Win7 Skin for XP

[admin]

Can anybody recommend a Win7 Skin for XP? Making the screenshots under Win7 is a major pain for me, so I'd rather skin XP...

[nas8e9]

Can anybody recommend a Win7 Skin for XP? Making the screenshots under Win7 is a major pain for me, so I'd rather skin XP...

Google turns up several possibilities; I have no experience with any of them, I'm afraid. (I prefer the real thing .)

Just in case I could add something, what problem(s) do you have with making screenshots while running Windows 7 in VirtualBox? In my experience, switching to the host OS with the VirtualBox window still visible and pressing Print Screen copies the screenshot to the XP clipboard, ready for editing?

[admin]

Can anybody recommend a Win7 Skin for XP? Making the screenshots under Win7 is a major pain for me, so I'd rather skin XP...

Google turns up several possibilities; I have no experience with any of them, I'm afraid. (I prefer the real thing .)

Just in case I could add something, what problem(s) do you have with making screenshots while running Windows 7 in VirtualBox? In my experience, switching to the host OS with the VirtualBox window still visible and pressing Print Screen copies the screenshot to the XP clipboard, ready for editing?

The problem is not so much the switching but the empty environment/file system. On my XP system I'm "at home" and I have numerous places and contexts where I can make good screenshots. Under Win7 I have just a blank testing environment with only a single drive, no USB drives, and no interesting files to show off a file manager. Also I always have to install the latest XY to get the recent features into Win7... it just sucks.

[nas8e9]

The problem is not so much the switching but the empty environment/file system. On my XP system I'm "at home" and I have numerous places and contexts where I can make good screenshots. Under Win7 I have just a blank testing environment with only a single drive, no USB drives, and no interesting files to show off a file manager.

You do have your physical HD's mapped as a network drive in VirtualBox as described here?

[admin]

The problem is not so much the switching but the empty environment/file system. On my XP system I'm "at home" and I have numerous places and contexts where I can make good screenshots. Under Win7 I have just a blank testing environment with only a single drive, no USB drives, and no interesting files to show off a file manager.

You do have your physical HD's mapped as a network drive in VirtualBox as described here?

I shared one folder which I use as transfer location between the systems.

Can I e.g. share my whole drive E: and have it as E: under virtual Win7?

[nas8e9]

I shared one folder which I use as transfer location between the systems.

Can I e.g. share my whole drive E: and have it as E: under virtual Win7?

Absolutely. VirtualBox will accept any valid path for sharing as a network drive in a guest.

[zer0]

Can anybody recommend a Win7 Skin for XP? Making the screenshots under Win7 is a major pain for me, so I'd rather skin XP...

How are you planning on skinning it? WindowBlinds or MSSTYLE format? This skin appears to look good enough -- http://komalo.deviantart.com/art/Border ... -145674405 -- though I have not tried it myself.

[nas8e9]

@zer0: Do you have any experience with regard to the *stability* of skinning solutions for XP? I got burned in the Windows 95 era when using such solutions; have things improved with XP?

[zer0]

@zer0: Do you have any experience with regard to the *stability* of skinning solutions for XP? I got burned in the Windows 95 era when using such solutions; have things improved with XP?

Yes, I have. While I was using XP, I resorted to skinning it with WindowBlinds and was pleased with the results. That said, the quality of the experience depends on the type of a skin and how well it was created.

[admin]

I shared one folder which I use as transfer location between the systems.

Can I e.g. share my whole drive E: and have it as E: under virtual Win7?

Absolutely. VirtualBox will accept any valid path for sharing as a network drive in a guest.

Wow, good! I completely missed that...

[admin]

I shared one folder which I use as transfer location between the systems.

Can I e.g. share my whole drive E: and have it as E: under virtual Win7?

Absolutely. VirtualBox will accept any valid path for sharing as a network drive in a guest.

Wow, good! I completely missed that...

But there's a red cross over my drive D: icon now. Not in Explorer but in XY and also some other (32-bit) apps.
The drive is perfectly browsable in XY but with the red cross I cannot use it for screenshots.

[nas8e9]

The drive is perfectly browsable in XY but with the red cross I cannot use it for screenshots.

If memory serves, entering that location once with Windows Explorer clears the way for other apps. I'm without my desktop with VM's at the moment, so I can't test this, unfortunately.

[admin]

The drive is perfectly browsable in XY but with the red cross I cannot use it for screenshots.

If memory serves, entering that location once with Windows Explorer clears the way for other apps. I'm without my desktop with VM's at the moment, so I can't test this, unfortunately.

Does not help.

Even more mysterious: If I run XY "as Admin" then I cannot even browse the drive D:. But as non-admin I can.

[nas8e9]

The drive is perfectly browsable in XY but with the red cross I cannot use it for screenshots.

If memory serves, entering that location once with Windows Explorer clears the way for other apps. I'm without my desktop with VM's at the moment, so I can't test this, unfortunately.

Does not help.

Even more mysterious: If I run XY "as Admin" then I cannot even browse the drive D:. But as non-admin I can.

How did you create the share: with XYplorer or with Windows Explorer? I'm *hoping* with XYplorer; if so, could you try (after deleting the original share) creating it with Windows Explorer?

[admin]

The drive is perfectly browsable in XY but with the red cross I cannot use it for screenshots.

If memory serves, entering that location once with Windows Explorer clears the way for other apps. I'm without my desktop with VM's at the moment, so I can't test this, unfortunately.

Does not help.

Even more mysterious: If I run XY "as Admin" then I cannot even browse the drive D:. But as non-admin I can.

How did you create the share: with XYplorer or with Windows Explorer? I'm *hoping* with XYplorer; if so, could you try (after deleting the original share) creating it with Windows Explorer?

1. Virtual Box: menu Devices / Shared Folders / Add Shared Folder...
2. Win7: Windows Explorer / Right-click "\\Vboxsvr\d_drive" in Tree / Map Network Drive...