Issues because windows Vista & newer map stereo sound from USB devices wrong

I have Icon USB record player I am trying to copy music into my computer using Audacity. I have Optiplex 9010 with 3.40ghz i5 processor
1Tb hd  5gb ram the built hd integrated sound that came with it. I'm running Windows 7 pro

When I set up the record player and recorded stereo records it always mapped one left channel over the right so for a quartet I get 2
voices duplicated and 2 voices singing half the music left out.

Audacity documentation says the newest versions of windows vista & newer map the left channel of stereo input to the left. Is there a patch
I can get to make it work correctly or I do I have to buy another hd to install XP or Unix on another drive?

I have seen 64 bit  XP occasionally on ebay but it is rare. Is there any other Dell links I can get a Dell disk to do this with?

My wife is not impressed with spending much more money after spending $1000 for a very state of the art machine.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you may have to help me resolve this.