Installing XP on a Vista Computer

wazza

Planning to buy a laptop to replace my sister's old PC. Naturally it will come with Vista software. On the hard drive there will be a partition, say drive D, for recovery purposes. Plan to create recovery discs before using the laptop for internet etc.

Sister has a XP Home software which was supplied with her old pc. The motherboard is kaput therefore the old pc is scrap. I am planning to install the XP Home onto the laptop. Reason being that she is familiar with xp, has free antivirus packages etc which will work with xp etc.

Will this install affect the partition D which has the original recovery info? Hoping that once vista is compatible with all the software she plans to use she will initiate the recovery disc and reinstall vista. Will that work?

alwaysskint96

If she installs the XP onto the C drive then it wouldnt affect the recovery which is on the D drive- even though they are actually partitions rather than physical drives

Wouldnt it be more economical to get a new mobo and CPU for the old PC though ( depending how old it is obviously)

wazza

alwaysskint96 wrote: »

.......Wouldnt it be more economical to get a new mobo and CPU for the old PC though ( depending how old it is obviously)

i suggested that but she likes the idea that she will not be restricted to one room with a laptop. She needed a reason to buy one so when the pc went she got her readies out. Won't be suprised if she damaged the pc herself

jampton

Dell are still selling new laptops with XP - http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_inspiron_1501.html

Little_John

There are legal complications about installing XP from an old PC that it was shipped with. PC's come with OEM software, OEM software is a lot cheaper as it doesnt come with a box and the people that produce the pc are responsible for any support. OEM software is also a licence for use with that PC and can not be transfered to another where retail software can.

There is 1 option and that is the Downgrade rights with windows Vista business and ultimate editions, you can legally downgrade to windows XP under the vista licence and then ready install vista again.

BillScarab

Why not just use Vista? It takes about half an hour to work out the differences to XP. When we got Vista my wife and kids had no trouble adapting to it. I don't think the kids even asked any questions.

AVG free works fine on Vista if you want free AntiVirus.

What other software does she want to use that doesn't currently run on Vista?

wazza

Little_John wrote: »

There are legal complications about installing XP from an old PC that it was shipped with. PC's come with OEM software, OEM software is a lot cheaper as it doesnt come with a box and the people that produce the pc are responsible for any support. OEM software is also a licence for use with that PC and can not be transfered to another where retail software can.

There is 1 option and that is the Downgrade rights with windows Vista business and ultimate editions, you can legally downgrade to windows XP under the vista licence and then ready install vista again.

The XP disc came with the PC. Friend built it for her and supplied a XP disc as well unlike PCWorld etc where they install the XP software and don't supply you with the disc.

wazza

BillScarab wrote: »

Why not just use Vista? It takes about half an hour to work out the differences to XP. When we got Vista my wife and kids had no trouble adapting to it. I don't think the kids even asked any questions.

AVG free works fine on Vista if you want free AntiVirus.

What other software does she want to use that doesn't currently run on Vista?

She has certain antivirus packages installed which has been doing it's job and she is happy about it. Heard about how some anti-virus software don't work with vista. Just a peace of mind for her.

Browntoa

AVG free works on vista

XP licence is single install, when put on the laptop it will tell you that you need to ring Microsoft as it has been installed before (it knows its a different machine as it makes up a unique key from a combination of various bits on the Pc it's installed on

wazza

Browntoa wrote: »

AVG free works on vista

XP licence is single install, when put on the laptop it will tell you that you need to ring Microsoft as it has been installed before (it knows its a different machine as it makes up a unique key from a combination of various bits on the Pc it's installed on

True. As far as i know you are only allowed to install it on one computer. If you were to upgrade the computer or buy another computer you can install it on that one as long as the old computer has the xp software removed.

banger9365

just one more thing you cannot put xp on a pc that has vista on for dual boot put you can put vista on a pc that has xp on for dual boot,
people willsay it can be done ?i have not been able to do it and tryed lotts of ways