Home Forums Discussions General Discussion windows xp pro & win 7 pro clients in network

Is it safe to mix operating systems? I have the need to buy two more pc's for my network. I currently have a server running MS windows 2003 server R2 service pack 2 with all windows xp pro clients (20). I guess Dell is not selling windows xp pro computers but you can get a windows 7 pro with xp mode in either 64 or 32 bit. Right now I can buy a vostro 230 with monitor for $400 bucks which is pretty good. Which one should I get? I hate to pass this up. Does AC run on 64 bit?

Yes, AC will run fine.

I have a mixed network of PCs: 32bit Win XP Pro, 32bit Win Vista Business, 64bit Win7 Pro and 64bit WinServer 2008/R2, with AC running well on each machine. You do not need to use the Win XP mode on Windows 7 to run AC.

Make sure you have the Pro or better level of Windows XP or 7. The Home versions do not network well.

Your main problem with introducing a 64bit computer on your network may be finding drivers for your peripherals, if you use network printers or a network fax. Some older peripherals haven't been updated.

I agree you will be fine.
I have Small Business Server 2003, and currently Win 7 Pro on all the clients. For awhile I had some clients that were Vista Business and some Win 7 Pro. They are all Win 7 Pro but 1 is Win 7 Ultimate.

Feel free to mix and match. As long as the client can connect to the server, it should not interfere w/ the AC database.

Simply run AC in Win 7 and run in Win XP, don't have to use the "run in __ mode" feature at all.

I agree however, NEVER us "Home" versions of any OS. They do not network properly in a typical Client-Server network environment.

Home versions should be at home. BUT, if you absolutely have to use a home version, just make sure it is a client and not the pseudo-server.

Bert famously said to me once when my whole system was peer to peer and running Windows XP Home: "what is it about "HOME" that you don't understand?"

I'll never forget that one! He was right by the way.

Thanks everyone. I got the 32 bit win 7 pro since I want to make sure I have drivers for the peripherals / printers.

That's good. Actually, just as an FYI, there would be a better chance that your hardware would be compatible with a 32-bit program. It is the printers and scanners that would supply or require drivers that would then interface with the OS. Just saying this, because the OS will comes with many drivers, which may allow plug n play and automatically interface with the printer, etc. But, many times the print driver will work better or be the only driver that works.

What this means is I am jealous of your WIN7 OS, lol.