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AnswerCan I disable Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 using Group Policy?

  • Thursday, November 05, 2009 7:09 AMM Chan Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    Hi All,

    Although XP Mode is a great feature, I'd like to know if I can disable Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 using Group Policy.

    TIA

    M
     

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  • Saturday, November 07, 2009 3:10 PMPat Mok Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
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    Hi M Chan,

    I setup the similar lab today,  there have pc which are installed XP-Mode, I applied the Applock in Group Policy to the pc, the rule as below screenshot
    http://hkcity.no-ip.org/snap/rule.jpg

    After Applied this rule, the virtual machine will blocked by group poilcy when the user want to run it.
    The screenshot
    http://hkcity.no-ip.org/snap/rule.jpg

    Because the virtual machine is installed in this path (%SystemRoot%\system32\vmwindow.exe)
    If you blocked this application bu Applock, all virtua machine can't run.
     

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  • Thursday, November 05, 2009 4:05 PMJohn Paul CookMVPUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    Please provide additional detail about what you want to do, what your concerns are, and what the user environment is.

    XP Mode does not have to be installed. You can install Windows 7 Virtual PC without installing XP Mode. It is optional. Do your users have administrative rights on their computers?
     
  • Friday, November 06, 2009 3:53 AMM Chan Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    Hi,

    Although XP Mode is not installed by default, some users mayinstall it without any sense of security. We would like to ensure that anyone who need to install XP mode must be approved before they use it. Since all users are running as a local administrator, we need to use group policy to disable this feature so that users cannot run XP Mode even they can install it.

    TIA

    M
     
  • Friday, November 06, 2009 6:06 AMPat Mok Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    I think you have two ways to prevent the users run the XP-Mode (Virtual Machine), you can disable the virtualization technology in bios and setup bios password
    Second, you can use applock feature to lock the xp-mode installation file, the users can't execute the installation.
     
  • Friday, November 06, 2009 6:14 AMM Chan Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
     
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    Thanks. The first option obviously cannot be done in our environment. There is drawback in the second option if the installer had been patched from microsoft without any announcement. I just want to know if there is a known service name for XP Mode so that I can disable it by group policy.

    TIA

    M
     
  • Friday, November 06, 2009 6:26 AMPat Mok Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
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    You can turn off the windows virtual pc feature, and enable "Hide Program Feature" in Group Policy.

    <img>http://hkcity.no-ip.org/snap/XPmode.JPG</img>


    By the way, the user can install other virtual machine e.g. vmware or virtual box instead of "XP Mode"

     
  • Saturday, November 07, 2009 3:10 PMPat Mok Users MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers MedalsUsers Medals
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    Hi M Chan,

    I setup the similar lab today,  there have pc which are installed XP-Mode, I applied the Applock in Group Policy to the pc, the rule as below screenshot
    http://hkcity.no-ip.org/snap/rule.jpg

    After Applied this rule, the virtual machine will blocked by group poilcy when the user want to run it.
    The screenshot
    http://hkcity.no-ip.org/snap/rule.jpg

    Because the virtual machine is installed in this path (%SystemRoot%\system32\vmwindow.exe)
    If you blocked this application bu Applock, all virtua machine can't run.