[Intro]
When you are interested in a program, you probably want to immediately find its system requirements: for which version of the system, and in general, on which operating system the program will work correctly.
When support for any version of the system is discontinued, the creators of their programs gradually stop supporting that version of the system.
On the one hand, in the case of legendary versions of systems, like XP, this may be unfair, but on the other hand, nothing lasts forever.
But one enthusiast apparently doesn't think so: in this video we take a look at the One Core API.
Let's install it in the system step by step and see how it works.
Before we install this, we need to talk about what it is all about...
I touched lightly the One Core API in one of the last videos on my channel
The One Core API is an open source compatibility layer for Windows XP/2003 that allows programs for later operating systems to run on these systems.
The latest versions of the One Core API support the compatibility settings up to Windows 11.
Shortly, it is an assembly of DLL files that contains patches and necessary entry points that are used by modern programs in modern versions of Windows.
One Core API is based on Wine and ReactOS sources, but it is developed by a completely different team and therefore, the project is distributed on GitHub and is available for download to anyone interested in it.
One Core API can be installed both on Windows XP x86 and Windows XP x64.
And if that's not enough for you, you can also install on Windows Server 2003.
We're going to test this all on Windows XP x86, but on the English version, because first, ...
...the original MUI of the DLL-files is English and when installing on some other language version, some places in the system may be in different language
Secondly, it would be funny, but in a year and a half I got used to English Windows on my main PC.
Okay, off topic, so here we go: we downloaded all this and there's a bunch of .exe files in front of us, and what do we do with them?
You need to install them in this sequence: App Compat, Base, Additional DLLs, API-SET, D3D Runtime and Driver API Update.
The installers are reminds me of some sort of manual update installation from Windows Update.
When you are asked to restart after installing a package, do not do so under any circumstances - always check the box "Do Not Restart".
When you have finished installing everything, then reboot the system.
After restarting, in the "Compatibility" tab in the list of proposed systems is replenished, up to Windows 11.
But for some reason I have only up to Windows 10, although behind the scenes was an item with Windows 11 - is strange lol...
But for some reason I have only up to Windows 10, although there was an item with Windows 11 behind the scenes - very strange...
The One Core API GitHub repository describes a list of applications that will definitely work, but among this list I decided to take not only those programs that are on the list, but also those that are not there.
First on the list is AIMP player.
The program requires at least Windows 7 for its operation - support for Windows XP was discontinued by the developer in 2021.
On XP, the installer of the program worked, but when you run the application after installation, an error occurs and AIMP refuses to start.
But not with the One Core API - here the player works fine and plays the music we want, as if it never stopped supporting XP.
Next on the list is Audacity. The last version of Audacity that officially and 100% works on Windows XP was 2.0.6, which was released back in September 2014.
Then there were already released versions that were designed for Vista and above.
But it now requires at least Windows 7.
But in XP it runs, but, in comparison with the AIMP, on this system this software it does not have practicality at all.
The program still runs, but an error occurs with the parsing of audio devices in the system and that's it.
Neither record a sound, nor make any tone through its means.
The next program in the test will be FileZilla - a simple FTP-client.
When we start installing the program, we are told that it only works correctly on Windows 7 and above.
We select compatibility with Windows 7 and everything works fine.
Well, almost.
It's time for some office suite. I personally like LibreOffice.
The latest version for Windows XP was released in 2017.
And if you'll try to install the latest version, nothing works.
The installer will insist that it needs Windows 7 at a minimum. But why not apply the same compatibility settings that we applied earlier?
The thing is that Windows Installer packages are not subject to any compatibility settings - you can't even find them in the properties.
But you can use the portable version of LibreOffice, right?...
But it doesn't work here either - the .exe files of the package are immediately thrown up when you start it, and if you run the LibreOffice Writer .exe file from under its directory, we immediately get an error about not having the necessary entry point.
So, as you can see, One Core API can't run everything yet, so you can get by with Microsoft Office 2010 or OpenOffice.
But we're moving on.
The build-in Windows 7 games run without any problems at all, from Mahjong and Minesweeper to Chess and Purble Place.
Even render is smooth.
In addition, the developer of the One Core API on GitHub stated that games that can use DirectX 11, for the most part, can run on XP.
But I didn't check that, because I'm not a fan of gaming at all, that's how it was historically formed.
What about video?
VLC? It still supports Windows XP.
Maybe, Media Player Classic Home Cinema? The program has been abandoned by its developer, but it runs good enough on XP.
But maybe try something modern and unusual?
For example, mpv.
mpv is crossplatform and open-source mediaplayer.
The player has flexible functionality and two versions are bundled - with an interface and as a CLI. MPV is available for Windows, starting with Windows 7, as well as for Linux and macOS distributions.
In Windows XP, mpv works with mixed success for me.
And I say this very barely, because first of all, when you open the program, it immediately crashes.
Secondly, it plays music without any problems, but here too, sometimes such a bug can happen...
And thirdly, the video it does not show at all - right completely, either a problem of the program itself, or a problem of the video adapter of the virtual machine, which does not know how to Direct3D.
Geekbench 4.4.
This software runs only on Windows 7 and above.
On Windows XP, on start it will complain about the lack of the right entry point, but the program runs, the benchmark can be run, but the results can't be sent.
And I think I have an idea why this is happening, but I'll say it a little later.
In fact, I don't get the point who would test a computer with Windows XP in Geekbench.
On a modern PC...
And who the hell will test a VM?...
What about browsers?
There it is, Chromium 100.
It runs and opens pages almost perfectly.
Why "Almost"?
The thing is that in Windows XP there are some root certificates, which are outdated these days, and, accordingly, the system begins not to trust the sites because of the strange certificate for XP.
But this can be fixed by adding a new root certificate to the system.
Back to testing.
As i said, sites barely, but loads: ...
YouTube is working, videos are playing - you can live with it.
But Telegram does not work correctly, again the old certificates sending regards.
We can end testing at this point.
So what are the nuances of all this?
Firstly: as might already be clear from the testing, is that not all programs will work even with this patch.
Unfortunately, this is an absolutely normal phenomenon.
All programs use completely different DLL-files or system calls, which may not come with the patch: the developer may simply not have implemented it.
The project page on GitHub describes the list of software and its versions that will work with a probability of 100%
Secondly: is in the correctness of the installation - if you manage to install the wrong One Core API, the system may simply not boot.
What can I say as a result?
At least it is an interesting attempt to support an old and previously popular system with new software. To be honest, despite the long-overdue support period, people still love this system...
...and One Core API tries to bring fresh programs and games to the system if the user has no way to upgrade, or just likes Windows XP.
And what is the practical meaning of this is up to you to decide :)
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