Re: Install XP on a Vista laptop?

Great info, thanks very much!

"Malke" <malke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%234HKoX7zIHA.4816@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
JMF wrote:

I bought XP Pro for my desktop.

Now I'm in the market for a new laptop. The new laptops seem only to have
Vista on them.

I'm curious about removing the OEM Vista and replacing it with my XP Pro
that I bought.

That raises two questions:

- am I allowed to take the XP Pro that I bought and also install it on my
laptop?

- what kind of trouble am I asking for (and I'm sure there is trouble,
ranging from "some" to "plenty") by replacing the original OEM Vista with
XP Pro?

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.

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

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!


.

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