Looking for advice on possibility of reverting from Vista to XP because of OL2007 and other problems

[BudV]

Vista Home Premium SP1.

I have had a problem installing OL2007 for weeks, and my $49 payment to MS
has bought many, many hours of Easy Assist attempts to resolve this,
unsuccessfully, causing much frustration for my daughter, who owns the PC.
We also have problems with Vista not being backwards compatible for a
medical package that ran under XP. She would like very much to go back to
XP, where we were comfortable and everything worked.

In view of the fact that MS has not been able to resolve our problems to
date, is there any hope that I could have MS help me (at no cost to me)
flush my machine completely and make it an XP system? I do have an
installation CD for WinXP Home SP2.

 

[Malke]

Vista Home Premium SP1.

I have had a problem installing OL2007 for weeks, and my $49 payment to MS
has bought many, many hours of Easy Assist attempts to resolve this,
unsuccessfully, causing much frustration for my daughter, who owns the PC.
We also have problems with Vista not being backwards compatible for a
medical package that ran under XP. She would like very much to go back to
XP, where we were comfortable and everything worked.

In view of the fact that MS has not been able to resolve our problems to
date, is there any hope that I could have MS help me (at no cost to me)
flush my machine completely and make it an XP system? I do have an
installation CD for WinXP Home SP2.

We would have no idea about whether MS would help you for free. You would
have to ask them. In any case, here is general information about replacing
Vista with XP:

A. On an OEM (HP, Sony, etc.) computer:

1. Go to the OEM's website and look for XP drivers for your specific model
computer. If there are no XP drivers, then you can't install XP. End of
story. If there are drivers, download them and store on a CD-R or USB
thumbdrive; you'll need them after you install XP.

2. Check with the OEM - either from their tech support website or by calling
them - to see if you will void your warranty if you do this. If you will
void the warranty, you make the decision.

3. If the OEM does support XP on the machine, call them and see if you can
have downgrade rights and have them send you an XP restore disk. This will
be far the easiest and best way of getting XP on the machine.

4. If XP is supported on the machine but the OEM doesn't have an XP restore
disk for you, understand that you'll need to purchase a retail copy of XP
from your favorite online or brick/mortar store.

5. Also understand that you will need to do a clean install of XP so if you
have any data you want, back it up first.

6. If none of the above is applicable to you because you can't run XP on
that machine (see Item #1 above), return the computer and purchase one
running XP instead.

B. On a generic/home-built computer (from non-OEM company) - You will need
drivers for all your hardware. See the second link below for more details:

http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What
you will need on-hand

Malke

 

[Jon]

Vista Home Premium SP1.

I have had a problem installing OL2007 for weeks, and my $49 payment to MS
has bought many, many hours of Easy Assist attempts to resolve this,
unsuccessfully, causing much frustration for my daughter, who owns the PC.
We also have problems with Vista not being backwards compatible for a
medical package that ran under XP. She would like very much to go back to
XP, where we were comfortable and everything worked.

In view of the fact that MS has not been able to resolve our problems to
date, is there any hope that I could have MS help me (at no cost to me)
flush my machine completely and make it an XP system? I do have an
installation CD for WinXP Home SP2.

Basic procedure .....

1. Backup your important files / documents / pictures etc
2. Pop in the XP disc. Format (=erase) the Vista partition and use your old
XP product key (have this handy) to install XP
3. Boot up and install software and drivers for your devices etc
4. Install the medical program

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Vista Home Premium SP1.

I have had a problem installing OL2007 for weeks, and my $49 payment to MS
has bought many, many hours of Easy Assist attempts to resolve this,
unsuccessfully, causing much frustration for my daughter, who owns the PC.
We also have problems with Vista not being backwards compatible for a
medical package that ran under XP. She would like very much to go back to
XP, where we were comfortable and everything worked.

In view of the fact that MS has not been able to resolve our problems to
date, is there any hope that I could have MS help me (at no cost to me)
flush my machine completely and make it an XP system? I do have an
installation CD for WinXP Home SP2.

Another idea: install a virtual machine and install XP in that.

Microsoft even has a free virtual machine package, MS Virtual PC. It's a
free program downloadable from their site.

You'd have to make sure it (or another one if you choose that) will do the
job; some of the packages have free trials.