About Windows 7 and Second Life

[MiladyAna]

Hello, Sweeties

 

I use Second Life for 5 years...Now I face a different problem with it. I installed Windows 7 and now someone told me that Windows 7 and Windows Vista is not compatible with Second Life.

I would like to know if Linden Labs is doing something to solve this problem or if there is already a solution. I don't wanna stop with my wonderful Second Life.

 

Kiss n' Hugs

 

Ana Paula (MiladyAna Resident)

[Nyll Bergbahn]

Hi MiladyAna.

Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit as well as Vista work fine with Second Life. Refer to the System Requirements page.

https://secondlife.com/my/support/system-requirements/index.php?

[Marigold Devin]

Hello, Ana

I've been using Windows Vista for the whole time I've been in Second Life, without any compatibility issues whatsoever.  I believe there are plenty of people accessing Second Life who are also on Windows 7.  However, graphics cards are proving to be incompatible at times.

It would therefore be helpful if you could post your complete computer specifications, and you'll get more precise advice in return.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

I don't know who told you that, but I will tell you that what they told you is untrue.  Second Life works wonderfully on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.  And further SL works just as well with either 32 bit platform or 64 bit platform on all three operatiing systems.  If you are having problems after your upgrade the source is likely to be drivers (specifically, video drivers).  When you upgrade an operating system you actually replace the operating system......not just merging the new features of the new OS to the old features of the old OS.  If you chose to "upgrade" over a "clean installation" the only things that are saved are most of your preference settings (but many of those settings will have to be reset to what you want).  If you did the "clean installation" you actually deleted everything about Vista and then installed Windows 7.  Using either method, your drivers probably did not survive the upgrade.  And drivers for you video card are very important for SL to run.

[Nalates Urriah]

I use Vista 32-bit and it works. Read through How Fast is Your Viewer? - Second Life and you will see people are using Win7 32 and 64-bit and it is working for them.

So, it is not Windows that is the problem. 

There is a huge amount of misinformation that circulates through SL. You beleived the wrong person. If you search Answers and the Forum you will find several people that have had problems with SL & Windows. Most of those problems have solutions.

When you ask a tech question include information about your computer. Get the info from the viewer's Help-About... and paste that into your post with your question. To add your info to an existing question use OPTIONS->EDIT. It’s in the upper right of your post.

Without knowing the specifics of your system all we can do is guess at what may be the problem. My guess is that while you updated an old system to Win7 you updated to 64-bit and messed up the plder 32-bit video drivers. Try getting the newest drivers and make sure you get the 64 bit ones to match Win7, which comes in 32 and 64 bit versions. So, make sure which version you are using.

[Baloo Uriza]

W7 and Vista aren't incompatible with second life, though Windows in general won't get you the best performance on your hardware in SL.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

"W7 and Vista aren't incompatible with second life, though Windows in general won't get you the best performance on your hardware in SL."

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"Aren't" or "are"? I've used SL on all three Windows OS's (the ones supported by SL). The all work, which would indicate that they are compatible. But I know you are a Linux guy and take every chance to point out Windows' flaws..........some justified, some not. But I used Linux for a while in SL.....my Windows worked a lot better.

[Baloo Uriza]

Aren't. Also, I'm guessing you didn't have the proper drivers on Linux if that's the case.

[Ceera Murakami]

No problems at all here, running Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit. SL runs absolutely normally, though I did reinstall it to go from the old 32-bit version I had been running under Win XP, to the better 64-bit code.

[Moriz Gupte]

However, video streaming on a prim will not work. I just experienced this issue by installing the latest version of the SL Viewer on Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I never had any problems running SL on Windows XP service pack2

Ceera, does video streaming work on your end? How did you do the installation? On my Win 64 bit set up, I just downloaded and installed the latest SL viewer.