Windows XP/Vista support

Question

Looks like Kinect SDK requires Windows 7 for no particular reason. Windows XP is widely used platform. Please support Kinect SDK on Windows XP and Vista as well. Windows Vista is under mainstream support, so there is no excuse for not supporting Windows Vista unless Microsoft Research also wants to lock down Kinect to Windows 7 on the PC.

Answer 1

This release of the Kinect for Windows SDK Beta only works with Windows 7. Our current plans are to focus our development and testing energies on Windows 7, but as for all things, we’re interested in your feedback.

Thanks,
Rob Relyea
Kinect for Windows Team

Answer 2

Out of interest, which part of the SDK is it that stops it working on XP? Is it just the drivers? I can't really think of any other reason since most Windows 7 software is backwards compatible with Windows XP.

Wouldn't not supporting XP just encourage 3rd party hackers to hack kinect for XP more?

Answer 3

Well currently all other Microsoft hardware supports interoperability with Windows XP and Windows Vista. Zune HD can sync. Microsoft hardware products -mice, keyboard, webcam all support XP. Xbox 360 works as Media Center Extender for XP Media Center just fine. Windows Mobile can sync with Windows Vista/XP just fine. I think it would only increase adoption of Kinect. OpenKinect supports all Windows platforms and Linux and Mac as well.

Answer 4

Maybe it's because this SDK is bounded to the audio, speech, and media APIs of Windows 7

Answer 5

Rob, thanks for your post. I'm interested in playing with the Kinect SDK Beta, but haven't upgraded to Win 7 yet... though I have been using Win Vista quite happily for some time. At some point I may try Kinect with Vista, but was looking for some guidance first. Will I be wasting my time trying to get the beta working with Vista, or is it simply "not supported", but conceptually it should work?

Thanks,

Dan

Answer 6

please include Vista before the official release..

Answer 7

And XP please

Answer 8

Corporate desktop/laptops  are still WinXP.  

Will be till end of 2012 so WinXP support would be nice to have only if you can get it out by end of this year.

 

Ashish

Answer 9

Hi Dan,

 

I had the same problem; not having windows 7. I used ORCA (microsoft msi editor) to edit the installer, to remove the check for windows 7(table: launchcondition; edit 'Installed OR (VersionNT >= 601)' to 'Installed OR (VersionNT >= 400)' ), and the SDK happily installed. Also all drivers seem to register correct, and the camera seems to work. Only the audio seems to need some extra work.

Edit:

the microphone also seems to work, only the shapegame is complaining that some prerequisites are not installed. I can use the kinect as a normal mirophone. Would love to know if this will also work on XP..

Answer 10

I would be happy if XP was only partially supported.

 

I am only really interested in the skeletal tracking anyway. Maybe the SDK can be tweaked so that at least some of the features can be used with XP???

Answer 11

That's interesting. I might try that for XP. Though I doubt it will work since Windows 7 is built on Vista not XP.

Answer 12

I like Vista, and I dont want to upgrade my OS for now.

The SDK should have compatibility with Visual Studio 8 also.

And what about Windows 8? Will work on it?

 

Answer 13

Virginia_A,

The Kinect SDK Beta is only tested in Windows 7 and Visual Studio 10. Sorry about any inconvenience, and please bear in mind this is a beta product.

Eddy

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I'm here to help

Answer 14

Hi, ikenmij,

I've modified the .msi with orca accoring to your instructions.

But it still doesn't  work on xp.

Do you have other solutions? 

Answer 15

Windows XP has had its end of life extended multiple times already. The driver model has changed between XP and Vista/Windows 7, so XP support is not a small task, and the payback might be limited.

Like every team at Microsoft, the Kinect for Windows team has a fixed headcount of developers.The team leadership has to balance demand for an XP driver against demand for other features. Your requests are heard, but what you're asking for would come at the cost of applying that headcount to other features. Speaking up is the best way for us to calibrate the cost/benefit tradeoffs of this and every other feature request.

Answer 16

I don't believe the reason is to do with lack of resources. Considering the Kinect was one of the biggest selling console device of all time...

Also, how can you say the payback would be "limited" when over 50% of people still use XP?

The real reason is you don't want to do it. Just admit it! :)

Answer 17

The team that did Kinect for XBox is not the same team that is doing the SDK, so there are far less resources for this effort at the moment. And, while we can leverage some of the awesome testing work that the XBox Kinect Team did, it was done for a specific hardware target. Porting everything across 7, Vista, and XP is a big cost.... and we have work to do for 8. So, at this particular time, we had to limit support to 7.

Answer 18

I bought Kinect yesterday and of course not wanna meet problems when trying it out. A very bad feeling when reading explanations of how and why you´ve excluded earlier versions from using Kinect. I need an earlier version of "KinectSDK-v1.0-beta2-x64.msi" because my main issue isn´t anything that is connected to the latest drivers possibilities or a gigantic reinstallation of all my softwares or a new purchase of computer or operative system, even if I guess MS would be very lucky if I did :)

Please support me with an earlier driver that made it possible to run Kinect on a 64-bit system with Vista Ultimate! Can´t find it anywhere at your web pages! Need it now, it´s urgent!

Jack

Answer 19

Sorry, we still do not have support for any OS before Windows 7.

Answer 20

Will XP be supported in the near future?

Answer 21

at this time, we are not planning support for XP or Vista for future releases

Answer 22

ok, I will wait for Win 8 :)


On an unrelated note (can't figure out how to make a new thread :/ ) Why does the SDK require Visual Studio?

Answer 23

It does require visual studio because some extensions for sdk are registered with it. XP support would be a waste of time and vista support is iffy.

I work in the education sector and we just upgraded to windows 7 some of our computers  and others already had windows 7 and XP is at the end of its support cycle with not a lot of major updates coming out so it would make sense to support windows 7 and above but i dont know why vista was excluded.  Most corporations will have no choice here in 1-2 years to upgrade to windows vista or 7 or just not receive support from microsoft with the way things are going including updates or phone support because offically corporations shouldnt receive support from microsoft now for windows xp.

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Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. - "Sherlock holmes" "speak softly and carry a big stick" - theodore roosevelt. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering - Yoda

Answer 24

What annoys me about this is that under Windows XP, the Kinect SDK for windows package, will allow you to make it through like 5 relatively lengthy elements of the package, before crapping out without any explanation whatsoever.  At which point, forums start flooding with questions why Kinect SDK for windows won't install for me before they finally realize that its not supported under XP or apparently Vista either.

I think back in DOS, an installer had the capability to check for supported OS before wasting your time didn't it?

Was it the "ver" command?

The motivation is clear and obvious:  MS is marketing a new OS.

But there's no need to play games with people and waste their time.  Its obnoxious and impolite.

Common sense, due diligence and other things. . . 

Answer 25

We apologize if the installer didn't inform you right away that you downloaded an SDK that doesn't work on XP. If you downloaded the 1.0 SDK from our main website at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/develop/overview.aspx we try to make the requirements clear.

The Kinect for Windows SDK enables developers to create applications that support gesture and voice recognition, using Kinect sensor technology on computers running Windows 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, and Windows 8 Developer Preview (desktop applications only).

The Kinect for Windows SDK includes the following:

• Drivers, for using Kinect sensor devices on a computer running Windows 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, and Windows 8 Developer Preview (desktop applications only)

If this wasn't clear enough, we would love feedback on the web design.

Answer 26

I've also filed a bug to have setup fail quicker on unsupported OSes.