Removing Vista and returning to XP

Hi friends,

Trying to help my son with this one...

He has a coworker friend who recently installed Vista on his laptop only to discover that some of his favorite stuff doesn't work with Vista. He has decided to go back to XP. He doesn't know a lot about computers, but the guy who he asked to help him revert the system to XP told him that you can't go back to XP from Vista. I haven't heard this before...

Before I try to help him over the phone, I thought I'd ask here. FWIW, if I were trying to go from Vista back to XP on my own machine, I'd ensure that the BIOS was set to boot from CD, then boot up with XP CD and wipe out the existing OS, then install XP. Is that not a valid approach where Vista is concerned? Many thanks for any and all responses.

Limerick

Limerick:)

If your son`s friend did an Upgrade install of Vista from XP he can`t go back to XP. When you upgrade over an older OS you lose the licence for the old OS.

Now, if he had another XP installation CD he could do it the way you propose

That is why this new way of using an Upgrade DVD of Vista is so good. You can make another partition and do a clean install of Vista with the Upgrade DVD. That way you can keep XP and install Vista too.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5932

http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070201

Elaine

Do you mean to say,if I were to wipe the hardrive using a 'low level' zeroing program that I couldn't then install XP? :rolleyes:

I don't read it like that. You lose your XP licence while Vista is installed, in that you cannot legally dual boot XP and Vista if you only have a Vista Upgrade disc. But as long as Vista is uninstalled then you can revert to your old XP licence as far as I can tell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dunedin

If your son`s friend did an Upgrade install of Vista from XP he can`t go back to XP. When you upgrade over an older OS you lose the licence for the old OS.

Now, if he had another XP installation CD he could do it the way you propose
Elaine

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Many thanks for the reply. I've passed this info on to my son, and AFAIK, the jury is still out as to the ultimate outcome of the matter...

Limerick

If interested,might want to have a read on the attachment. Open here or save,both are safe...:)

Many thanks, Ridge. I've set that one aside for future use...

Limerick