Which Intel CPUs Support XP Mode Virtualization?

As we’ve detailed before, XP Mode will run the older operating system in a virtual environment inside Windows 7 for maximum compatibility with older applications. In fact, Microsoft is claiming that XP Mode provides near perfect Windows XP compatibility within Windows 7 – so that takes care of one of the raison d'etre for the old OS.

A minimum of 2 GB RAM is needed for XP Mode. And as we detailed last week, XP Mode will utilize and require virtualization technologies in recent processors such as Intel VT and AMD-V. Often hardware virtualization will need to be enabled in the system BIOS too.

Now the confusion comes in for many owners of recent Intel CPUs. Even if you have a Core 2 Duo or Quad CPU, that doesn’t mean that you have what it takes to run XP Mode in Windows 7.

For one reason or another, Intel has confusingly differentiated its processor line by including and excluding VT, even in CPUs of the same generation and family. To make matters worse, there isn’t an easy way to tell if your CPU is capable of virtualization other than digging through the documentation.

Thankfully, Ed Bott in his ZDNet blog has done the dirty work for us and compiled a list of all current Intel processors and have marked them with either a “Yes” or “No” for the presence of Intel VT.

Desktop CPUS

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Core 2 DuoHeader Cell - Column 1
E4300/4400/4500/4600/4700NO
E6300/6320/6400/6420/6540/6550YES
E6600/6700/6750/6850YES
E7200/7300/7400/7500NO
E8190NO
E8200/8300/8400/8500/8600YES
Core 2 ExtremeRow 6 - Cell 1
QX6700/6800/6850YES
QX9650/9770/9775YES
X6800YES
Core 2 QuadRow 10 - Cell 1
Q6600/6700YES
Q8200/8200S/8300/8400/8400SNO
Q9300/9400/9400SYES
Q9450/9550/9550S/9650YES
Core i7/Core i7 ExtremeRow 15 - Cell 1
I7-920/940YES
I7-965YES
Pentium D/Pentium EERow 18 - Cell 1
805/820/830/840NO
915/925/935/945NO
920/930/940/950/960YES
955/965YES
Pentium for DesktopRow 23 - Cell 1
E2140/2160/2180/2200/2220NO
E5200/5300/5400NO

Mobile CPU products

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Core 2 Duo MobileHeader Cell - Column 1
L7200/7300/7400/7500YES
P7350/7450NO
P7370YES
P8400/8600/8700/9500/9600YES
SL9300/9400/9600YES
SP9300/9400/9600YES
SU9300/9400/9600YES
T5200/5250/5270/5300/5450/5470NO
T5500/5600YES
T5550/5670/5750/5800/5850/5870/5900NO
T6400/6570NO
T7100/7200/7250/7300/7400YES
T7500/7600/7700/7800YES
T8100/8300YES
T9300/9400/9500/9550/9600/9800YES
U7500/U7600YES
Core 2 Extreme MobileRow 16 - Cell 1
QX9300YES
X7800/7900YES
X9000/9100YES
Core 2 Quad MobileRow 20 - Cell 1
Q9000YES
Q9100NO
Core 2 SoloRow 23 - Cell 1
SU3300/3500YES
U2100/2200YES
Core DuoRow 26 - Cell 1
L2300/2400/2500YES
T2050/2250NO
T2300/2400/2500/2600/2700YES
T2300E/2350/2450NO
U2400/2500YES
Core SoloRow 32 - Cell 1
T1300/1400YES
T1350NO
U1300/1400/1500YES

Check out Ed Bott's blog for some further clarity in the mess that is Intel VT CPUs. If you've already got your Windows 7 RC on, check out the Virtual PC and XP Mode beta here.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • IzzyCraft
    P8400/8600/8700/9500/9600 YES
    Q9450/9550/9550S/9650 YES
    all i needed
    Reply
  • Spanky Deluxe
    At least some P7350 chips do actually support Intel VT. All the ones in the Early 2009 generation of 2.0 GHz Mac Minis certainly appear to. Source.
    Reply
  • A Stoner
    Are some motherboards not compatible with VT?
    Reply
  • Vettedude
    Q8xxx no? :( I am throwing a pity party now. ;)
    Reply
  • zerapio
    Nice, good thing my QX9770 supports it! :D
    Reply
  • blackthorne
    http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2duo/specifications.htm
    Reply
  • blackthorne
    oddly enough it actually wasn't too hard finding this information as I already looked it up after hearing you needed this tech for xp mode. see link above.
    Reply
  • IzzyCraft
    what about amd? who gonna have the bigger pitty party
    Reply
  • deltatux
    AMD has virtualization built into all 65nm and 45nm processors. That's why it's not really needed to post an AMD list as all recent AMD processors support AMD-V.
    Reply
  • LockPick
    No E7xxx D:
    Reply