Help with downgrading to XP

[Guest]

Hi I bought a new Computer a few weeks ago and Vista has been giving me all
kinds of problems so I finally decided to downgrade back to XP but am having
problems. I know how to boot from the Install CD and it detects my C drive I
choose to install and things seem to go smoothly but every once in a while
certain files cannot be copied (Usually .xml extensions). After the first
part of install it has to restart. After it does a screen appears but then I
get a message saying that certain files were not installed and setup cannot
continue. Does anyone know what might be wrong?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Hi I bought a new Computer a few weeks ago and Vista has been
giving me all kinds of problems so I finally decided to downgrade
back to XP but am having problems. I know how to boot from the
Install CD and it detects my C drive I choose to install and things
seem to go smoothly but every once in a while certain files cannot
be copied (Usually .xml extensions). After the first part of
install it has to restart. After it does a screen appears but then
I get a message saying that certain files were not installed and
setup cannot continue. Does anyone know what might be wrong?

In the future, if you feel your post is relevant to more than one
newsgroup - know that it is better for yourself (easier to track ALL answers
to your query) and easier on the community at large (don't have to see the
same message again and again like it was unread, see all the answers to the
query in any given newsgroup it appears, less bandwidth used to download it
once rather than multiple times per newsgroup posted in, etc..) if you
cross-post as opposed to multi-posting. Cross-post is simply posting the
smae message in many newsgroups ONCE - meaning you do not compose an
individual post for each newsgroup, but in the original message you specify
multiple newsgroups for the message to be posted to. What you have
seemingly done is multi-post - or copy and post the same message in many
groups.

I responded to your query in the microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment
newsgroup. Hopefully it will help you resolve your issue.

 

[Paul Randall]

I bought a Compaq desktop with Vista preinstalled and wanted to set up a
dual boot system with WXP. HP.com shows no WXP drivers for the model I
bought. I did an online chat to get more info. They said that the BIOS had
been optimized for Vista and they do not provide WXP support for this
machine. The motherboard manufacturer has no online info about the
motherboard for my desktop.

I suppose it is possible for you to install WXP on your computer. I haven't
tried on my computer yet.

Good luck

-Paul Randall

 

[frodo]

This thread highlights two important issues w/ downgrading: 1) it may not
be possible to do at all, and 2) if it is you need to do it carefully!

I too just recently downgraded a new Compaq to XP, and fortunatly it was a
laptop that had previously sold w/ XP, so xp drivers were available for it
at the Compaq web site; it tooks some digging to find them tho. It went
relatively smoothly, and the laptop now works great; it had been an
unbelievable dog w/ Vista, now it's actually pretty fast (a 1.6 Ghz
celeron w/ 512MB ram. Certainly a minimal machine, but just fine w/ XP.
Example: Vista Boot Time: 4 to 5 minutes. Shutdown: 2 minutes. Now w/
XP boot up is 30 seconds, shutdown is even less. And it shows 350 MB of
avail ram after boot-up, Vista showed 60MB. Under normal usage it never
swaps; with vista, launching any app, even solitare, caused swapping. It
was totaly unusable as shipped w/ Vista Basic, and the "extra" BS that was
installed (Norton etc; yeah, I know, they were most likely a major cause
of the sluggishness, not just Vista. But Vista made it real hard/painful
to figure any of that out, it was simply easier to wipe and start over.))

But, I did have some difficulty, until I wiped all vista-made partitions
and rebuilt the partition table within XP Setup. Leaving the vista
partition table caused Setup to fail. I suspect this is the OP's issue
too. Vista changed how boot-up is done, so you really need to delete the
vista partition table and start fresh. Google for "Vista dual-boot
issues".

So, check if XP drivers are even available for your system, and if they
are do a totally clean XP install, leaving no remnants of Vista. And
good luck.

You might also try calling your machine's maker and bitching at them.
More and more are going back and making xp drivers for their newer
machines because so many people are having issues w/ Vista. MS has
actually started sanctioning "downgrading", and some makers actually now
include an XP Restore CD in their shipping Vista machines, just in case.