Windows 7 "XP Mode"

[alegator]

I have a sound card that has no drivers for Windows 7, only for XP. If I run Win7 in XP mode, will it be recognized? Thanks

[Supreme2k]

No. The mode is for software compatibility, not hardware..

Find out the chipset for the card. You'd be surprised at what's available.

[bendixG15]

Must be a Creative card ...........

[alegator]

Thanks for the replies. I suspected that Win7 XP mode was only for software compatibility, not hardware. What if I use VMWare software to run XP in Win7? Will that support hardware too?
By the way, the sound card is the VOYETRA TURTLE BEACH SANTA CRUZ PCI card. It's discontinued, it came as OEM with my Dell Dimension 8200 PC in 2002. I went to the official website and it claims that the driver does not support Win7. I wonder if there is any 3rd party driver for this card. Here's the link:
http://turtlebeach.com/support/index.php?View=files&CategoryID=311

UPDATE: I found this website, they seem to provide a working driver for Vista/7. Will report back.
http://www.ssstjy.com/wenzhang/wz41-cs4630c.htm

[jagabo]

Thanks for the replies. I suspected that Win7 XP mode was only for software compatibility, not hardware. What if I use VMWare software to run XP in Win7? Will that support hardware too?

No, it's the same issue. With all VMs if the host's hardware isn't working they can't use it.

[Supreme2k]

UPDATE: I found this website, they seem to provide a working driver for Vista/7. Will report back.

That's what you should have done in the first place, before posting here.

That, or get a new sound card.

[JohnnyMalaria]

Unless the card has specific Vista/7 drivers, you will be out of luck. Starting with Vista, the whole WDM audio layer in Windows has been changed. No legacy drivers will work.

[alegator]

UPDATE: I found this website, they seem to provide a working driver for Vista/7. Will report back.

That's what you should have done in the first place, before posting here.

That, or get a new sound card.

The reason for posting here was to find out if a virtual XP having 7 as a guest OS would recognize hardware, which would've been in my case a preferred option to testing an unofficial driver.

[edDV]

If this card is somehow special, you can dual boot to XP.

[Almost Human]

I have the Santa Cruz working just fine on a Windows7 PC, but it was a long process! I started with a fresh XP install (SP3), did a Vista Home Premium upgrade, then a Windows7 upgrade keeping all the previous settings and files. This process took about 5 hours, without figuring in the harddrive format. The only activation that was necessary was for Windows7.

[alegator]

If this card is somehow special, you can dual boot to XP.

That's a very good option. I have tested Win7 in my Dell Dimension 8200 and it runs very smoothly. The only devices that are not compatible with Win7 are:
- The mentioned sound card in this thread.
- The external scanner and printer (both old HP models)
The sound card I rarely use it as I use a Plantronics USB headset which works with Win7. The same goes with the printer/scanner, I only use them occasionally. So maybe the best option would be to create a minimum WinXP installation for the rare occasions when I need to use the external speakers or print/scan documents, that I can access by dual booting from the main Win7 installation.
I've heard before about this option, but I thought it had issues. But it seems to be easy to implement and trouble free. I found this nice reference:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html

I have the Santa Cruz working just fine on a Windows7 PC, but it was a long process! I started with a fresh XP install (SP3), did a Vista Home Premium upgrade, then a Windows7 upgrade keeping all the previous settings and files. This process took about 5 hours, without figuring in the hard drive format. The only activation that was necessary was for Windows7.

Wow, I never heard of a case like yours. I wonder why that works. In any case I think so far the best option is dual boot.