Vista to XP Downgrade
Problems with Windows Vista
One of the common problems users are experiencing with Windows Vista is that the operating system may not be compatible with their existing hardware, especially printers, scanners, and certain video cards. And some vendors still lag in providing updated software drivers that will enable those devices to function with Vista.
Some users complain that overall performance is worse than with XP; that Vista is buggy, and will freeze or crash often - even while running Microsoft software such as Windows Media Player, Internet Explorer and MS Word. Others complain that programs which worked find on XP don't work well (or at all) with Windows Vista. And there are complaints about new Vista features like DRM (Digital Rights Management) and User Account Control that seem to restrict the freedom of the users.
Because of all these reasons, many users are looking to downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP. Here are some tips to take some of the pain out of that process.
Downgrade From Vista to XP
If you remember back to when you installed Windows XP, Microsoft provided users with a fairly simple option to return to Windows 98 if something went wrong, or if you didn't like it. So if you're considering Vista, be forewarned that Microsoft has NOT provided a way to simply roll back to Windows XP from Windows Vista.
But the good news is that you CAN revert from Vista to XP, and in most cases, you won't need to shell out any money for another XP license. In response to high demand, Microsoft has changed the Vista licensing terms so that PC vendors are able to provide downgrade rights from Vista Business or Vista Ultimate to Windows XP Professional.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo are among the vendors offering an XP Pro recovery disc to customers who want to convert a Vista machine to XP Pro. Fujitsu goes even further, including an XP disc in the box with new Vista laptops and tablet PCs. So check with your PC vendor, to see if they will provide a Vista-to-XP recovery disk at low or no cost.
But what if you bought a no-name PC or the manufacturer won't ship you the XP recovery disk? If you happen to have an install CD for Windows XP Professional or XP Tablet Edition, you may be in luck. CNET reported in late September that Microsoft informed them that Vista Business/Ultimate owners can call the customer support center, give their Vista serial number and get an activation code for Windows XP Professional or Tablet Edition.
No XP Soup For You!
Note that this option does NOT apply to the unwashed masses who have purchased computers with Vista Home Basic or Vista Home Premium edition. Microsoft does not permit vendors to ship the XP recovery disk to customers who have these lower-end versions of Vista. But if you do have an XP install disk (either XP Home or XP Professional), you can still opt to wipe Vista from your hard drive and install a fresh copy of XP.
How to Downgrade Vista to XP
Downgrading from Windows Vista to Windows XP is almost like installing Windows XP for the first time. You should take all the normal precautions like backing up all your important files and record important passwords in a different place, preferably on a CD. When you downgrade from Windows Vista to XP, note that Windows Vista will be completely removed from your system.
(Note: There is a way to have both Vista and XP in a dual boot configuration, but that's an option for more advanced users. See Dual Booting Vista and XP for more info on that.)
Before you begin the XP installation, make sure that the necessary XP hardware drivers are available, or included on the XP disk provided by your PC vendor. If in doubt, check the vendor's website or poke around with your favorite search engine to see if others have attempted the XP install on the same hardware. You may be able to install XP without all the needed drivers, but some hardware may not work afterwards.
Also, make sure that you have a genuine Windows XP CD before you begin the downgrade. Be sure to read the section earlier in this article to see if you qualify for a low/no cost XP recovery disk from your PC vendor. If not, perhaps you have an XP disc that came with another computer. If you've upgraded an existing computer from XP to Vista, the best choice would be the XP install/recovery disc that came with that computer. One some PC's the vendor doesn't ship a CD, but the recovery CD can be created from disk images on the hard drive. If all else fails, you can always buy a copy of Windows XP on Ebay. Just be sure it's a legal, licensed copy.
Follow these steps to install Windows XP on your Vista machine:
- Insert your Windows XP install/recovery CD and restart your computer.
- Install Windows XP normally, providing either the product key that came with the disk, or the one you got from Microsoft customer support. If the installer warns you that another copy of Windows is already installed, don't worry. Remember, this install will wipe out your existing Vista installation.
- Activate your copy of Windows XP when it prompts you to do so. If you run into the "already activated" problem, you can use the option to activate by phone.
- If you own Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, explain to the rep that you want to use your Downgrade Rights to install XP Pro.
- If you own Vista Home Basic/Premium, or you are installing XP Home Edition, don't mention ANYTHING about Vista. Just give the rep your XP product key (not the Vista key), explain that you are installing XP on a new hard drive, and tell them you need to activate.
Have you successfully downgraded from Vista to XP? Share your experience. Got questions or comments about downgrading from Vista to XP? Post them below.
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Posted by Bob Rankin on October 16, 2007 05:08 PM
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Article information: AskBobRankin -- Vista to XP Downgrade (Posted: October 16, 2007 05:08 PM)
Source: http://askbobrankin.com/vista_to_xp_downgrade.html
Copyright © 2005 - Bob Rankin - All Rights Reserved
Most recent comments on "Vista to XP Downgrade"
(See all 93 comments for this article.)Posted by:
sbrobbs
05 Oct 2009
Hi, I bought a second hand Alienware Aurora M9700 laptop with vista home premium already on it. Wanted to install xp pro on a new 250gb hardrive. Before doing this contacted alienware support they said I need to change some bios settings but would not tell me what as they did not support second hand systems.told me instead to phone dell presto support for install help. so I went to their site and found you have to pay for the advice. does any body know if they are telling me the truth have never had to change bios settings before to install xp.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Why not just try it?
Posted by:
sbrobbs
09 Oct 2009
Hi ED,
Did try it it seemed to install fine until I came to update the drivers.
then got installshield wizard error 6003
with please try the following
close any running programs
empty temporary folder
check internet connection.
I've never seen this before.
I also tried to run a diagnostic program to tell me what was on my system but all it did was open a black window for a split second and then nothing but this worked fine on my desktop.
any ideas.
Posted by:
Raj
18 Oct 2009
can i install windows XP in my leptop this support only vista. plz tell me how can i install xp.
Notebook model: Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC
Processor type: Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T3200 @ 2.00GHz
Total Memory: 2048 MB
Factory Installed OS: Non-Vista
Posted by:
Barry
02 Dec 2009
Thanks Nish for the advice on changing the sata mode from AHCI. I could not get XP to boot up and making that one change fixed my problem. You da man!
Posted by:
Cat Cooter
11 Feb 2010
I havce Vista on a Dell inspiron 1525 and hate it. Nothing but issues. (biggest is with Active X) IF I even can downgrade to XP what will that do to: my ITunes? I have all my music stored on an external seagate drivce and can unplug it but will it still work right? We can also copy everything off my computer and save it to a harddrive to reinstall, pictures etc. Will this work? FInal problem. I have a Seagate 1.5 TB external. It was working fine. I downloaded many anime full series on it and used it for back up then it quit doing the back ups. Next it said there was new software. After we installed the new software it totally screwed up my computer. It took my husband hours to get it working again, but the Seagate cannot be used. I think we need drivers? Is it possible to fix this or am I just screwed, and will trying to downgrade to xp make things worse? I'm most concerned at this point about getting my big external running again. Thanks
EDITOR'S NOTE: I don't think moving to XP is going to solve any of your problems. It's tricky even for tech savvy folks. At this point, I would check the Seagate website to get the latest Vista drivers for your device.
Posted by:
Garry
12 Apr 2010
I've been trying to download a XP Pro driver for a Acer M1100. the video card is a ATI Radeon X1200 this PC had Vista I keep getting a (error)
lenth of directory path exceeds 88 charactors?
shorten to specified limit? and this is a driver I downloaded from Acers web sight. it is a on-board video card I made sure the bios was set to onboard. any help would be great!
Posted by:
Ryan
20 Apr 2010
I'm trying to downgrade(upgrade)a dell from vista home basic to xp pro. The xp disk is original and is from another computer . that computer is running vista from my broken laptop so there currently are no computers using this xp disk right now.
The computer I'm trying to put xp on is a dell that a friend gave me. His wife insisted that I wipe the hard drive right away but they didn't know where the original factory disks where. I figured it was no big deal and I would just over write everthing using the xp disk. I got as far as the part where they ask for the product key, typed it in but no matter how many times I checked and double checked it would not except the number. I call MS tech support they passed me around from one hard to understand operator to another for about an hour I finally hung up on my 5th operator while she was in the middle of telling me some irelevancie that I had all ready heard from 3 prior operators. I've been looking around to see if anyone eles has had the same prob so far they havn't. I saw in several differant places instructions that involve choosing the f2 start up going to drives, then sata options and pick one of the two choises. The problem with that is for some reason those options arn't on mine(The bios is 1.0.15). All there is is the cmos features,advanced bios features boot dev.confige,chipset, int.periph. and power mngmt. So far in everthing I've read not one person seemed to have trouble finding these options and in all of the downgrade trouble I've read about so far none of the people where able to get as far as the product key part. So now I'm confused and stuck with as nicer computer I can't use until my buddy brings the disk but, there's no telling when that'll happen. Thanks in advance Ry
Posted by:
Andre
05 Jun 2010
I am installing windows XP pro on an Acer Aspire T690 desktop and I cannot find the ethernet drivers. The ones I have, there is no setup option. How do I install ethernet drivers
Posted by:
matthew mccusker
17 Aug 2010
can you please help me i am trying to change from windows vista to my recently acquired windows xp cd but i get the message the program is blocked due to compatibility issues, it says i am trying to replace a newer version of windows with an older one which is what i want to do but it wont let me install this copy of windows xp how do i overcome this can you please let me know
Posted by:
Social Observer
29 Aug 2010
I've attempted to downgrade from vista to xp. Upon completion of loading xp install disk, I get No disk found or available message, and can go no further. Since doing that my pc (ACER ASPIRE)reboots automatically, and vista is still the OPS. I've also looked at disk m'gmt to format C: drive, but I'm not allowed to, only the recovery drive is formattable.How do I perform this downgrade??