Re: Install XP on a Vista laptop?

"VanguardLH" wrote in
<news:hMadnTEhjLyrfcvVnZ2dnUVZ_rvinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

"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.

Just to clarify: you have 2 Windows licenses. One will be used by your
desktop (Windows XP). The other license is the Vista license (which you
can use to downgrade to Windows XP). So you are allowed to use the
Windows XP installation media on the laptop but you are NOT using its
license there. Instead you are converting your Vista license via
downgrade rights to a Windows XP license.

Be aware that some laptop manufacturers don't provide Windows XP drivers
for their hardware. They may have designed their laptop to be usable
with Windows Vista and they only supply Windows Vista drivers. This can
result in losing hardware usability or some of its functionality when
you downgrade to Windows XP. You need to check if the laptop's hardware
has Windows XP drivers for it all.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Retrofitting XP on Dell
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    (comp.sys.laptops)
  • Activation Error
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    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup)
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    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.general)
  • Re: XP home -> Pro
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    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: XP and Vista
    ... My laptop was pre-loaded with Vista Home Basic. ... you're in violation of your OEM license agreement. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup)