Installing XP over Vista

Hi All,

I was looking at some BF deals and all the Laptops that they have for sale are with Vista.
1) Is it possible to format and reinstall XP with the same license key?

- Since I'm already paying for a Vista license with the Laptop and planning on not using it
- Since XP is a lower version than Vista

2) Do I have the copyright to use XP instead of Vista?

 

Vista Business and Ultimate supposedly have the right to downgrade to XP Pro. Home Basic and Home Premium do not. I don't know if XP Pro will activate with a Vista key. You may have to call Microsoft to activate it.

I'm guessing most of the Black Friday deals have either Home Basic or Home Premium which doesn't include the right o downgrade. If you have an extra license of XP you can of course install it.

 

Thanks for the reply. Seems to me like I'm stuck with Vista.
I know this is kind of a personal choice.
But do you think a person can survive with Vista?
(I have never used Vista)

P.S : I'm a .net programmer

 

I think it'll be touch and go for a bit, but you'll probably make it.

 

Ok now.... I somehow managed to won the battle of Black Friday and managed to secure me a Compaq Presario C712NR Laptop with Vista Home edition (with a restore partition)

My old Laptop is a Dell B130 with XP Home. I have a Dell reinstallation disk (not a restore disk, it's a XP cd) for XP Home.

What I would like to do is to install XP Home in my new Compaq using the Dell reinstallation disk and the license key given in Dell Laptop, and install Vista Home in my old Dell using the license key given in my new Compaq.

So here are my questions.

1) Can I install XP Home in my Compaq using the Dell reinstalltion disk and the key given in the sticker in my Dell?
2) Any know problems by doing this? (I'm assuming that I can download all the XP drivers from Compaq site)
3) Where can I find a Vista Home cd? (when I looked in the ebay all of them are above $100 with license key. But I don't need a license key, since I already have one. I'm just looking for a Vista reinstalltion disk.)
4) Can I install Vista Home in my old Dell (I'm planning to add another 1GB RAM to it, making the total 1.5GB) using a reinstallation disk and the license key from may Compaq.

 

1. No, you are not allowed to use the Dell OEM Windows XP Home disk on any other machine. It's part of the EULA. That's why OEM copies are so cheap - they are tied to one machine, unlike retail versions that can be removed and reinstalled over and over again.

2. The Dell branded XP install disks look for a Dell BIOS, and tend to not install on any other type of machine.

3. You probably won't find any media for sale - they all come with a key. If you do happen to find someone willing to sell just the media, be very careful.

4. No. See #1 - substitute "Compaq" for "Dell".

 

If you have a license for XP you can reformat and install it. Sometimes you can install the Dell disc but your screen will show a Dell logo.

 

Well, I decided to give it a try.
So I tried to install XP in my compaq using the Dell reinstalltion disk and the process goes up to the blue screen where you are prompted 'Press Enter to install Windows'. After I press Enter I get a msg saying that 'Setup did not find any hard disk drivers installed in your computer'

1) Does anyone know a workaround for this?

Recently a friend of mine bought a Macbook and a XP cd to install on it using a virtualization software. So I suppose that kind of a cd is what you call an OEM XP cd.

2) If I borrowed it, can I install XP in my Compaq using my license key?

 

The harddrive could not be found because the laptop is probably in AHCI mode which requires specific drivers for the setup to see your harddrive. You could probably get it off Compaq support site, burn it to a CD, and load it during installation at the point when it asks for it. Or You could go into your Bios and switch to "ATA" mode for your harddrive and that would work as well, at the sacrifice of a slight gain in performance.

 

XP can be moved over and over

In fact, I have never been able to do an online activation 2 times on the SAME computer but if I install it on another computer, it activates right when I click on it. But this is a Dell OEM while mine is plain OEM so it might be different