HOW TO REVIVE WINDOWS XP ON WINDOWS 10

 In this article, we have discussed the ways using which you can revive Windows XP on Windows 10. Feeling Nostalgic? Want to use Windows XP software on your Windows 10 system? Follow along the instructions mentioned below in this article.

Windows XP has launched over two decades ago, and Microsoft has long moved on to the more advanced Windows versions. Though Windows 10 is currently the most recent Windows update yet, some individuals prefer using XP even if they have Windows 10 enabled on their PC. For them, the XP is still unbeatable. So, if you too want to revive Windows XP on your Windows 10 PC, follow the steps instructions listed further in this article. Be it bringing the Quick Launch bar-like features back to work, make Windows 10 appear like its elder sibling, or trying XP on a virtual machine, we are pretty sure that the steps mentioned below will surely help you bring memories from the past.

Run XP Software and Games

Windows offers impressive backward compatibility to run the apps that were designed for the previous Windows versions. However, you will have to make some modifications so as to the Windows XP apps to run on your Windows 10 PC. The simplest solution is to right-tap on the setup file of a program and choose the option “Run as administrator.” This option wasn’t necessary on the previous versions as Windows XP for giving users administrator access by default. However, Windows 10 offers more advanced security practices, so the action stated above might help you make the apps run. In case it also doesn’t work, try using the compatibility troubleshooter:

1. Right-tap on the program.
2. Further tap on “Properties.”
3. Head over to the “Compatibility” tab.
4. Then, tap on “Run compatibility troubleshooter.” This will try detecting the issues and resolve them automatically.
5. Further, select “Try recommend settings” and then choose “Test the program” in order to check if the program gets launched appropriately.
6. You will be asked if the fix was successful or not. You need to answer the troubleshooter either by clicking on “Yes, save these settings for this program” or by selecting “No, try again using different settings” if the issue hasn’t been resolved yet. On choosing the second option, you have to follow along with a list of questions the solutions suggested for them.

In case the instructions mentioned above aren’t working, you need to apply the compatibility settings manually:

1. Right-tap on the desired program.
2. Further press “Properties.”
3. Head over to the Compatibility tab.
4. Checkmark the option “Run this program in compatibility mode for.”
5. You need to go for Windows Vista, as the XP can no longer be seen under this dropdown.
6. Further, you can try using different options under the “Settings” section. For instance, overriding DPI scaling, a smaller resolution, or reduced color mode.

Theme Windows 10 to Look Like Windows XP

The famous blue color scheme will appear in front of your eyes upon remembering Windows XP. You can bring back at least some of the part of this with the help of the program named Open-Shell.

1. The first step is to install the Open-Shell program. Once you have installed it, launch it.
2. Now, head over to the “Start Menu Style” tab.
3. You can choose either “Classic with two columns,” or “Classic style” according to your desired preference.
4. Tap on “Select skin.”
5. Select “Windows XP Luna” from the “Skin” dropdown.
6. You may now make use of the “Skin options” in order to customize the skin further, just like if you want to change the color, font size, or icon of the Start menu or whether you want to display the user picture.

Meanwhile, you can download the Classic Shell XP suite from Winaero. It’s a ZIP file containing pics for further customizations. Once you have downloaded the suite, you need to extract the files.

Now head back to the Open-Shell settings and follow the instructions listed below:

1. Head over to the “Start Menu Style” tab.
2. Checkmark “Replace Start button.”
3. Choose “Custom” and further click on “Pick image.”
4. Locate the folder that you have extracted and choose “XPButton.png.”
5. If the Start button appears to be in the incorrect size, tap on “Advanced button options” and further click on “Button size” and set the value 0.
6. Checkmark “Show all settings” and head over to “Taskbar.”
7. Further, tick on the “Customize taskbar,” option and hit “Taskbar texture,” and further tap on three horizontal dots.
8. Now locate the extracted folder and choose “xp_bg.png.”
9. Now you need to select the option “Tile” appearing under “Horizontal stretching.”
10. Now launch the extracted folder, and right-tap on the bliss-600dpi-624×501.jpg file, and choose the option “Set as desktop background.”

That’s it; this will make it feel like you are running Windows XP, however, with all the Windows 10 features.

Revive XP Features

You can bring back the Quick Launch toolbar and many other features to life that got vanished after XP. Simply follow the instructions mentioned below:

1. Right-tap on the taskbar.
2. Hover over the option “Toolbars.”
3. Tap on “New toolbar.”
4. Input the text mentioned below in the “Folder” field:

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

Further, tap twice on the Return key.

Now, tweak the Quick Launch appearance using the steps mentioned below:

1. Right-tap on the taskbar and further untick the option “Lock the taskbar.”
2. Now left-click and drag the Quick Launch toolbar from the left side in order to expand it.
3. Further, you need to right-tap on the Quick Launch and unmark the option “Show Text” and “Show title” to get the XP-like appearance.
4. Further, if you want to customize Quick Launch bar icons, simultaneously press Win + R keys, then state the folder path and tap on Return. Once done, you can easily set shortcuts to programs, folders, and files, to see them on the taskbar of your system.
5. Once done, right-tap on the taskbar and press on the option “Lock the taskbar.”

Run a Virtual Machine

If you want a true Windows XP experience on your Windows 10 system, running a virtual machine would be well and good. Virtualization is the process of obtaining your PC’s resources and separating them collectively into chunks so as to let them be read as individual systems.

While you are running Windows 10, you can easily form a virtual machine running Windows XP. This would not affect your main Windows 10 installation while it is offering a complete XP experience, and every activity done within the virtualization will stay with it only.

That’s it. This was all about how to revive Windows XP on a Windows 10 PC. While XP has now become a Security threat, Microsoft doesn’t support it any further due to security reasons. So, we will recommend you not to run it as the main operating system on your PC. However, trying it within the virtualization limits would no harm the integrity of your system and would be pretty good to experience the previously used features and design on your Windows 10 PC.

Source: Revive Windows XP