Downgrade Vista To Xp
Hi, I sure could use some advice here. I'm an old desktop guy who's been building boxes since the 8088 days. The thing is, I haven't done any substantial laptop work in several years.The problem is when I attempt to downgrade from Vista to XP Home on my friend's wife's new Sony Vaio. I don't have the model number handy but it has the C2D T5450 1.66 Ghz. CPU and the system shows a 160 GB hard drive. There's also a 'memory stick' drive that comes up but I'm guessing that's the SD card reader.(?)Anyway, I can't find any way to install XP on this system or even reformat the hard drive. When I try to run 'setup' from the XP CD with Vista booted, 'Setup Windows XP' is greyed out on the menu.
When I make the CD bootable and try to install it that way, it goes through the motions of copying the files then tells me that installation can't continue because it can't find a hard drive installed on the system!(?) I can't even find a way to access anythig resembling a CMOS on this thing. This is not nearly as straightforward as the same task on a desktop.I'm hoping someone around here with a lot more notebook knowledge than I could give me a hand. I'm totally at a loss here. I'm sure this is some 'notebook newb' issue for my part, but I'd be forever grateful for any advice I could get here.TIA,MC. Have you tried to see the BIOS?Some of notebooks nowadays are setting its HDD to AHCI mode instead of standard IDE. In this case you should try to look for the AHCI driver for HDD first. During the setup you'll need the driver.
Even worse you'll need a FDD to do this. I have (well, actually my office has) a USB FDD for this kind of things, it's working.
This week I'd done downgraded to XP from Vista on DELL laptop, and it's working perfectly (after getting AHCI driver).It seems to me that the latest Sony VAIO laptop has some issues on downgrading due to drivers issue. You should check the availability of the drivers for XP. Last time my friend failed to downgrade since he couldn't find the XP drivers on his Sony Vaio.GL. First go to sony's site make sure you have all the drivers first, the biggest problem with a downgrade is the SATA drivers, which are not native to XP, and if you don't slipstream them into your install or else get a seperate driver install disk to prep your boot, then you will need to manually download them and manually function key add them to your boot/install.Also you need to do two things, first grab all those drivers etc, and get them ready in the needed format.
If you bought a license or product ID key to use Windows Vista, or Windows Vista was preinstalled as OEM version with your new laptop or desktop system, but now you decided to give up Windows Vista and back to Windows XP instead, the downgrade process from Windows Vista to Windows XP may not as easy as you think. Beside, unless you specifically buy a new license for your Windows XP, you may actually break the copyrights law of the state by using illegal non-genuine Microsoft software. Downgrade rights are limited to specific versions of Vista, primarily Business and Ultimate. No Home versions qualify, as far as I can tell. The downgrading user has to supply the XP install media and a working install key; MS will not provide these (except in the form of a new license.
Does it have an intergrated optical drive could tell it it was external or not (makes it easier than installing from USB or network)?Second, you need to find a way to get into that BIOS so you can change the boot order. If you can't get into it normally you can do the very VERY dirty job of formating the disk externally this is an absolut last resort.Most importantly check the sony sites (from around the world sometimes drivers are found at the Dutch or Germany sites either due to their laws or the usual demands of their customers). First go to sony's site make sure you have all the drivers first, the biggest problem with a downgrade is the SATA drivers, which are not native to XP, and if you don't slipstream them into your install or else get a seperate driver install disk to prep your boot, then you will need to manually download them and manually function key add them to your boot/install.Also you need to do two things, first grab all those drivers etc, and get them ready in the needed format. Does it have an intergrated optical drive could tell it it was external or not (makes it easier than installing from USB or network)?Second, you need to find a way to get into that BIOS so you can change the boot order. If you can't get into it normally you can do the very VERY dirty job of formating the disk externally this is an absolut last resort.Most importantly check the sony sites (from around the world sometimes drivers are found at the Dutch or Germany sites either due to their laws or the usual demands of their customers).
OK I have a Dell laptop with vista business installed. Vista does not support several work related programs that I use on a daily basis.
So an downgrade seems to be my only alternative. I have an xp install disk, from an old computer and I understandthe the clean install process. Will microsoft provide an xp activation key in exchange for the vista key that I already have. If they will, who do I contact to actually make this happen?
Downgrade Vista To Xp With Cd
I'm trying to get out of spending even more money on support creditsor buying a new copy of xp. You can not use the XP disk if the old Computer came with XP preinstalled.It is classified as an OEM licence, and is non-transferable.Contact your Computer Manufacturer re Downgrading Vista Business to XP Professional.They will be able to help you with this.' Can I downgrade my OEM version of Windows Vista Business to Windows XP Professional?Yes.
Can I Downgrade Windows Vista To Xp
OEM downgrade rights for desktop PC operating systems apply to Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate as stated in the License Terms. Please note, OEM downgrade versions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate arelimited to Windows XP Professional (including Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and Windows XP x64 Edition). End users can use the following media for their downgrade: Volume Licensing media (provided the end user has a Volume Licensing agreement), retail (FPP),or system builder hologram CD (provided the software is acquired in accordance with the Microsoft OEM System Builder License). Use of the downgraded operating system is governed by the Windows Vista Business License Terms, and the end user cannotuse both the downgrade operating system and Windows Vista Business. There are no downgrade rights granted for Windows Vista Home Basic or Windows Vista Home Premium.' Cheers.Mick Murphy - Microsoft Partner.