Windows Application Compatibility

Get help, guidance, and tools to help you identify and work through compatibility issues you might encounter when migrating your applications to Windows 7.

Ask an Expert

• Application Compatibility for Windows Development: A great place to start, this forum has participants from both the developer community and Microsoft support to help you find and solve your compatibility and logo issues.
• Windows 7 ISV Remediation Workshops: Attend one of the many Windows 7 ISV Remediation Workshops for hands-on assistance with your migration.
• Windows Readiness Labs: Are you a valued partner? The Windows Readiness Labs are ready to help you ensure application quality on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. Sessions run every week in Redmond, WA and can be scheduled at our worldwide Microsoft Technology Centers, based on demand. For more information, please contact Microsoft Windows Readiness Labs (srglabs).

Read

• Developing Compatible Applications for Windows 7: Spend an hour watching this presentation and learn about the top compatibility issues moving from Windows XP to Windows 7 (user account control; services isolation) and from Windows Vista to Windows 7 (version control; low-level binary changes; high DPI; Internet Explorer 8 user agent string).
• Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Cookbook: Already running on Vista or Server 2008? Get the list of known application compatibility issues between Windows Vista and Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Also explains the differences in performance, reliability, and usability, and provides links to detailed white papers and other developer guidance.
• Windows Vista Application Compatibility Cookbook: Start here if your application does not yet run Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. Get the list of known compatibility issues between Windows XP and Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008.
• Remote Desktop Services Programming Guidelines: Most existing 32-bit or 64-bit Windows-based applications function correctly and perform well in a Remote Desktop Services environment, while others do not. Review these guidelines for information on working well with RDS. You may also want to read the Application Compatibility Best Practices for RDS white paper to learn about common compatibility issues and solutions for Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Windows 7 Application Compatibility Testing Guidance: Find out how to test your applications to ensure compatibility with Windows 7. Includes machine set-up information, an issue checklist, and additional resources for tools and documentation.

Tools

• Microsoft Application Verifier: Monitor actions in applications, subject them to a variety of stresses and test, and generate a report about potential errors in application execution or design. Works for user-mode applications not based on managed code, including user mode drivers.
• Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit: Evaluate and mitigate application compatibility issues before deploying Windows 7. Contains tools such as Standard User Analyzer for diagnosing potential issues in applications running as a standard user.
• Program Compatibility Assistant: Review the requirements and process for submitting requests for soft and hard blocks for legacy applications (launched before January 2007) that are incompatible with Windows 7.