COM and Shared DLL Isolation Support

Windows XP has a new folder under Windows called "WinSxS" (Windows Side-by-Side). This area is used to store versions of Windows XP components that are built to reduce configuration problems with Dynamic Link Libraries (DLL hell). Multiple versions of components are stored in this folder. Windows XP allows Win32® API components and applications to use the exact version of Microsoft components with which they are tested and not be impacted by other application or operating system updates. It does this by relying on XML files that contain metadata about application configuration such as COM classes, interfaces, and type libraries.

Application Compatibility Mode

For applications originally designed for earlier versions of Windows that do not work on Windows XP, you can take advantage of an application compatibility mode as shown in below. This works by emulating the environment of an earlier OS dating back to Windows 95.