The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Hard to use XP instead of Vista?

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by lancer player, Jun 22, 2008.

  1. lancer player

    lancer player Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    47
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    How difficult is it to remove Vista Home or Pro from a new laptop and install XP Home or Pro in its place?
     
  2. X2P

    X2P COOLING | NBR Super Mod

    Reputations:
    3,179
    Messages:
    5,361
    Likes Received:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Vista doesnt have home/pro it has, home basic, home premium, buisness, and ultimate... may have left one out...

    It depends on which notebook it is... drivers are the main issue. With a Dell it is usually pretty straight forward.
     
  3. Jstn7477

    Jstn7477 Sam I Am

    Reputations:
    213
    Messages:
    780
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It is as simple as putting in your XP disc, formatting your Vista partition and installing XP. The problems are:
    1. Finding the right SATA drivers, and slipstreaming them onto an XP install disc
    2. Finding all of the other drivers for everything else that is built into the laptop
    3. You lose your factory Vista partition, and there is no way to dual-boot using your XP and the Vista contained on the factory restore discs.

    -J.B.
     
  4. Hep!

    Hep! sees beauty in everything

    Reputations:
    1,806
    Messages:
    5,921
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    206
    Not true. I dual booted the Vista Home Basic that came with my Inspiron 1520 with Windows XP Professional Retail. You just have to know what you're doing.
     
  5. bmwrob

    bmwrob Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    4,591
    Messages:
    2,128
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    And share your knowledge with those who do not, and/or those who don't know where to get it.
     
  6. nizzy1115

    nizzy1115 Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    2,557
    Messages:
    6,682
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    205
    There are numerous threads on how to do this. Why spend 30 minutes typing out step by step instructions when its already been done on this forum?
     
  7. DFI Fan

    DFI Fan Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    82
    Messages:
    654
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    It's easy to do a dual boot XP and Vista setup...you just gotta install XP first. Vista's boot manager will recognize XP and setup a dual boot thing, but XP's dual boot manager won't recognize Vista.