Scenario :

I have a laptop which came pre installed with Windows Vista . I now wish to install Windows XP on this ....

Have learned that any newer Windows OS automatically licences to you an older version .. For eg Windows 7 licence can have an activation key for Vista , XP , 2000 ....

My qs :

a. Has anyone tried this ? I loaded Windows XP , called the telephone option and the automated option did not allow me to ... I believe I will have to talk to some one on the phone and explain the situation .

b. My only concern is that my laptop came with Windows Vista pre installed ... no media ..... The XP cd I used is from another PC .... Is that a likely issue ?

c. OR perhaps I can pose that for my other laptop ( which came with XP ) , I have changed the mother board and request for a new activation key ...

Which of the above is more likely to give better results ? Any other suggestions to get this done rather than go back to Vista ...

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Fido.

Only certain OEM versions of Windows Vista include downgrade rights.

•Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate include downgrade rights to:
◦Windows XP Professional, or
◦Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, or
◦Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Other OEM Windows Vista versions (for instance, Windows Vista Home Basic and Windows Vista Home Premium) do not include downgrade rights

Fido,

I am also facing the same issue....

The laptop I bought few years ago came with Vista installed , i called the support for downgrade to XP...and the answer i got was "Not possible".... i tried to fight but they had all sorts of excuses to thwart all my arguments....

Vista is certainly very frustrating to work with and would love get rid of it, if I can ....

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Vik

Thanks Folks ,

I spoke with some guys on Kijiji yesterday and they quoted $40/- for

a. Valid Win XP Install with activation .
b. MS Office Install.
c. Life time Anti Virus
d. Drivers ..

Go figure .... One mentioned he would be using some kind of a student copy which is perfectly valid and another said he would be using a dead cpu's key ... Another said he would install Windows 7 without a problem ...

Though the above will be my last option .... and since Vikshr has already tried calling them up for downgrade , I will try the other route - ie; pose that my other laptop which had XP installed had a replacement of mother board ( to which the key is attached ) and hence request for another key .... Will update the forum ...

No point of keeping XP ... I have downgraded one of other PC s to XP in 2008 ... do not remember now how I did it ... but it came pre installed with Vista and is now running XP since then .....

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Fido.

comeon guys. WIndows 8 is coming up. I am playing with the same. YOu want to move to XP?. XP support will slowly wane down. If want to spend 40 quid Better get windows 7 installed. Device Drivers for all ur hw components should in the same.

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infocan

You can download Windows 8 for free (this is the latest release preview). Note that this is a release preview and not a production release, but I've been running it for a while without a single issue - worth a shot.

I'm guessing it will work for at least 6 mos. from now before expiry...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/download

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Are you there?

OK Folks ,

Its 2 30 am & I have been working on this for the past 3 days off & on and since 9 pm today and here s the result :

Had my own copy of XP from another computer & borrowed another one from a friend ..... The n/w card was not configured without which the activation would not have been possible .

Configured the m/w card , installed the driver , connected to the internet , tried the activation screen , through internet option punched in the keys from the friend's cd and ... it said activated successfully .

Then followed the tedious job of grabbing missing drivers one by one - checking the device and then picking up the one for HP & XP .... Sound card , wireless and some more ..... Final result ... not a single yellow device ...

I still prefer XP over 7 as it consumes lesser resource and there s not much performance difference ..... There must be some reason why XP is celebrating its 10th anniversary !!!

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Fido.