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.

    free way of switching windows?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by ChaosX5, Jan 18, 2009.

  1. ChaosX5

    ChaosX5 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    426
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I am currently using windows vista 64bit and I want to switch to XP 64bit. I have a key for 32bit windows XP but I dont know if that works for 64bit XP. So, is there a way of switching to windows XP 64bit without paying for anything? Like a trade with microsoft or something?
     
    ChaosX5, Jan 18, 2009
    #1
  2. stewie

    stewie What the deuce?

    Reputations:
    3,666
    Messages:
    2,174
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Vista Business and Ultimate entitle you to downgrade to XP without charge.

    If you have other version of Vista, then it won't be free.

    EDIT: About XP key, I wasn't sure, and atbnet has the answer.
     
    stewie, Jan 18, 2009
    #2
  3. flipfire

    flipfire Moderately Boss

    Reputations:
    6,156
    Messages:
    11,214
    Likes Received:
    68
    Trophy Points:
    466
    Why would you want to switch to XP 64bit? Driver support isnt very good. Make sure you have the drivers first.
     
    flipfire, Jan 18, 2009
    #3
  4. surfasb

    surfasb Titles Shmm-itles

    Reputations:
    2,637
    Messages:
    6,370
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    xp 64 /= xp 32
     
    surfasb, Jan 18, 2009
    #4
  5. atbnet

    atbnet Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,868
    Messages:
    5,889
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    206
    The serials for XP 32bit and 64bit aren't interchangeable like they are with Vista.
     
    atbnet, Jan 18, 2009
    #5
  6. Qwakrz

    Qwakrz Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    182
    Messages:
    206
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    For the love of god don't go XP64, it was a beta product at release and has stayed that way.

    If you thought Vista 64 was bad then you are in for a shock with XP64. Driver support is almost nill, most drivers that you can get are so out of date or very beta that they usually have problems. In fact, I think Linux 64bit has better support for Microsoft products than XP64.

    If you want to go 64bit you are best off turning off the flashy side of Vista and sticking with it or dropping down to Vista 32 / XP 32.
     
    Qwakrz, Jan 19, 2009
    #6
  7. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    6,926
    Messages:
    8,178
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    You can't switch between 32 and 64 bit versions of XP as you can with _Vista because 32-bit XP is an entirely separate product from 64-bit XP.
     
    Shyster1, Jan 19, 2009
    #7
  8. ChaosX5

    ChaosX5 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    16
    Messages:
    426
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    31
    ok, I guess ill have to unfortunately stay with vista thanks.
     
    ChaosX5, Jan 19, 2009
    #8
  9. davepermen

    davepermen Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,972
    Messages:
    7,788
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    what's your problem with vista? maybe we can help to fix it. it should run great. if it doesn't, lets try to fix it.
     
    davepermen, Jan 20, 2009
    #9
  10. Shyster1

    Shyster1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    6,926
    Messages:
    8,178
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    There really is no particular difference between _Vista and XP at this point; in fact, if you'd been able to do what you wanted to do originally, go from _Vista to XP 64-bit, you almost certainly would have seen a small drop in performance.

    Have you installed SP1 for _Vista? Also, as another poster put it, you may simply have a bunged or gunked up _Vista installation, in which case the solution is cleaning it up, not jumping ship.
     
    Shyster1, Jan 20, 2009
    #10