Downgrading vista to xp

[Tri_Lam]

i know this is not the right fourmn but this is really bugging me and i want help
bear with me please
Last september i got a laptop with vista home premium installed the model number is HP Pavilion dv9233cl Notebook PC i know i should dl the drivers i plan on dling the to a partition. but there are a few things that im afraid of...
1) if i do reformat although ive had done before (today was my thrird time reformating my laptop) but reformatting to Xp will my partitions be affected.
2) am i to buy an xp program?
....

basically i just want somone to guide me through step by step i dont want to mess it up. also after the reformat and the installation of the drivers

please help vistas annoying me so much

-Jeff

[ebarker]

If you want to change operating systems from vista to xp then probably the best thing is to thoroughly backup all your data.

Then buy XP and do a new install which will completely overwrite the vista installation. It will wipe out your partitions completely.

Make sure to thoroughly backup your data before doing anything.

Some people might consider going from vista to xp an upgrade, not a downgrade.

[MrForbes]

The HP laptops usually have two partitions, one is the recovery and the other is the normal system partition. You should be able to install xp without changing partitions, it should ask during setup which partition you want to install it on, and whether or not you want to format that partition. If you save the recovery partition and don't mess with it, you should be able to reload Vista later if you want to. It will wipe out all your data, so you DO need to back up ALL your data!

It's been a month or so since I installed XP though...and my memory isn't as good as it should be...but it seems to act just like windows 2000 during installation....

You'll need a full installation disk and key for XP. Not cheap, unless you luck out and find it at the thrift store like I did!

[eshteyn]

the second partition is a back-up for the system back-up function in vista. Its not needed in xp, make sure you save all your data to an external source or image your hard drive with acronis true image or ghost, whatever you prefer. When installing xp make sure you boot to the cd and completely reformat your whole drive and remove the back-up partition(xp has no use for it, also be aware if your laptop has quickplay allocate 204 mb of the hard drive for quickplay). Install xp.

BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THIS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL APPROPRIATE DRIVERS FOR YOUR LAPTOP FOR WINDOWS XP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MrForbes]

I'm not sure about the Vista "back up" partition...what is that?

I do know for a fact that recent HP laptops that shipped with XP have a recovery partition that has the system recovery information--this is what you copy when you make the recovery CDs when you first get the new laptop, and it is used in case you ever need to reinstall XP for whatever reason.

I would guess that Vista computers from HP work the same way?

[eshteyn]

vista has a built in function that compares to acronis imaging in the way that it periodically takes an image of you hard drive and stores it in the second partition. XP doesn't do that, it keeps the back-up files on the same partition, which if you think about it is not good because if your disk blows your lost and theres no way of switching it to a different partition for saving. As for the second partition its basically a copy of windows xp that is set as the secondary boot partition if the first doesn't boot. The second partition kicks up and runs windows recovery, which usually slows down the machine and doesn't work as well as a full re-install.

[Tri_Lam]

for the record i have 3 partitions one for recovery one as a side which i use for memory storage after the first reformat and the main one.

so what im getting is
-even though i have 3 partitions i will lost all memory
-so its not a good idea to put the drivers on partition
-backup EVERYTHING (-_- that will be fun unless i get an external)

what did you mean by boot to disc?

[eshteyn]

Originally Posted by Tri_Lam

what did you mean by boot to disc?

When you insert a retail or oem copy of windows into your machine it will give you an option to boot to the cd with a line resembling this one...

press any key to boot to disk........................

when this comes up hit any key and now the machine will run off of the cd instead of the hard drive, the cd will have functions to format, partition, and install windows xp, everything is very easy to use.

[Tri_Lam]

after reformating how do i go about installing the drivers - ive already identified where i should get my drivers so...

[eshteyn]

Originally Posted by Tri_Lam

after reformating how do i go about installing the drivers - ive already identified where i should get my drivers so...

once you install windows xp Hewlett-Packard offers the drivers and they are installed like any other program by double clicking them and following the steps, its very easy.

[MrForbes]

After you install XP, then you may need to install some drivers, and how you do that depends on the driver! some are .exe files that you just run, others are folders with .inf files that you need to tell XP where they are.

[Tri_Lam]

ive pmed you about the current situation just pm me back this was a really helpful conversation though it woint be just yet it will be eventuall i can assure that

[Tri_Lam]

i actually recieved a coputer last year that wasnt fully configured so if its anything like that... i would just go install area in control panel then right? 9its been a while i had to install certain drivers mannually others were automatic this is just to confirm installation when its being searched for

[Tristan Lall]

I'm surprised that nobody's asked: what's the issue you're experiencing with Vista? Unsurprisingly, killing the OS and reinstalling is a pretty crude and wasteful way of keeping your computer happy, in a lot of cases.

You didn't get stuck with one of the "Windows Vista Capable" systems, which lack sufficient RAM and video processing power to run the Aero theme, right?

If not that, I'd bet it's the UAC prompts that are annoying you. (Those are the ones that want you to confirm every action that would normally require administrative privileges.) You can turn those off; search the internet for using gpedit.msc for turning aspects of UAC off. (And there's really no reason to kill UAC completely, but if you understand the implications behind doing that, tutorials are readily available as well.) The whole UAC thing is really the culmination of a lack of understanding on the part of users, and some poor communications by Microsoft. Basically, it exists because formerly (on the pre-version-6.0, NT-based versions of Windows like 2003, XP, 2000 and NT 4) you had to run as an administrator to get much of anything done conveniently. Most people weren't up to the task of managing that excess power all of the time, and were therefore giving themselves a lot of grief by letting various malware into their computers. UAC is, in short, a way of isolating that power. Now, to get actual administrative rights, you need to click through the special UAC prompt; prior to that, you run as a locked-down user. So, basically, it really is a feature, not a bug, and if you don't like it, you can just shut it off.

By the way, it looks like Eugene is describing the System Restore service, in combination with Windows Recovery. It doesn't necessarily use an alternate partition; it will work just fine on the system partition alone. There's a separate file backup utility (not NTBackup like in 2000, XP, etc.), but it's not a replacement for Acronis, and it only allows full backups, rather than letting you customize. (The justification for this was that NTBackup was overkill for the casual user, which while potentially true, is a real pain for those of us who used NTBackup.)

Also, you know there's a service pack for Vista at the release candidate stage, right? You can download SP1 RC1 and install it, if you're interested. It won't be perfect, but then again, Microsoft has provided the functionality to uninstall the release candidate and install the final version when it comes along. If you're experiencing actual bugs, rather than just disliking the features (a few of which are definitely bad in their own right), this is the way to go.

Finally, if you're interested in following Microsoft's rules for licencing, you'll have to get a separate licence for XP. (Vista Business and Vista Ultimate allow downgrades to XP Professional when sold with OEM licences, but no other versions of Vista do.) So, do you have access to a spare licence of XP or have money to waste? Otherwise, unauthorized copies are your only option....

[keen101]

You can always upgrade to Linux.

It has the best community support. That's why I switched. Plus it put's Vista to shame. (at least in my opinion) (no offense to any vista lovers)

http://www.ubuntu.com/