SQL Server 2000 on Windows 7

Microsoft is announcing Windows 7 for the last quarter of 2009, if you are a SQL Server 2000 user so you are yet on Windows XP. The good news is not that Windows 7 will be compatible with SQL Server 2000 but that the Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 will give you the ability to upgrade your OS to Windows 7 and continue using your SQL Server 2000.

Windows Virtual PC and in addition to deliver capability to run Virtual Machines on Windows 7 will help us to run Virtual Application using Windows XP Mode.

In this article we will explore what are the requirements for this and how we can do it.

Before we begin

Windows Virtual PC requires a CPU with Intel® Virtualization Technology or AMD-V® feature turned on so you have to verify that your hardware meets this requirements and that the feature us enables in the system BIOS.

Windows Virtual PC requires Windows 7 RC that MSDN subscribers and TechNet Plus subscribers can download from Microsoft TechNet Springboard Site.

You can download all needed components from the Windows Virtual PC website :

• Windows Virtual PC Beta
  



• Windows XP Mode Beta
  



• RAIL QFE Beta Windows XP SP3
  



• RAIL QFE Beta for Vista SP1
  

Components Installation

On your Windows 7 computer install the Windows Virtual PC and then the Windows XP Mode, this will create a Windows XP SP3 Virtual Machine on your hard disk and you will see a new menu group added to your Start menu as illustrated on the figure 1

The Windows Virtual PC menu group will contain three items

1. Virtual Machines (Ordinateurs virtuels in French)
   



2. Virtual Windows XP
   



3. Virtual Windows XP Applications
   

By clicking the Virtual Machines menu you will see the list of the virtual machines configured on your Windows 7 computer and you will be able to manage them as you do it on Virtual PC.

Configuring the Windows XP mode

1. Start the Windows XP virtual machine by clicking Virtual Windows XP menu item
   



2. Install the integration Components on the Virtual machine
   



3. Install the RAIL QFE Beta Windows XP SP3 on the Windows XP Virtual Machine
   



4. Restart your virtual machine and activate the integration functionality from Tools menu
   



5. Install SQL Server 2000 on your Windows XP Virtual machine
   



6. Put the Virtual machine in Sleep mode
   

On your Windows 7 Start menu click Virtual Windows XP Applications under Windows Virtual PC and you will see the group menu for SQL Server 2000.

Enjoy using SQL Server 2000 on your Windows 7 computer.