Re: Install XP on a Vista laptop?

"JMF" wrote in <news:#v0lkQ7zIHA.3968@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

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 means you will have to wipe Windows XP Pro from your desktop since
you only have 1 license of it to have it installed on 1 computer.

That raises two questions:

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

No ... however ...

If and only if you have the Ultimate or Business version of Vista OEM on
your new laptop, you have downgrade rights to install Windows XP. How
you downgrade depends from whom you got the OEM version of Vista on your
laptop. If it is a generic OEM version, one process that I've seen
mentioned is to do the Windows XP install (format the OS partition and
install a fresh copy of XP) and then activate but use the phone number
to call a Microsoft rep by giving them the Vista product key for which
they will give you back a product code to activate the XP install.
Otherwise, you have to contact whomever is the OEM for whatever brand of
laptop that you got to ask them how to downgrade.

- 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?

None if you follow their licensing.
.

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