Downgrading Vista to XP

[fido123]

Originally Posted by dood gone krazee

I have a Belkin router and looked through what you suggest a long time ago. MY router is in the 6000 series, and apparently it goes up to like 8000 now. It said on the website that my very router was not Vista compliant.

Looks like I have some learnen to do...also for the person who posted above me...(I'm going to make this nice as you have 1 post), Please read the whole thread before you post and if you're telling somebody how to do something like that provide a bit more detail...they're going to have no idea to set their BIOS to boot from CD.

[OrganisM]

Originally Posted by Solid Dreams

step one: insert xp discs.

step two: reformat disc.

step three: install windows xp.

/thread over

[Kekeb]

Or just dual-boot and don't complain about either ;(

[x-mod]

okay because this post was originaly about downgrading from vista to xp i am going to help everyone out by explaining what i did when i downgraded a few laptops

step 1: Have an authentic XP product key..... its a very important thing

Step 2: Have prepared your Windows XP disk... if you own a recovery disk .... its not the same thing... use torrents if it is a true must

step 3: Download your HD's driver for XP and store it somewhere you can remember

step 4: Download a program nLite........ very simple program and very useful... it copies and creates an xp disc with the one you have..... and you can add the driver

step 5: make sure to go on your bios and switch your HD from ata to sata... you will understand when you see it...

Step 6: Install XP and it should work fine..... remember keep your Vista license as it may be useful for later.... also have that XP product keep ready when you need to type it in....

If anybody has any questions just ask

[fido123]

Originally Posted by x-mod

okay because this post was originaly about downgrading from vista to xp i am going to help everyone out by explaining what i did when i downgraded a few laptops

step 1: Have an authentic XP product key..... its a very important thing

Step 2: Have prepared your Windows XP disk... if you own a recovery disk .... its not the same thing... use torrents if it is a true must

step 3: Download your HD's driver for XP and store it somewhere you can remember

step 4: Download a program nLite........ very simple program and very useful... it copies and creates an xp disc with the one you have..... and you can add the driver

step 5: make sure to go on your bios and switch your HD from ata to sata... you will understand when you see it...

Step 6: Install XP and it should work fine..... remember keep your Vista license as it may be useful for later.... also have that XP product keep ready when you need to type it in....

If anybody has any questions just ask

Few things you missed here. If they're hardrive is IDE instead of SATA like my 3 year old laptop, you just royally ****ed them over. Also to install Windows properly you need to reformat your hardrive which requires you to change your boot order in the BIOS so it boots from the disc before your Hardrive. You must then delete your partition(s) and format partitions according to what you want and make sure one has XP installed on it (Will do automatically after you format the partition...only do this once otherwise reboot when it tries to). I personally have 5 partitions but that's because I run another OS that uses EXT3 format instead of NSTF. So I have one for XP, one for keeping Data (largest one by far), one is a root directory for Ubuntu (and others I play with but hardly use), another one is the home directory for Ubuntu, and one is virtual memory for Ubuntu...chances are you only need 1 partition though.

[Red_Comet]

can a mod or admin please lock this thread, it's getting into YET another vista flame war. TAKE YOUR WORTHLESS BASHING TO AN ANTI-VISTA FORUM SLAGS. Seriously, Vista isn't bad end of story. It fixed things XP had wrong with it and NEW problems arose that's the bottom line. If all else fails, jump in a fire

[fido123]

Originally Posted by Red_Comet

can a mod or admin please lock this thread, it's getting into YET another vista flame war. TAKE YOUR WORTHLESS BASHING TO AN ANTI-VISTA FORUM SLAGS. Seriously, Vista isn't bad end of story. It fixed things XP had wrong with it and NEW problems arose that's the bottom line. If all else fails, jump in a fire

There was only one instance of flaming and a ban was given out appropriately. The point of a forum is to discuss and debate opinions and although there is conflict is is all discussion none-the-less.

[Red_Comet]

I stand corrected, I guess I'll just grovel on the inside. There should be a sticky thread for vista now though, that'd be a huge megathread for sure.

[MalDON]

Originally Posted by Red_Comet

I stand corrected, I guess I'll just grovel on the inside. There should be a sticky thread for vista now though, that'd be a huge megathread for sure.

Actually I think there shouldn't be just one thread for vista as finding problems buried deep in a thread is hard as hell. Having threads for problems/questions like these are fine. (and it brings in extra search engine traffic).

If you are sure you want to downgrade, the simplist option is to back everything up, format your drive and install XP like you normally would. Trying to keep everything and overwrite vista with xp is a bad idea and can lead to more problems in the future.

[OrganisM]

I have suggested a computer help thread, with the first post being routinely edited to include information regarding questions most commonly asked. As much as this thread has included some rather touchy posting, there has been some candid and productive conversation. There are a few of us here who are skilled in working with computer hardware and software, and I know at least I'd be plenty willing to frequent it and provide help (sans flaming, don't worry).

PS - yeah, always for a new OS install when you're only going to be using a single OS it's best to do a complete low-level format.

[meno_rocks123]

Well since this thread is long over and all the macfags are dead, I have a question of my own.

When I boot up my laptop, it has all the different F keys you can press to enter different types of setup, but one of them leads to a device that resets the computer to after vista was installed. No users, no programs, just the user setup screen. All I have to do is find a laptop charge cable and plug it in.
Does anyone know how to get rid that ability so it can only be accessed once logged in?

[Red_Comet]

sounds like the recovery console of xp but as you said you use vista, which is devoid of such a program. It could be a bios option or something the manufacturer put on in case of faulty hardware/software issues. Try contacting them about your questions or concerns.

[fido123]

Taking a guess here...you might have a recovery partition and that's how you activate it to reformat. Why would you want to disable it?

[sumzup]

He doesn't want other people to be able to access it and wipe his computer, which they could do if he weren't logged in. Basically, he wants the log-in to be authentication of his identity, with the Fn+recover combination being disable until then.

Anyways, can you tell us what model/brand your laptop is? This is definitely a manufacturer specific thing, and we can't help unless you give some more details.

Also, to MalDON: Implement a reddit..........it would rock.

[dood gone krazee]

Okay, I'm posting from the laptop now.

I looked it up and I have a dual-core ACER brand laptop that (runs?) at 1.66 Ghtz and 1024MB of RAM.

Is that good or no?

I tried FFR, there is lag, but it is very small. They're frequent but it makes the arrows just look a tad choppy. I haven't tried any "performance enhancers" yet.

[OrganisM]

That laptop will do you fine for web browsing and multimedia. It's not very high powered, but you shouldn't encounter too many problems doing basic things.

[MalDON]

Originally Posted by sumzup

He doesn't want other people to be able to access it and wipe his computer, which they could do if he weren't logged in. Basically, he wants the log-in to be authentication of his identity, with the Fn+recover combination being disable until then.

Anyways, can you tell us what model/brand your laptop is? This is definitely a manufacturer specific thing, and we can't help unless you give some more details.

Also, to MalDON: Implement a reddit..........it would rock.

And what do you mean, implement a reddit? If you mean installing the reddit source on FFR, that wouldn't work. Requires different server software.
Or maybe you were looking for this.

[sumzup]

I meant installing the source on FFR. Oh well.

[x-mod]

Originally Posted by fido123

Few things you missed here. If they're hardrive is IDE instead of SATA like my 3 year old laptop, you just royally ****ed them over. Also to install Windows properly you need to reformat your hardrive which requires you to change your boot order in the BIOS so it boots from the disc before your Hardrive. You must then delete your partition(s) and format partitions according to what you want and make sure one has XP installed on it (Will do automatically after you format the partition...only do this once otherwise reboot when it tries to). I personally have 5 partitions but that's because I run another OS that uses EXT3 format instead of NSTF. So I have one for XP, one for keeping Data (largest one by far), one is a root directory for Ubuntu (and others I play with but hardly use), another one is the home directory for Ubuntu, and one is virtual memory for Ubuntu...chances are you only need 1 partition though.

Well just referring to the post I put in earlier.... this should be on laptops/desktops that have sata(which most new computers have)..... If you have a laptop that you upgraded and want to downgraded back down... then thats a whole different things and it is much more simple. That is why I put if you have any questions message me. I do know how to correctly downgrade but unless i know a lot more specifics then that then i cannot help

And also you are a much more advance user than most of the people on these forums are

[OrganisM]

Did you seriously have any (read: ANY) real purpose behind bumping this old topic? Holy ****.