any chance to get it working on windows xp?

[a beginner]

It might seem unbelievable, but windows xp is still widely used 
(did you know it runs most bank cash machines by the way?).
As it happens, in my case I've been away from computing a long 
while, and my old box with xp-sp2 is all I have available at the 
moment. I had a very old dmd version which used to work. I tried 
to use it, only to discover dub doesn't connect online anymore 
(guess it's some security protocol update, stuff I know next to 
nothing about). Tried to replace dub with the latest one (1.24 
perhaps, not sure), doesn't run. Tried dub 1.11, it runs but 
fails trying to xcopy the package cache onto itself, and doing so 
without quoting the obviously space-including pathname 
("documents and settings", I wish I could kick in the balls 
whoever came up with that). I did not check the source yet, but 
the error message shows an xcopy command line and a "wrong number 
of arguments" (I'll spare my opinion on this one). Deleted the 
cache, same problem: it works the first time, the second time it 
tries to move the cache from where it just created it to... where 
it is already.
Tried the last dmd2 2.092.0, doesn't run. I went backwards until 
2.089.1 which seems to work, but calls lld-link which doesn't. 
This comes as a surprise, because sc.ini has 
"LINKCMD=%@P%\optlink.exe" in the Environment32 section. Tried to 
move lld-link out of the way and now it tries to link, only it 
fails with an "error 4 module corrupt" or something. Went back to 
2.085.1 and behold, it links the "hello world" kind of program as 
generated by "dub init". But dub gives access violation as soon 
as a dependency is involved. No hint to what the problem is, just 
"access violation" and good bye. Even a simple "dub init" or "dub 
add". Tried replacing it with dub from dmd 2.089.1 and... access 
violation.
Now, I am probably doing something wrong, and someone familiar 
with the tools would likely know what to do, but that is not me.
Is there a release working on xp (sp2 at that), dmd2 and dub at 
least, and if so, which one? if not, is there a way to pick parts 
here and there and make it work? Is there a technical reason for 
dropping xp compatibility or did it just happen and who cares in 
2020?
I have searched online for some info, indeed I found something, 
but not being familiar with the tools it hasn't been terribly 
useful. Only it confirms that windows support is somewhat 
disappointing in general, xp or not.
It seems to me my best chance is to stay with dmd 2.085.1, try 
fix the cache problem in dub 1.11 myself (or give up on that and 
build "by hand"), probably wrestle some linking problems (pretty 
sure I wouldn't succeed with that) and be happy until I can 
upgrade. After all, these days programming is just a hobby for 
me. But honestly, all this is quite annoying for a beginner. In 
my experience, trouble getting the tools to work is often the 
biggest obstacle in learning a new language (well, unless it's 
something really weird...), which in many cases means giving up 
after some cursing.