Upgrading from vista to xp.

Interested

Interested

New Member
Hey everyone,

I installed vista in august thinking WHOA i got vista! Now, i just want to make sure vista doesnt come into my face until i get a new computer (mid-late next year). I can barely play CSS, (at first fps were low on 800x600, and now i get an error), it doesnt support a lot of stuff, and it LAGS LIKE A TURTLE. Now i got a virus, and it does not know what proc / ram i have and its sad. I just want to go back to XP. Now, since vista has a few differences like pictures is not in documents, and ect...., when i install XP via upgrade feature, will my music be in My Music? or will it be in Music (vista's version of the folder that is in a different location)? What about My Documents? My Pictures?

Thanks of helping.....
 
XP uses a different directory structure than Vista. Notice how vista has a \Users directory? Well, in XP its \Documents and settings\username\home directory.

Also, vista uses a different boot loader, no longer is there a boot.ini. I think in all honesty you are best up backing up all data you want and then wiping and reloading the OS.
 
For cleaning Vista off entirely the primary partition will have to be reformatted in order to see the new "boot" folder removed. If you don't have a dvd burner for backing up a large volume of files but have a cd writer you can burn the Linux drive tool GParted onto a bootable cd-r.

Why? you first shrink the existing primary by first backing up what you can and then create a second temporary storage partition for backing up the bulk of files onto that from the various folders. Once that is done you can use the format option found on the Vista installation disk to simply reformat the current primary in preparation for XP. Your files are safe and XP then replaces Vista. Both use NTFS 5.0

Once XP is up and running you can then copy your files into the desired folders or keep the second partition for backing things up. Otherwise you can then delete that and expand the first as a single primary. With only one drive installed many prefer a second for storing files.
 
PC eye said:
For cleaning Vista off entirely the primary partition will have to be reformatted in order to see the new "boot" folder removed. If you don't have a dvd burner for backing up a large volume of files but have a cd writer you can burn the Linux drive tool GParted onto a bootable cd-r.

Why? you first shrink the existing primary by first backing up what you can and then create a second temporary storage partition for backing up the bulk of files onto that from the various folders. Once that is done you can use the format option found on the Vista installation disk to simply reformat the current primary in preparation for XP. Your files are safe and XP then replaces Vista. Both use NTFS 5.0

Once XP is up and running you can then copy your files into the desired folders or keep the second partition for backing things up. Otherwise you can then delete that and expand the first as a single primary. With only one drive installed many prefer a second for storing files.
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whoa dude, i dont need that. I plug in my 20gb External HDD, back up my stuff, put in my XP disc, format, reinstall all my progs, and im done. Ill be done in about 6 hours.
 
Interested said:
whoa dude, i dont need that. I plug in my 20gb External HDD, back up my stuff, put in my XP disc, format, reinstall all my progs, and im done. Ill be done in about 6 hours.
Click to expand...

You are fortunate to have one onhand then in order to backup things on the external drive. If you didn't have it then what? The method outlined there is for someone without a second drive whether internal or external onhand.

But for seeing the boot folder removed even the full release of Vista couldn't remove the one created by the RC1 beta here when later installed to replace XP Pto on the last build when moving OSs around there. I later simply deleted the entire partition with GParted when replacing XP Home with the Pro edition remaining with that build.

You will most likely want to start off fresh again anyways when going back to XP. The main reason people thinl Vista is so sluggish is mainly due to running games written primarily for XP. Try running an old 98 game on XP? It won't do so well either. Once new Vista only games are written and are out(some already) you will probably notice a big improvement with those.
 
A clean install of Windows always sees lightning response times. Most of that is due to having Windows loaded down with everything at the time you to reinstall for whatever reason like you did there. With the Home Premium edition here the simple trick to see Windows run much like any other version was simply to disable all of the themes and gadgets thrown into the new version.

In fact when assigning a wav file to the Windows startup Vista sees the desktop while XP is still at the "loading personal settings" splash screen. XP loaded faster then previous versions while Vista seems to have beaten XP at one thing. :eek: "oh nooo...!" :P
 
Interested said:
i did it, and i am amazed at the unreal speed of XP....hahaa...
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lol. vista is just as fast if you toss in 2 or more gb of ram :P

kinda of late, but i'm guessing the pc you were trying vista on is the one in your sig with 1gb of ram? if so, i don't blame it for running slowly for you. vista uses 512mb ram minimum and will often use over 700mb ram. if you put vista on a pc with only 1gb of ram, then yea, it will be noticeably slower then xp because you now have less then half a gig of ram free for gaming. xp only uses 64mb of ram, hence why it runs faster then vista on a pc with a small amount of ram.

just like a high end game, vista wont work on an old/slow pc.
 
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XP itself can be anywhere between 64mb upto 128mb as a tule depending on what options and which edition is in use there. Currently having Vista set as the default I still find it just another Windows once you dump the Aero style and gadgets crap to lessen the startups and back to the classic Windows.

Even with XP on a good 2gb sees better performance there as well. It's a good rounded figure for the average desktop there.
 
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