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Can I run Windows XP or Windows Vista on my Sony PSP?

My friend was showing me a copy of Windows XP running on his Sony PSP and I'm gr33n with envy! How do I download Winxp onto my own Sony Playstation Portable? For that matter, can I get a copy of Windows Vista for my PSP?

Dave's Answer:

This is an amazingly common question, actually, and the answer may disappoint you: you can't run any version of Windows on your PSP. Your friend has a "mockup" of Windows where hackers have managed to tweak the icons and graphics in the PSP operating system itself, but they cannot run Windows itself on the device because the Sony PSP is not a PC.

Having said that, there are some pretty fun mockups out there, including pspWxp which features the following screen shot:

The truth is clearly spelled out at the download.com page for PspWxp, where it says: "PspWxp stands for PlayStation Portable Windows XP (based off of winpsportal) and allows you to use Windows XP on your Playstation Portable. Well, really it is just a set of Webpages that look similar to Windows XP, but they are offline. It has some useful features lots of games and applications. You do not need to access the Internet for most of pspWxp, only to access the links and use the Web browser."

Sites like PSP411 also list mockup skins too, including this recent article about the Windows Vista version of pspWxp. Again, though, it's just obfuscating, because the fact is you can't run any version of Windows on your PSP because it's not a PC.

Nonetheless, while I haven't tried this emulator and generally shun any third-party software that monkeys with my Sony PSP, the reviews of pspWxp are very good so if you are feeling daring you might want to try it out for yourself and see how it works!

Digging around I'm not entirely right here. Apparently you can hack the heck out of your PSP, drop an emulator called Bochs onto it, then more or less run Linux or Windows 95 on your device. If you are feeling very adventurous, check out Hacking Windows onto the PSP for details.

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Categorized: Sony PSP, MP3 Players, Etc. (Article 7381)
Tagged: microsoft windows xp, sony psp, windows vista, winxp
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Comments

Hi Dave,
For some reason I can't get the internet to work on my PSP using the USB cable. I tried to do this on a library computer and it worked perfectly, but for some reason it won't work on mine. I thought at first it could be my internet settings but that doesn't seem to be the problem (I have Windows XP). Could you please tell me your input on this problem.

Posted by: KayLecia at May 18, 2007 5:32 PM

Sony PSPs use WLAN to connect to the internet, as far as I know its impossible to access the internet via the USB cable. You may need to check that you were not connected to your libarys wireless access point.

Posted by: Callum at May 22, 2007 1:15 PM

You can run windows on a psp well just windows 95, linux and mac os 7 and 8, it uses a converted x86 emulator called bochs (http://www.hacker.co.il/psp/bochs/), sorry to prove that little bit wrong, but its only a matter of time before any os can be ran on a console exept the DS that sucks.

Posted by: Overseer at June 3, 2007 7:31 AM

hello, my question is, if i own the game , is it legal to make a iso to run on my psp,not to share with others, but for my own personal use??thanks

Posted by: james at July 21, 2007 6:27 PM

I get a message saying "The content connot be displayed"

Posted by: deknexkes at August 21, 2007 11:18 AM

pls dave thk for ur work pls where you put the winxp on the psp memory card

Posted by: KOOL at October 2, 2007 9:30 AM

You can run an xp-like os on the psp!
Use BOCHS and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC's- i'm serious, this exists! Look it up on google if you dont believe me!
It will be just like xp!

Posted by: jfarre20 at November 12, 2007 2:51 PM

hi I got pspwxp from download.com put it on my psp and put in the url for it in the browser.
It says content cannot be displayed.

Posted by: can't get pspwxp to work at December 28, 2007 4:55 PM

i cant get windows xp on my psp, why is that?

Posted by: gerald at February 1, 2008 8:59 AM

hi i cant put xp window in my psp its say the content cannot displayed why tell me about this how can i solve this problem

Posted by: lakhvir at February 15, 2008 9:02 AM

It is possible to run windows 95.
There is a video on youtube that shows how to do it and includes all the materials. I dont know it off hand, but do some searching on youtube

Its real, i have it.
I have a win 95 computer and a vista

Posted by: Justa Nother Guy at March 4, 2008 4:52 PM

Dave, First of all, PSPwxp, made by Blazebyte.net, is just a portal. It is not an emulator. It is a series of high res images coded in HTML that look and feel just like a Vista or XP. They are still working on the project and it is going pretty well. I know for sure because I am a member there and I help out a lot.

Second of all, you should try homebrew. Homebrew or 3rd party apps as you say it is completely safe on the psp. You must be out of your mind to think your psp can be destroyed by a 3rd Party app. It is not Windows you know. :P Simply download from a trusted source such as QJ.net's download page, dl.qj.net, to download safe programs. Homebrew can really change your life and see how powerful and fun your psp really is. With homebrew, you can literally play any game system dating from the PSOne and N64 and back. There are still more developers porting new things everyday. It is so easy that there are new developers coming every week. :D

I also have a website that is entirely on this. There are developers constantly working on porting every version of Windows, the actual Windows, to a psp. The only requirements are to have a custom firmware installed on the psp (help is available in the forum on my website) and at least 256 MB to be able to run everything. A 32 MB memory stick will work but just barely. Go here http://pspadvice.googlepages.com and scroll down to go to the forum to check out the progress on the projects. So far they have successfully ported Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 at full speed. They are now working on Windows 98 and WXP.

P.S. If you think it is impossible to run WXP on the psp, think again. Turns out that it is possible with a modified WXP. They are using their own emulator that is much faster than BOCH. It is called DBS (created by one of my members, Gaby). Don't believe me? Go look in the forum then. You will change your mind. I know it. :D

Posted by: DJKMan at March 19, 2008 5:52 PM

can u guys help me how to put the windows on my psp. befor i trad it.for an ipod

Posted by: jacob wolfe at April 4, 2008 12:09 PM

is this legal? i wanna put this on my PSP but i scared that i might get arrested

Posted by: EDgar GArcia at April 20, 2008 12:55 PM

Ok, Dave, you are wrong here, and DJKman is definitely right. If you have hacked your PSP, have custom firmware, or have the 1.50 kernel addon, you CAN run windows. All the info you need is here.

http://djkman.freesmfhosting.com/index.php/topic,8.0.html

The project is rapidly growing, and for a project only 3-4 months old, it has had incredible sucess. They have however, finished windows 3.1, 95, and 98, but i think that they removed the link to the WORKING Dosbox, and replaced it with an alert warning that that the new one is not finished. If that is the case, email me and i will upload the old working Dosbox. The only difference is that the new one can run all windows (except vista), however, the site doesnt have the .img's for those OS's yet... i think...

Posted by: Joe Cusco at April 23, 2008 5:00 PM

Your actually wrong about the "Not Able To Run Windows On A PSP" thing. You can with DosBOX or BOCHS emulators. people have managed to run 3.1, 95,
and 98 on a PSP.

Posted by: Gilligan at May 4, 2008 10:09 PM

I have a lot to say, but ...

I have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but most of all I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a chai!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!