Time for Windows XP?

J

jbrown456

New Member
I bought a HP Pavillion dv6000 in December, and it came with vista home premium. I'm pretty much sick of it already. So far:

-iTunes won't work
-Premiere Elements won't work
-MSN won't work (sometimes)

and they are all vista ready versions.

I'm seriously considering going back to XP, but I kind of want to dual boot XP and Vista, because I still like how organized vista is.

But I don't know if its possible because HP didn't give me a vista cd, i had to make this recovery disk thing, but that's all i have. I have a serial # sticker for vista though..

My question is this, without having to go buy another copy of vista is it possible to dual boot xp and vista? Right now I have a 10GB partition that is called HP Recovery, and I assume thats the image for a fresh vista install.
 
That 10gb of drive space contains an archive of drivers for all hardwares along with the board itself. Without a full install copy of Vista and one for XP along with the partitioning tool found on the Vista installation disk if not something like GParted you wouldn't be able to shrink the Vista primary down in size enough to see a second one created for XP to go onto.

After XP is on at some point Vista would have to be reinstalled so that XP would be added into the Vista boot loader as an option. The alternative without effect on Vista would be adding in a second drive for XP and unplugging the current one to see XP installed as a totally separate stand alone OS there. The boot device menu or a 3rd party boot loader then selects the drive to load the OS on. One univeral boot loader was simply booting with floppy and then selecting the drive. The OS on it would then load.
 
To isolate the original preinstalled copy of Vista adding in a second hard drive would allow you to unplug the host drive long enough to throw XP on the second one as a stand alone installation there. Once XP on and the Vista drive is plugged back in you can either go into the bios every time to change the drive order or see if there's a boot device menu option at post assigned to the F8 or another F key.

That allows the one time session each time you select the second drive if Vista remains as the default or Vista then becomes the second one according to which is set as default in the boot order. For shrinking down the Vista primary and seeing XP go onto a new second primary would then require a reinstall of Vista to see XP added into it's own boot loader as an option. That would directly effect Vista there.

For seeing XP without worry of anything being done to the Vista installation the extra drive would be the option. That would allow you to run each version separately from the other.
 
There are some guides on the net which shows how you can restore Vista's boot sector after you've installed xp, and how you add xp to the boot menu.

Vistabootpro is a tool that can help you do that by clicking the mouse a few times
 
nyhk said:
There are some guides on the net which shows how you can restore Vista's boot sector after you've installed xp, and how you add xp to the boot menu.

Vistabootpro is a tool that can help you do that by clicking the mouse a few times
Click to expand...

VistaBootPro is copycat of the EasyBCD 1.7.1. For repairing the Vista mbr after inadvertently installing XP and no longer seeing Vista load you boot up with the Vista installation disk and immediately go into the repair tools section instead of the install now option. The automatic repair startup problems tool will correct the boot information.

Simply editing the Vista boot loader won't see XP load as an option there. With Vista already on you have to reinstall that after XP is installed for the newer version to add XP as an option. The EasyBCD tool besides deciding the default OS can also be used to rename "previous versions of Windows" to Windows XP Home, Pro, or MCE according to the version installed.

EasyBCD 1.7.1 is a free tool found at http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1
 
You don't need to reinstall Vista. Restore the boot sector, and write an entry in the boot menu that points to xp, that's it
 
The APC articles and others were already tried for that when Vista was in beta and later when released. Like any combination of two versions with one older the newer has to go on last to effectively see the older version added in as an option.

Once you go into a dual with XP you also lose the Vista restore points right away. That's when a work around has to be applied in order to see those preserved. But the main quesion will be on whether to dual boot on one drive or see XP as a separate stand alone installation. Despite the need for pressing the assigned F key at post time that can save a workd of hurt if either version has to be reinstalled at some point.
 
Okay, I'm way too lazy for all of this :P

So my other question is:

Is there any way to format my computer and switch to xp, but still have to option of going back to vista without buying a new disk for vista (because all i have is this hp setup)
 
Well, rather than relying on nonsense posing as "advice", why not just fix the problems. The problems aren't with the apps. I'm using iTunes AND MSN and they both work fine on Vista.
 
Just as a side note, I just found a free app that replaces iTunes, gives more functionality and even lets me copy songs off the iPod in the original mp3 format. Works great on Vista too :P
 
SirKenin said:
I'm using iTunes AND MSN and they both work fine on Vista.
Click to expand...


Same here; I set my wife up with Vista Basic and she uses iTunes for her iPod, works fine here... she also uses Windows Live (Messenger, Windows Mail, etc) and they all work fine.

The problem is most likely with your configuration, and not with the OS..

If you do go with XP and decide then decide you want to go back to Vista, you can do one of two things;

1.) If you made a 'System Recovery Disc', which you were most likely told to do when you first turned on your pre-built computer, then you can run the System Recovery Disc to overwrite the install of XP with a fresh install of Vista OEM.. so long as you don't mess with that 10GB partition that holds your Vista backup files.

2.) You can use a Anytime Upgrade disc (which has all standard versions of Vista on it) to do a fresh install of Vista, then input your product key (located on the sticker on your case, since it's a pre-built PC) and do the over the phone re-activation.. making sure that you tell them you're re-installing Vista on the same PC it came on.

You should have gotten the Anytime Upgrade disc with your new PC purchase, as Microsoft has been having the big names distribute them with the new pre-built computers that run XP and Vista. If you didn't get it, you can try to bum one off of Circuit City or a similar PC retailer.. or buy one from Microsoft for $20.. or, if you're feeling dangerous, download an ISO of the disc and mount it to a disc.

Either way would work fine, but the first way would be the easiest way to get Vista back.

Regardless, don't remove that 10GB partition or touch the data located in it, or you'll be left with only option 2, and you won't be able to use your HP recovery tools, which come pre-installed on the PC.. or any of the pre-installed applications, as those are backed up in that 10GB partition as well.


Good luck :)
 
jbrown456 said:
Okay, I'm way too lazy for all of this :P

So my other question is:

Is there any way to format my computer and switch to xp, but still have to option of going back to vista without buying a new disk for vista (because all i have is this hp setup)
Click to expand...

The HP disk(s) there are for restoring the system to how it was when first bought as far as Windows is concerned. That depends on the recovery files hidden on the drive still remaining intact. Without a full install disk for Vista setting XP on the same disk would entail either removing the current installation by formatting the primary or adding in a second drive to see XP run there.

Shrinking the current primary to see XP on a second partition would entail a dual boot there with Vista being reinstalled. With a separate drive added you can isolate each of the two running them separately. That avoids the need of a full install disk for Vista since no changes would be made. It's also easier to see that done in the long run then later needing to see a full restoration of Vista at some point.

SirKenin said:
Well, rather than relying on nonsense posing as "advice", why not just fix the problems.
Click to expand...

You might want to try following your own advice like the problems seen with Vista's system restore feature when dual booting XP along with it. http://vistasupport.mvps.org/preven...ng_lost_when_dual_booting_with_windows_xp.htm

But that would take getting the facts first obviously. :rolleyes:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top