Change vista operating system xp

Here are the latest Insider stories. More Insider Sign Out. Sign In Register. Sign Out Sign In Register. Latest Insider. Check out the latest Insider stories here. More from the IDG Network. How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years. Dutch consumer group disses Vista. Back up the files you want to save. If you have any pictures or documents you want to keep, or programs that are hard to find, write them to a USB flash drive, external hard disk, or CD or DVD.

Do this because everything on your hard disk will be destroyed during the process of installing Windows XP. The exact location of the program to do so differs depending on the brand of your computer, but usually there is a reminder pop-up that periodically appears at the lower right corner if you have not made the discs yet.

Download the Windows XP drivers for your computer from its manufacturer. This is necessary because these drivers add support for newer hardware that did not exist when Windows XP was released. Save the drivers onto your backup disk along with your personal files.

Make sure you get the drivers for "Ethernet" and "Wireless". Otherwise, you might not be able to connect to the Internet to download others. And if you use a wireless network with WPA2 security or if you're not sure , also download the Wireless Client Update and save it to the backup disk.

Also find the driver discs for all printers, scanners, PDAs, music players, and wireless network adapters you will use with the new computer.

Some of these drivers might be available from the manufacturer's website if you have lost your CD's. Put in the CD and then restart your computer.

Wait for the setup files to finish loading. Restart your computer and press the key for the boot menu. This key is different for every computer depending on the BIOS. Follow the instructions given by Setup. Then switch back to the Windows XP disc. This erases all the files on your hard drive! Then wait for the files to copy. The ID number printed on it is what it wants. Type it in accurately. If Setup says that the code is invalid, carefully check your typing against the label and try again.

Change it back if you want to go back to Windows Vista. If there's no such setting, you're out of luck and will have to continue to use Windows Vista. In this case, just remove the CD and reboot; no files were erased. Posted by: Nish Rana 10 Sep Posted by: haseeb 11 Sep Posted by: sbrobbs 05 Oct Hi, I bought a second hand Alienware Aurora M laptop with vista home premium already on it.

Wanted to install xp pro on a new gb hardrive. Before doing this contacted alienware support they said I need to change some bios settings but would not tell me what as they did not support second hand systems. Posted by: sbrobbs 09 Oct Hi ED, Did try it it seemed to install fine until I came to update the drivers.

I've never seen this before. I also tried to run a diagnostic program to tell me what was on my system but all it did was open a black window for a split second and then nothing but this worked fine on my desktop. Posted by: Raj 18 Oct Posted by: Barry 02 Dec I could not get XP to boot up and making that one change fixed my problem.

You da man! Posted by: Cat Cooter 11 Feb I havce Vista on a Dell inspiron and hate it. Nothing but issues. I have all my music stored on an external seagate drivce and can unplug it but will it still work right? We can also copy everything off my computer and save it to a harddrive to reinstall, pictures etc. Will this work? FInal problem. I have a Seagate 1. It was working fine. I downloaded many anime full series on it and used it for back up then it quit doing the back ups.

Next it said there was new software. After we installed the new software it totally screwed up my computer. It took my husband hours to get it working again, but the Seagate cannot be used.

I think we need drivers? Is it possible to fix this or am I just screwed, and will trying to downgrade to xp make things worse? I'm most concerned at this point about getting my big external running again. It's tricky even for tech savvy folks. At this point, I would check the Seagate website to get the latest Vista drivers for your device.

Posted by: Garry 12 Apr Posted by: Ryan 20 Apr I'm trying to downgrade upgrade a dell from vista home basic to xp pro. The xp disk is original and is from another computer. The computer I'm trying to put xp on is a dell that a friend gave me. His wife insisted that I wipe the hard drive right away but they didn't know where the original factory disks where. I figured it was no big deal and I would just over write everthing using the xp disk. I got as far as the part where they ask for the product key, typed it in but no matter how many times I checked and double checked it would not except the number.

I call MS tech support they passed me around from one hard to understand operator to another for about an hour I finally hung up on my 5th operator while she was in the middle of telling me some irelevancie that I had all ready heard from 3 prior operators. I've been looking around to see if anyone eles has had the same prob so far they havn't. Easy stuff. Use Google Fonts in Word.

Customize the Taskbar in Windows What Is svchost. Best Home Theater Systems. Best Smartwatches. Best Gaming Laptops. Best Smart Displays.

Best Home Security Systems. Best External Solid State Drives. Best Portable Chargers. Best Phone Chargers. Best Wi-Fi Range Extenders.