No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!

Erik P. Ernst about Navision and the Dynamics Community

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One of the reasons why I wanted to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 was that I was told that it was possible to run the older versions of Navision here.

So when Windows 7 was release in its RTM (released to manufacturing) version, then I was quick to download it and install it.

Until now my experience with Win 7 has been ok. But I was not really unhappy with Vista, like most other people I have met. My Vista (64 bit version) was running fine. So it has not really been that big a change.

I also quickly installed Navision, both the new Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, but also the older Microsoft Business Solutions Navision 4.0 SP3. This service pack was also the only of the older version that could run on Vista. So of course both versions ran fine.

Yesterday I wanted to try the old Navision 3.70.

According to the blog Randomly Learned it should be possible. I just had to check my processor first! The issue is that Windows 7 have a new set of requirements to allow you to use the so-called XP Mode:

Processor capable of hardware virtualization, with AMD-V™ or Intel® VT turned on in the BIOS.

So I downloaded an ran the SecurAble application. And the result was not nice:

image

This means that my new (only three months old) HP laptop doesn’t allow me to use the old versions of Navision!

What if I didn’t get the No Hardware Virtualization result?

If you didn’t get this results, then all you need to do is to download and install Windows Virtual PC and the Windows XP Mode.

And then you can follow this guide: Setup and use XP Mode in Windows 7.

 

 

Posted Aug 27, 2009 12:24 by Erik P. Ernst
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Comments

DynamicsUser.NET Admin's Blog wrote No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 13:06

One of the reasons why I wanted to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 was that I was told that it

David Singleton wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 15:05

Thanks for that. I have Vista on this machine and desperately need to upgrade. Was waiting in hope that Win7 would be usable.

But looks like back to Plan A and UPGRADE to XP.

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 17:31

Yes - no reason to upgrade to Windows 7 - seen from a Navision perspective!

DenSter wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 17:42

It's the same issue I had when I purchased my server right after Windows Server 2008 came out. I got it specifically so that I could start using Hyper-V, and not until after the server was delivered did I find out that you have to have a CPU that knows how to virtualize. Now my server is nothing more than a fancy external hard drive :)

JDamian wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 18:37

I've seen chatter on this, but most of it is about checking a CPU after you have purchased it.  I feel bad for you and for Den Ster and all of the others out there that have learned ugly lessons.  Forgive me, but I don't want in that club.  

Does anyone know of a good resource to check this by model (i.e. before you by)?  

George wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 19:04

I'm steering clear of any platform that includes the DRM support, so that keeps me on XP or Win2K3.  Just make a few virtual appliances with XP, add Navision, and you're off to the races.

I know that begs the question (How to run Nav on Vista/Win7), but I think "Don't do it" is a reasonable response.

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 27, 2009 19:06

Don't exactly know a general chips checker. But Intel have one here:

processorfinder.intel.com

kriki wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 9:02

Well, you can upgrade to Windows 2008 Server 64 bit. It is a lot better then Vista. But it still has the problem of older Navision versions.

I have a virtual machine with Windows 2003 32 bit and SQLServer 2008 in which all my SQL DB's are.

I also have a virtual machine with Windows XP 32 bit for the older versions.

And I am very happy I did it!

I DO advice to use a SATA disk with 7200 RPM and have 4 GB of memory on your portable. Also dual core is a must!

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 11:11

What would you gain by upgrading to the 64 bit Windows 2008 Server version you would get by upgrading to the 64 bit Windows 7 version?

I mean except that many applications cannot run on the server versions without much more expensive server editions of their applications? ;)

sfortina wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 15:34

I suggest that you use VMware player to run a limited XP machine (don't know whether your can convert the one from the XP mode of 7) and then may be the unity feature if you need to run them on the same desktop.

VMware playyer does not require virtualization extensions and is (possibly) more performing.

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 16:41

Hi Simone,

Thank you. Using VMWare would maybe be a good idea. Did you try this?

kriki wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 17:18

Well I tried it: I have VMWare server with my virtual machines in it. You can also use VMWare player. Both have pro and contra.

But both are free.

I would like VMWare workstation, but it is not free and VMWare finished their MVP free licenses some time ago :-(

PS : for 64bit support of hosts, VMWare wants the hardware vitualization you don't have on your portable.

BTW: you might also try ESXi on your machine. It is partly free. I tried it on my old portable but got some incompatibilities.

David wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 19:00

Erik, there are MANY processors that DO have the virtualization functions built in, as well as many that don't.  Why not recommend that people use SerurAble to test before buying Win7?

Most AMD machines have virtualization, but it's a bit more touch and go on the Intel side.  Intel was using it as a feature differentiator, and I think they were a bit taken by surprise by the sudden value of it with Win7.

I'm not sure why you would say there is no reason to upgrade.  Many WILL be able to use Virtual XP and there are plenty of other reasons to upgrade other than that as well.

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Aug 28, 2009 20:47

@David: You're right. People should check first.

But if you're running on an older PC with a CPU without hardware and you need to run the older versions of Navision, then there's no reason to upgrade.

So I stand on what I said above "no reason to upgrade to Windows 7 - seen from a Navision perspective!"

Gaspode wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 2, 2009 7:03

Hi Erik, I can't test this because my machine does support hardware virtualisation, but is it not possible to set up a Virtual PC with XP as the OS and use that. OK, so you won't be able to run the NAV 4.0 SP3 directly in Windows 7 but will have to start your VPC first, but I have found that I don't use the XP-Mode for running old apps because it takes just as long to start up as starting the VPC image and it doesn't work too well (can't remember exactly what I didn't like).

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 2, 2009 9:00

Hi Dave,

I'm not having any problems with NAV 4.0 SP3. This version ran without problems under Vista and runs fine under Windows 7. It's the version before 4.0 (3.70 and 3.60 and older - there are still many customers using these versions).

mglat wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 3, 2009 17:31

No luck for me. NAV4.03 is not running on Win RC (7100).

Giving me a vage internal error 47-1 on stx file

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 3, 2009 18:14

@mglat: make sure that your NAV 4.00 SP3 has build no. 25143 or later.

Ken Brooks, PMP, SSGB, MCT wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 9, 2009 19:30

I am surprised that a Core2Duo won't do hardware virtualization.  So maybe the Virtualization bit is not enabled in the BIOS.

During boot, catch the BIOS setup, probably with F10, then find the Virtualization Technology switch and the XD switch, probably under 'Power'. Enable both if they are not already enabled.

sfortina wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 11, 2009 10:39

I've been using virtual machines to run old versions of NAV from almost a year (and because I don't want to pollute my PC with ever changing software) (well I'm doing that anyway... :-)

The platform I prefer is VMware Player because of the following key reasons:

1) It is free

2) You can create a VM out of a physical machine for free

3) If you like, you can integrate it with your desktop through the "unity" feature (or trhough a

4) Networking is far easier to work with than HyperV (As a MS consultant I began with an all Redmond solution)

5) It works even without virrtualization extensions.

The only problem with VMware player is that you cannot create VMs. This can be done with server (and it cannot be installed together with player) or editing a few scripts (but there is a good tool to generate them online at www.easyvmx.com)

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Sep 13, 2009 22:48

Thanks. Will try this VMWare player. But doesn't it still require that you have a full installation of XP to make it work?

AG wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Dec 1, 2009 15:10

I have tried Win7 XP Mode with Navision 3.10. Works fine. What I didn't try is Office integration though.

But there is another issue I couldn't figure out. I'm a Navision professional, so I need also other old versions 3.01, 3.60 and 3.70 on my PC. On WinXP I just did copy paste of Navision clients folders, but on XPMode all programms must be installed in order to run them directly from Win7. After installation Navision shortcuts show up in Win7 start menu. The problem here is that Navision has same named shortcuts for several versions. Thus if I install 3.01 and 3.10 afterwards, I will have shortcuts only for one of these versions. Start Menu folder rename before next installation doesn't work. Maybe someone has solved this?

Conclusion: Navision works fine (don't know about Office integration), so it's good for customers. But could figure out how to run with several old Navisions.

Peter wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Dec 1, 2009 22:48

@AG: I've read that, whatever you make shortcuts to in the Programs folder will automatically pop-up in Win7. You don't need to install them as you suggest...

Jiggles100 wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Dec 9, 2009 17:04

Sun VirtualBox is quite friendly - but again needs a full copy of XP and a slab of diskspace to host the VM

Erik P. Ernst about Navision and the Dynamics Community wrote Happy New Year and a new laptop
on Dec 31, 2009 0:14

I hope that you all had a nice Christmas, in case you celebrate this holiday. Otherwise then I hope that

Benny wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Jan 20, 2010 4:53

How can I do with "NAV 4.00 SP3 build no. 25143" ? coz i having the same problem with mglat .....

Erik P. Ernst wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Jan 20, 2010 7:54

Get a newer version from Microsoft and try again.

robert wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Mar 4, 2010 18:44

Navision 4.0SP3 runs just fine with Win7 x86 and x64 WITHOUT XPMode. Just make sure you install it in the right order and with admin rights (first main SP3 install, then the hotfix and then the right click problem fix files over the nav folder)

--> all with admin rights!

SNielsen wrote re: No old versions of Navision on Windows 7 for me!
on Mar 20, 2010 0:20

First they require it, so people buy new hardware. Now they did a deal with Citrix, and did a hotfix so you dont need the virtualization hardware anymore for XP mode on Win7.

If you bought a new computer for this reason, do you feel f#$%d?

www.eweek.com/.../Microsofts-Windows-XP-Mode-Needs-No-Virtualization-Hardware-745978