Anyone do this yet? I want to downgrade from Vista to XP. I have vista business installed and a fresh copy of XP Pro ready to come out of the closet. X-trader recommends XP Pro and suggested i do this. Looks like i can not have seperate operating systems on seperate particians without msft catching me. I hate calling them assholes at msft. Frequently Asked Questions Q. Who can install the downgrade software or reinstall the original software? A. An OEM (when authorized by end user), or the end user. Q. Can I ship media for the downgrade software system as well as most recent version they are using to downgrade from? A. No â downgrade media is provided by the end customer. Q. What about product activation? When a previously licensed version of Windows XP Professional is used for the downgrade, wonât activation fail on the new PC? A. When an end user is using their downgrade rights offered under the License Terms in Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions and they use both Windows XP media and a product key that was previously activated, they will be unable to activate on-line over the Internet, due to the hardware confi guration change when installing on the Vista system. In these cases the end user will be prompted to call the Activation Support Line and explain their circumstances to the Customer Service Representative. Once it is determined that the end user has a valid Vista Business or Ultimate license, the Customer Service Representative will help them activate their software. Q. Can end users return to Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate software after they downgrade? A. Yes. End users who downgrade may reinstall the original software when they are ready to migrate. For example, an end user who downgrades to Windows XP Professional may later return to Windows Vista Business software provided that the end user deletes the Windows XP Professional software from the PC. Q. How do end users reinstall the original software after downgrading to a previous allowed downgrade version? A. End users must use the original OEM media or recovery software on the hard disk that was included with the PC for reinstallation. The downgrade software must be deleted from the hard drive before the original software is reinstalled. Q. Where do customers get the CD to install the downgrade software? A. End users must use a legally licensed version of the specifi ed previous version of the Windows desktop operating system to install the downgrade software. The downgrade software may be from the retail, OEM/System Builder, or volume licensing channels. The OEM vesions of Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Ultimate include downgrade rights to Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, and Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Customers may not downgrade to Windows 2000 Professional from Windows Vista Business or Windows Vista Ultimate. No downgrade rights are included in other Windows Vista products in the OEM channel. Professional
Some people have mentioned having difficulty with changing from Vista to XP... seems Vista doesn't want to let go of the MBR fully. Here's a tip... 1. Install XP on a new HDD.. or at least one which has never had Vista on it. 2. To remove Vista's MBR on your existing HDD, mount it as a 2nd HDD in your system and run a Low Level Format utility on the drive. That should eliminate the MBR problem.
I have a bunch of new Dell machines that came with Vista install. I used an XP Disk provided to me by Dell for a machine that I bought that had XP originally installed on it, to 'downgrade' all the new machines. No problems, and when I the downgrade it actually didn't even ask me for a product key for the disk which I found somewhat odd but it worked and I have had no issues. I highly recomend 'downgrading' to XP............... VISTA SUCKS DONKEY BALLS! F.U. MSFT, TRYING TO PUSH THAT CRAP ON PEOPLE!
That's how Dell's work. During the install, the system check to see if there is a Dell BIOS... if so, it doesn't ask for an XP product key.