I would love to have Cubase 5 VST32 and Cubase SX1 on my HP Pavilion DV6 Core 2 Duo Win7 64bit laptop- I dont mind having to boot into another OS when creativity inspiration hits- so I came across this article- has anyone tried this? (note: as you read thru the article I would be doing “Option 2” since I have Win7 installed first)
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/8057-dual-boot-installation-windows-7-xp.html
I was also wondering about Microsoft’s Virtual PC running in XP Mode- anyone try that? I hear it colors the sound and the elicenser usb doesn’t work right with virtual pc in xp mode- and of course if that’s true then that would be totally impossible to fix… so I can see why its not realistic to think it would be… seems legit… 
There is another free virtual pc program out there that claims to similate XP as well- Im guessing a dual boot might be more secure but it sure would be nice if a virtual option worked just as good- the other free virtual pc program:
https://www.virtualbox.org/
The other thought I had is what about running XP from an external harddrive connected to my Win7 (64bit) laptop with a fast USB 2.0 or 3.0 connection or firewire- has anyone tried this?:
http://techchannel.radioshack.com/install-xp-external-hard-drive-2766.html
First thought that came to my mind: mother of all exercises in futility. 
Bottom line: if you have a very old computer that can’t handle Windows 7 or 8 (and the latter is even less demanding than Vista/7), I seriously doubt it would make a viable DAW machine for Cubase. It’s no coincidence Steinberg no longer supports XP.
Ah, the Ol’ dual boot war from the old forum! NOoooooooo!
I for one am all for bringing Cubase VST 5 (5/32) back to life for ‘whatever’ the reasons, and if newer computers don’t wanna’ play well with it, you can always run it (and other old software) on an older spec Win XP machine. In fact, I built a near replica of my older spec XP machine a while back (for reasons of having more ‘power’ & redundancy among machines). The ‘original’ machine cost around $2,500 to build, the ‘replica’ cost around $500 using mostly used components. Just began building a 3rd replica yesterday…for even less because I held out for finding the best prices! 
I’m over the dual boot thing for ‘myself’ …especially because for some reason, when I made ‘images’ of my dual boot DAW, (for reasons of using the internet on it with one boot, and music recording on the other boot) when needing to call upon my ‘image’ due to any major failure, things were always screwed up, and had trouble booting on both boots after that 
When I wiped the whole thing, and started completely fresh with ONE single boot, those images (made with the same imaging software) worked fine! Other than my weird experience with ‘images’ with a dual boot, it all worked fine.
But as opposed to ever using a dual boot again, my own preference (though wasn’t asked) is to use another computer for different tasks 
it came with win7 already installed- core 2 duos arent that old for laptops are they? (purchased 2009)
If I were you I would try this out. I did and it worked great. You DO need a legit copy of Windows XP to get it installed on the virtual computer.
Just zip up the installation folder from an old XP installation and copy it across – that works with SX3 at least.
Then what possible advantage can XP bring to you?
Indigo- Cubase SX1 will install on WinXP but not Win7 is the word from Steinberg and has been my experience thus far- im no computer wiz tho- some more computer savy people may have solutions, like Virtual Box etc-
I also wanted to know if Virtual Box is a lot better than Microsoft"s Virtual PC?
2nd reply- also I forgot to add- i saw reports on here that the older (yr 2000ish) Cubase 5 VST (24 and/or 32 bit?) will work on Win7 64bit- and my SX 1 usb dongle will work for it in place of that old school serial port dongle that came with it. Is anyone doing that? Is it pretty stable?
Is there a link with more info on this? Does that add the proper bios updates etc (im guessing) like a normal install?
OK, then the question becomes: why would you want to run an ancient piece of software like SX1 on a relatively modern machine? Do you realize that $99 Elements can actually do more?
BTW, I think that VMware Player overall is more efficient (i.e. faster than Virtual Box, although it’s a little more complex to setup, albeit not by much.) Anyone with a modicum of PC knowledge should be able to handle it without problems.
This is what I have. But not the way it is shown in the sevenforums thread. Got help from Nate many years ago; it’s a dual boot with hidden partitions, which IMHO, is the way to go.
Cheers.
No information needed, just zip the folder on an XP installation, copy it across, unzip it on Win7x64, and run the exe.
Ah always wears a paar a boots when powrin up the peecee, don wanna get electricified doncha know
If I can get 5 vst32 to work in Win7 im good, i really just need a kick a$$ midi editor, I should have everything else covered
I can’t remember, but unless it was already a 32-bit application it won’t work (Windows 7 no longer supports 16-bit applications). EDIT: doh, the clue was in the name … 
Haha- I heard it mentioned here that it will work but have not tried it yet- haw anyone got it to work reading this?
I’ve been dual or triple booting since … umm … say 2003 and I’m so used to it I think that’s what everybody does!
But it works and it works great, especially if you get used to it.
I have it configured it as:
but I hardrly ever open XP anymore, even though it works like clockwork.
The Windows Task Manager in the DAW boot hardly fills up its window with processes, so it’s fairly clean.