How to Access External USB Devices In Windows XP Mode

Posted May 18, 2009 – 6:12 pm in: Windows 7 Guides

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Many Windows users are not able to install Windows XP mode on Windows 7 RC as it requires hardware virtualization feature to install/run XP mode in Windows 7. Because of this, many users are missing a great Windows 7 feature.

If your system supports Windows XP mode feature (check if your PC supports XP mode), then you can refer our guide how to install Windows XP mode in Windows 7 guide to install and enable the feature. Most of the users don’t know the fact that XP Mode supports USB devices such as printers, scanners and flash drives.

Once you attach your USB device to the host machine (physical machine), you need to enable the USB device for the XP mode. To make the USB device available to the virtual machine (XP mode) you need to follow below instructions:

1. Launch the Windows XP mode.

2. Go to USB drop-down menu that appears either in the upper-left hand corner of the XP desktop window (desktop mode), or at the top of the desktop (full-screen mode) and click on the device’s name to enable the device for XP mode.

3. Once you finish your work with the USB device you need to release the device so that you can safely remove the device from the host machine. Once again, go to USB drop-down menu and again, click on the device name to release it.