SketchUp Make 2015 says for win 32 but only installs on win 7 plus

Microsoft doesn't even support Windows XP anymore, for a lot of good reasons. Go buy Windows 7 or 8 and help take one more highly-compromisable machine off the internet.

this post dont solve my OP. they say it will work on windows 32bit OS even has different downloads.

IT DONT WORK ON WIN32bit as advertised

I googled Sketchup Requirements and found http://help.sketchup.com/en/article/36208

Reduced XP support beginning with 2013, XP support removed with 2015.  With XP you are mostly locked in to ver 8.

Here are the requirements for Sketchup Make 2015:

Software Microsoft® Internet Explorer 9.0 or higher.
SketchUp Pro requires .NET Framework version 4.0. For more information about the .NET framework, click here.

SketchUp for Windows can run on either 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, note that you must download and install the appropriate version for your operating system.

Recommended hardware 2+ GHz processor.
8+ GB RAM.
500 MB of available hard-disk space.
3D class Video Card with 1 GB of memory or higher. Please ensure that the video card driver supports OpenGL version 2.0 or higher and up to date.

SketchUp's performance relies heavily the graphics card driver and it's ability to support OpenGL 2.0 or higher. Historically, people have seen problems with Intel-based cards with SketchUp. We don't recommend using these graphics cards with SketchUp at this time.

3 button, scroll-wheel mouse.
Some SketchUp features require an active internet connection.

Minimum hardware 1 GHz processor.
4 GB RAM.
16 GB of total hard-disk space.
300 MB of free hard-disk space.
3D class Video Card with 512 MB of memory or higher. Please ensure that the video card driver supports OpenGL version 2.0 or higher and up to date.

However, you should still be able to download 2014 and make it work in Windows XP, although the support for it is limited.

NOTE:

You should seriously consider moving on to Windows 7.  I know you said your sons are your IT's to keep you running, but ultimately, you'll have to move on, simply because there won't be any new apps that will run in XP, and because sooner or later, as long as you connect to the internet, you'll get hit with some malware that no one, not even the most hardcore ITs will be able to get rid of.

That's because it would require programming (or re-programming) of the Microsoft code that had been exploited and compromised, that only Microsoft has access to.  And since they've stopped support (including any bug and exploit fixes) for XP, thee won't be any forthcoming help.  You'll be dead in the water.

I really don't understand the aversion that folks have toward Windows 7, other than perhaps some predisposition to it because of Windows Vista.   There are literally less than 1% of XP apps that won't run in Windows 7.  64bit is a little different, but if you stick to the 32bit version, you should be perfectly OK.   

The one other reason that some people refuse to move beyond XP, is because they have old hardware that doesn't have Windows 7 drivers.  Win7 and newer OS's use a WDM drivers, whereas XP and earlier used the VxD drivers.  These driver frameworks are incompatible with each other. The question is, what hardware do you have connected to your computer that would prevent you from upgrading?  If you don't have anything like that, then there's really no reason not to move to Windows 7

Have your IT guys make you a dual boot (XP + Win7) system, and start using windows 7.  Within a short time you'll find that you're no longer going back to XP.  You can also run XP in a virtual environment if you want to.

XP is also the last windows version to allow running older software on in compatibility mode all the way back to dos.

and windows 7 is on the verge of being UN-supported also. even the IBM laptops from a couple years ago say this on their support/driver/download pages. and much of my "old/outdated hardware and software is no longer available nor a replacement for it due to companies fading away.

I wont be forced to 'dumb down' my tools, or replace them with very inferior Chinese junk. just because Microsoft/uncle-sam dont want us to have access to it anymore.

every so called 'upgrade' in hardware and software from silicon valley has only reduced performance/features for tech savvy users and info. and magnified dependance of outside sources to determine what and how you can do anything with your once "Personal Computer" while creating more bugs and security leaks. anyone old enough to remember the movie "Big Brother"? my family also dont toss old equipment that still works as intended. because it may be all we have some day.
cant count on the Government or Corporations to care what happens. we have the newer stuff also even many other Operating Systems than "MicroSloth".

I just made this Topic to let others know Sketchup is falsely advertising their new versions as capable of running on OS they cant even be installed on.

also gave info on how to get around that and keep old versions that have better features on a permanent free version we already own so we can still use 3dwharehouse files. without compromising that with a new program from Mission Impossible that self destructs in 30 days if not purchased. not even shareware but demo. and as with all new OS and flash web sites etc. they leave a crumb in registry so it cant be reinstalled etc. thats fine as Business sales security but not under false pretenses. everyone into information tech knows this. but not others.