Installing XP on XPS M1210

Hello,

I purchased a used xps m1210 with vista ultimate. After checking the service tag, the original setup was with xp pro. It seems the previous owner reformatted the hard drive and installed vista ultimate. He did not install media direct and I do not have the cd's that came with the laptop. I want to set the laptop with xp pro. Would it be easier to reformat the hard drive and start again or get another hard drive and keep the vista ultimate on the old drive? I bought the laptop because I want the media direct.

Thanks for the help.

 

Welcome to the forum,

Depending on how much room you have on your current HDD and if you want to still use vista, it would be IMO easier to dual boot XP and Vista. There are links to guides on how to do that in the sticky on top of the Windows forum.

If not, then a reformat and install of XP would be easier(you will have to buy a new disk or get a restore disk for dell) then getting a new hdd(you can only fit 1 physical HDD in the m1210)

As for MD, try the repair utility from dell ( the MD hidden partition ishould still be there so it should work or it might mess up thing )...

 

Don't waste your time. The MediaDirect is pretty pointless and I deleted it immediately on my M1210 and M1330. As for switching back to XP, definitely. I reinstalled XP on both XPS systems. If you're having trouble getting a reinstall CD from Dell, PM me.

 

Hi,,, i couldn´t uninstall windows vista , when i try to run the windows xp install cd, i get a Blank Screen after "press any button to start install windows xp".

I don´t have option in Bios to change the HD SATA / IDE option.

any idea?.

I have a xps m1210, with bios version 8.

thank´s in advangtce, and forget my english .

Jose David.

 

You need a specific Dell XP reinstall windows disk to install it, it can't be just any of the Green Reinstall disks. You need to install the mediadirect disk first then the proper XP reinstall disk to get it to run right. Otherwise, when you press the mediadirect button it will boot to a oddly configured partition and stay there every time your reboot.

I know, i own and installed XP on my 1210 that came with Vista Home.

 

Thanks for the info. I think I am going to buy another hard drive and keep the vista on the old drive. It also has Office 2007 installed. No luck in getting a restore disk from dell.