Halo 2 Vista on XP *Please read if attempting*

[The Joelteon7]

Please be aware that as Halo 2 Vista (H2V) does not support XP in both the sense of the game requires Vista and it breaches the EULA (End User License Agreement) that any help in regards to trying to get H2V to operate on XP is either severely limited or non-existant. Whilst you may feel as if it is 'worth the chance' to try and get the game to work on XP, the game is supposed to run on Vista and you are taking the chance to try and get it to work on XP.

As such, help on the forums in terms of replies and suggestions will again either be severely limited or non-existant.

[Zamamee]

Time for an update to this thread.

If there are any of you who still have Windows XP and want to run Halo 2 for Vista, Microsoft is running a beta program for the new Windows 7, which is based off of the same kernel as Vista, so the vast majority of Vista programs are compatible with Windows 7.

The beta is free and open to the public.

Download the Windows 7 Beta

Go to this link to register and download the beta. 32-bit and 64-bit versions are both available. All you really need is a beta key (which you get when you register for the beta) and the ability to burn ISO files to DVD's. Once you have the DVD burned, boot your computer with the disk in the drive and boot from the disk. Then you simply follow the instructions to install Windows 7. It is dual-boot compatible, so you don't have to erase your old Windows version to install it.

Halo 2 for Vista is compatible with this new beta Windows release, so if you download the beta, you can play Halo 2 on it without having to buy Vista, at least until the beta expires in August.

A few things to keep in mind:

• This is a beta version, not a final release, so there may be bugs.
• Microsoft has no customer support for the beta. This is meant for users advanced enough to solve their own problems if anything goes wrong.
• You will probably have to install the drivers for your hardware (video card, wireless, network interface, etc.). Make sure you have the driver files on a flash drive, or at least know where to download them. The drivers should be the versions for Windows Vista, as this is the most similar kernel to Windows 7.
• This beta version of Windows 7 expires on August 1, 2009, so don't get too comfortable with making it your main operating system.

So, there are risks involved in using beta software. However, I have not had any significant issues with the beta so far, and I've been using it for 2 weeks.

Make sure you backup your important files on the off chance that everything goes horribly wrong and you have to reinstall everything from scratch. Keep in mind that this is very rare.

As I said before, the Windows 7 beta expires on August 1 of this year, so in the meantime, those of you stuck with XP can enjoy Halo 2 in its full functionality.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Zam