As many of you know, Windows 8 is coming out this Friday, Oct.26th. We have been testing with the RTM version and are pleased to announce that Houdini 12.1 will be supported on Windows 8 Professional, should you choose to upgrade or purchase a new workstation running win 8.
Houdini will not run on Windows 8 RT - the ‘tablet only’ version.
We are phasing out our support of Win XP and Vista but will continue to provide support for Houdini on Win 7 and Win 8.

Ok, thanks. I was just about to ask this question before I decided to search and found this.
I am upgrading to Windows 8 Pro and just wanted to make sure Houdini was compatible.

I read “We are phasing out our support of Win XP and Vista but will continue to provide support for Houdini on Win 7 and Win 8”…

Well, the problem is i'm not using win 7 and win 8 yet, i still use win XP 32 bit. Does Houdini 12.5 Apprentice version can run on win XP or not? i try to install the Houdini 12.5 Apprentice Version for win 7 32 bit on my computer. It ran, but after installation completed and i try to launch Houdini 12.5, window message appears “License Error: Unable to connect to hserver for license acquisition”. Does it mean, it doesn't connect to hserver for license acquisition because i use win XP?

Does Houdini 12.5 Apprentice version can run on win XP or not?

It should work fine. In fact, before H12.5, the executables seemed to be the same file, just labelled differently on the download page; my guess is that they still are. :wink:

i try to install the Houdini 12.5 Apprentice Version for win 7 32 bit on my computer. It ran, but after installation completed and i try to launch Houdini 12.5, window message appears “License Error: Unable to connect to hserver for license acquisition”. Does it mean, it doesn't connect to hserver for license acquisition because i use win XP?

That should also work fine, though you need to be connected to the internet to start the Apprentice version. Do you get a message when trying to launch Houdini asking if you want to “install” (seems like a poor choice of words, but oh well) a free, non-commercial license, or something like that?

Hopefully this helps!

Edited: Removed some mention of something that turned out to be a misconception on my part.

Do you get a message when trying to launch Houdini asking if you want to “install” (seems like a poor choice of words, but oh well) a free, non-commercial license, or something like that?

no, it didn't. i've just installed apprentice as usual.. I attached pictures of the window message when i launch Houdini 12.5 and my Houdini license administrator, i hope it can help to know my problem

If you look in your Control Panel > Services, do you see the “Houdini License Server” and “Houdini License Client” services? Are they running? If it is, then also confirm that “hserver.exe” and “sesinetd.exe” are found in the Task Manager.