I'll start off noting that I'm aware XP was dropped from support for RA2 a few months ago. That said, it worked just fine. It looks like 9.0 uses SQL localdb 32, and I can't immediately find a way to install this.
I'm a Parallels user running XP on a Mac ONLY for RA2 (since every other program out there I've ever had a need for works on Mac OS X). Hoping to avoid buying Windows 8 (especially when 10 is coming out in about a month), does anyone know of a work around? Thanks!