But the catch was that in order to use Windows XP mode Microsoft made it mandatory that you must be running Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - also your PC must have virtualization support by the hardware.
These mandatory requirements was a downer and many users weren't able to truly enjoy Windows XP Mode. But here some very good news - enter the VMLite which is a very nice alterative to Microsoft's Windows XP Mode.
VMLite XP Mode does offer very similar features like the Microsoft XP Mode but lo it doesn't need you to have Windows 7 Professional or Windows 7 Ultimate - so even Windows 7 Starter edition will work fine and also it doesn't require hardware virtualization.
VMLite allows you to easily run Windows XP from your desktop running on a different host operating system - not just Windows 7. You can download VMLite here.