Old games on W10? Or can I run W7 in a box?

teckneeculler · 24 Nov 2015

Hi all, just joined up.

I don't use W10 myself yet but I'm about to set up an all-in-one PC for an elderly relative. She's a great fan of many old games, like Bejeweled, Flipwords, Text Twist, Luxor etc, and owns 20 or 30.

But I'm beginning to wonder if old software like this will run on W10 (I haven't opened the box but I think it's 'Home')

My next thought was, 'Is it possible to run a virtual W7 in W10?' Which would be an option for game installs.

Thanks for reading :)

Atomic1977 · 24 Nov 2015

I am not sure about a virtual anything but I do know that just about any game that runs in windows 7 or 8 should work in windows 10. I guess it also depends on the computers specs.

essenbe · 24 Nov 2015

Technically, you give up the Windows 7 key if you upgrade to Windows 10. So, you would have to deal with that.

On the second part, I have found it is difficult to play games in a VM. You are using 'virtual drivers', for lack of a better explanation. Plus it would depend on how many resources you have on the Host machine. You have to give up resources (CPU cores and Ram) from the host to give it to the guest. The more resources you give the guest, the better the performance will be, at the same time you can't give it so many resources that it will hurt the host too much.

demolishun · 24 Nov 2015

If they don't work properly just run them in compatability mode which goes back all the way to windows 95

Old games on W10? Or can I run W7 in a box?-compatability.png

Digital Life · 24 Nov 2015

Some games made between 2003 and 2008 will not run on Windows 10 due to SecuRom and SafeDisc digital rights management (DRM)

Source:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015...c-securom-drm/
Or Here
http://www.pcworld.com/article/29722...ks-to-drm.html
Also Here
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/0...s-microsoft-2/

LMiller7 · 24 Nov 2015

Be sure you install the 32 bit version of Windows 10 as it has better compatibility with older software than the 64 bit version.

teckneeculler · 25 Nov 2015

Guys, thanks for your helpful responses.

Atomic77: As you said, I would have thought that "just about any game that runs in windows 7 or 8 should work in windows 10." But I wasn't sure about that. And I wasn't sure that I'd made the right decision to give her a new PC with W10. Hence my question.

essenbee: Not sure what you meant about the 'giving up W7 key' reference. I'm about to set up a new computer that is apparently loaded with W10. (Home, maybe) So, there's no requirement for an upgrade, this new system should set up out of the box. Regarding the Virtual Machine option I mentioned, I'd prefer to avoid this scenario: I was just asking if anyone had tried to run W7 in a VM in W10.

demolishun: Hey, good call. I'd forgotten 'Compatibility Mode'. Senility is setting in

sml156: I don't think any of my relative's games fall into the Digital Rights Management category. But that's worth knowing.

LMiller77: Thanks for that reminder - I'm not sure I'll get the 32\64 option when I unpack and set up this machine, but if I do, I'll choose 32bit.

batlhilz · 25 Nov 2015

bewejeled works nicely atleast :)

teckneeculler · 26 Nov 2015

OK, seems like I was worried about nothing. Just about every game I've tried works OK. They're all fairly simple, but it's those older games that my elderly friend prefers.

Thanks for your comments, folks.

Dean73 · 29 Nov 2015

x86 is the better option. 64bit OS's will have trouble running some x86 applications. Which keeps me lying in the 32bit range :)