Windows XP Home Edition and Dual Core Processor. Compatible?

[settolo]

The Home Edition does not support Dual Processor.
Dell is selling PC with dual core and XP Home, but in the Dell's forum I read that Dell is not answering my question.

Anybody has Boot Camp with XP Home here? Anybody can check if both cores are working or not?
I searched also this forum but I did not find a clear answer.

Thank you in advice.

[WhiteEagle]

http://forum.onmac.net/showthread.php?t=796

[bdj21ya]

I can confirm, XP Home SP2 supports dual core.

[blackSpruce]

Windows XP was designed during a period when multiple cores were not as prevalent as they are now. So it would appear that certain situations that may occur in a dual core system have not been anticipated. There appears to be a problem with XP and notebooks with dual core processors. See the MS Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896256

Though it is not specified, it would seem that those of us with Macbooks (as well as anyone else with an x86 dual core machine with power management, i.e., all CoreDuo-based machines, both PC and Mac) are concerned. Can anyone confirm or disprove this?

This may explain why disabling one processor allows certain apps to function properly. On my own system, I have observed a single threaded task migrate over both cores, as though the system was carrying out the same task twice, simultaneously. Also perfomance is sometimes reduced. There may be other issues involved that I do not understand :confused: .

I have contacted MS about the hotfix, but since my XP is French, I cannot get it to work. Can someone contact MS (call 1 800 MICROSOFT, and ask about hotfix #896256, you should be connected to Professional Customer Service at no cost). Your system will need to be in English. They will email you the hotfix and you will need to carry out registry mods as per the article. Only experienced users should attempt this.

We can only hope that MS will provide an update to XP through the usual channels (i.e., Windows Update).

[Paul2660]

I believe that Mac only supports XP Professional with SP2 on boot camp.

No support for Home or media edition.

Paul c.

[Paul2660]

Home edition with SP2 is supported per Apple's site, but Media edition isn't.

Paul C.

[nylock10]

But it is possible to run Media Center..

Well in Windows XP Home Edition w/SP2 on my iMac, it says that there are two cores clocked at 2.00GHz each.