vista to xp help

pc-tech

pc-tech

banned
i am doing a new install for a friend and this is what they told me:

thought you might be the one to help me with a little software job I need done. I recently bought a new laptop that came with Windows Vista installed on it, but need to have Windows XP installed instead as all my software from my current employer is XP based and not vista compatible at this time. I'm looking to get Vista wiped off the machine and replace it with a new install of XP software that I was given by my employer also. If this is something you think you can handle without problem get back to me with a price when you'd be able to do the work. The laptop is a Compaq Pressario FS700 series notebook. HP's website says that it is not possible to replace the Vista OS with XP since some of the notebook's hardware is designed for Vista, but Dell said the same thing about the desktop I bought off them in the spring and I was able to get Vista replaced with XP on I was just told it wast tricky since you have to find most of the hardware drivers yourself. Anyhow.....if it's something you think you can handle and would be interested in let me know.

can any one give me any hints/tips on this i am good w/computers and this one got me unsure for some reason and i dont want to mess this up
thanks
 
First see if the drivers for XP are even available before doing anything. If you can't find those the owner will have to make a choice of make and model. Dell is the one that still offers XP as an alternative while HP sees a better product line and the needed support. As for CompaQ that's kind of on the low end of the food chain as far as quality is concerned.
 
yeah you are just gonna have to do some driver research before you try this one on for size... OR, if the laptop has a recovery partition, you can at least try hands-on to see if you can get XP to work, and if it doesnt work, then just load up the recovery partition and you can easily get vista working again.
 
Right from the start I won't touch any prebuild without first seeing what options are available as well as support for the OS being run. For XP here the auto web updater for the sound card on the new build here was downloading and installing Vista drivers after selecting XP as the version at the support site.

The software on the cd did the same as well as the MS update site with optional hardware updates. Talk about reall annoyances! :rolleyes:
 
Installing Vista on a machine that came with XP is no problem, the problem is when it came with Vista to begin with. I tried to do this once, and I couldn't do anything. It wouldnt even let me format the whole drive to wipe out everything and start over. I ended up finding the reinstall disc that came with mine and reloading XP back on to it, but if it already has Vista, there are a bunch of command line instructions that you have to do before you can get XP back. I would try searching google for "Vista to XP" or something along those lines.
 
On the Vista disk that came with the system you may find the repair tools section with the option to reformat the primary partition on the drive. That will void the warranty of course but will allow XP to install onto the drive then.

If the proprietary setup prevents that like ian88 pointed out the Linux drive tool GParted will delete the existing partitions right off of the drive and can even create the new primary for you. The XP installer will then format that as part of the installation process.

Besides GParted the Active KillDisk freeware will wipe a drive thoroughly. These are destructive methods rather then creating a dual boot situation to consider there.
 
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