," but it would have been nice to not have to run around finding all the discs for my apps. Thanks just the same!