delete vista, install XP OS!!!!
zoepaulpenny
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MY good friend has an laptop with vista OS . he hates vista, but he has his old XP installation CD, he wants to overwrite his current OS and install XP can he do this without any problems?? he does not want to fork out money for windows 7 OS . thanks for reply's.
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Edit: Do make sure you have a copy of a product key. Can sometimes go wrong and need to call ms to activate.
Edit: backup all your files, photos etc as they will be wiped.
If the XP CD was from another computer then installing it to the Vista one will not result in a legitimate installation, if that's of concern to your friend.
If it's a retail edition, then as long as there are XP drivers available for that model, he should be ok.
As Loobster points out as well you cant just use any old Windows disk and expect it to activate and/or be a legit installation. The Home Premium and Basic versions do not give you downgrade rights to previous OSes so if the Vista version falls into this category then a seperate licence is needed.
so in a nut shell he has borrowed an XP cd and wishes to use it, on a vista OS laptop,
I do not know about his drivers being compatible , he is going to visit the website.
Tell him to open his wallet and get W7.:)
Also a good idea. I never had a problem with Vista and only replaced it when I decided to go with Linux Mint.
I keep W7 for the (very) rare occasion when I can't use Linux.:)
I agree with ironjade - going backward is not a sensible thing to do. A bit like going back to a black and white TV from a colour CRT, rather than forking out for a flat screen LCD.
So far I have got a compatible display driver to make the display function, a driver for the wireless and now I just have to get an audio driver.
I have got a purpose for this laptop when I get round to doing it, using it as a media PC.
If it's an OEM XP CD for a particular machine/brand it probably won't work, you'd need a generic shelf-copy of XP.
Main problem he'll have when installing it is that XP doesn't automatically download drivers, unlike Vista/7/8 which will hunt down what it can, you'll need to track them all down manually to begin with.
That's assuming they exist, a lot of manufacturers stopped making XP drivers when their machines shipped with Vista, so do some research/driver downloading first!
What's his problem with Vista/7? If it's just fear of change/the new then he'll get used to them. Make sure SP1 and 2 are installed as they bring Vista's performance nicely up.
XP is now almost 12 years old, that's an eternity in computing.
That's the main question. Does the user genuinely dislike Vista or is there a problem with the PC which is simply being blamed on Vista?