GOing back to xp after vista?

dazftw

I installed windows vista RC1 build 5600 the other day to give it a try and I like it only it has a millions things wrong with it to do with uninstalling programs and running programs and I want to go back to xp untill theres a proper version out!


Now I put in my windows xp cd and it wont let me start because vista is a newer version...?

Any ideas/solutions?

Ginger

You gotta format and rebuild...

There is no downgrade path from Vista

Insert the disk and restart the machine.. It should allow you to boot with it. If it doesnt check in your bios and change the boot order to CDROM first

dazftw

Doesn't work im afraid...!

Basq

Is your CD/DVD ROM set as a boot device in the BIOS?

Ginger

also is your XP disk bootable ie an original rather than a self made copy of the directories?

dazftw

Its not an original copy! I have used it before to reinstall windows and its worked!

Ginger

By booting with it???

You will need to format the disks from scratch and/or possibly delete the partition

Capt'n Midnight

What happened to the original media ?
just hope you still have the COA

you could copy the files to the Hard drive and run setup from there inside windows but that probably won't work. If the partition was FAT32 you could boot up into dos using a windows boot disk and run setup from there.

If NTFS then not good, but it did warn you to backup didn't it ?

dazftw

Ginger wrote:

By booting with it???

You will need to format the disks from scratch and/or possibly delete the partition

Em I dont think so I just reinstalled windows with the disk! Not by restarting like!

When I got vista I baiscally thought it would let me reinstall windows when I put in the windows disk!

I was looking up stuf on google about deleting partitions and it just confuses me but I think thats my only option now? Do I need an "actual" copy of windows to do this?

Also im going to Dublin for the windows conference and get the free vista.. If I wait til then with this, will that let me reninstall vista?

I dont mind having this its just a annoying when it comes to running programs like mcafee and nero it wont let them work!

Ginger

oK..

Dealy is this..

You need a bootable version of Windows XP which you dont have. That is why when you reinstalled before you probably did it from within Windows to start it rather than clean booting it from DOS

Either make a bootable copy of your XP Disk or use a boot disk from www.bootdisk.com to boot your machine into dos and then use your cd..

dazftw

So will that work even if its not a proper copy?

Use one of thoes boot disks to go into dos and once its there I put in my disk and it should work?

I just wana make sure I do it right

Ginger

If you are formatting the disks yup...

Should do it... just use a Windows bootdisk .. think its the old Win98 boot disk you need

dazftw

yea... I just used a dell xp cd a friend gave me deleted the partition with that, then reinstalled windows from scratch, worked like a charm lol